I’m here to help you with issues surrounding genital herpes. I’ve had 43 years of experience as a nurse practitioner, specializing in the care of people who have herpes or who are worried about having herpes.
Do you have questions about genital herpes? Many people do! It can be a confusing topic, and sometimes, clinicians do not have up-to-date information. Are you confused about how to interpret an antibody test that you’ve taken? I can help with that, too. Do you live in Oregon and need to obtain a prescription for herpes medication? I can help you with that as well.
Video Consult
Would you like to talk about your situation and ask some questions? We can do that. Lots of people prefer to talk to an expert in addition to their regular healthcare provider. It’s normal for an expert to have information that a general practitioner might not. A 20-minute consult is $125, and the appointment can be made at the bottom of this page using the same button as those scheduling a western blot.
Herpes Western Blot
Herpes experts agree that the herpes western blot is by far the best confirmatory antibody test. People want to obtain the western blot to get the most accurate herpes antibody testing available. Often, they wish to confirm or deny an IgG result. We know that about 50% of people who test positive with an index value (the number associated with your test result) of 1.1 to 3.5 don’t have herpes, and this test will help sort that out. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone with an IgG result in this low-positive range (1.1 to 3.0) obtain a Western blot or another highly reliable confirmatory test. Also, a research study that came out in early 2020 found that even some people with higher index values who have no symptoms have false-positive IgG tests. I have seen false-positive IgG results for HSV 2 as high as 17.
Some herpes IgG antibody tests don’t give an index value, and they can be highly accurate, but you may want the Western blot for greater certainty because even these really good tests can have false positive results.
Perhaps someone has had a negative result on their IgG herpes antibody test. Because we know that the IgG misses some infections (8% of HSV 2 infections and 30% of HSV 1 infections), they want the best test available to be sure about their negative status.
Online appointments are 20 minutes long. The telemedicine provider we use, eVisit, will ask for a credit card number when you make the appointment. The cost of obtaining the Western blot from me is $335. This charge includes the cost of the consult with me and the test itself. I will charge your credit card the appropriate amount at the end of our discussion. You will not be charged until we talk. The other expenses you will incur to get this test is a fee for having your blood drawn and whatever shipping costs to UW from your location. The UW will not bill insurance for those not living in the state of Washington and I do not bill insurance for my services. You will also not be able to bill your insurance for the western blot and we will not provide a receipt for the western blot as we are not doing this test; UW is. Remember that you can also work with the University of Washington and your own health care provider to obtain this test. You don’t have to do this with me. If you have insurance that would cover an office visit with your provider to get this test done, that may be financially better for you to do. I have no mechanism for billing your insurance company, and the University of Washington will not bill out-of-state insurers either.
Please make sure you are using the right time zone. If, for some reason, you can’t make the appointment and cancel more than 24 hours in advance, you won’t have to pay for the appointment. It may be helpful to write down your questions ahead of time so that you can get all of your concerns addressed. And don’t worry if you get a little teary during the conversation; that happens often, and it’s just fine.
Creating an Account
To obtain the video service, you must sign up on eVisit with a username and log in by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. If you have already created an account on this site for the forum, it will not work on the eVisit page.
*You DO NOT need to create an account on this website’s question forum to be able to use the eVisit website for video consultations.*
Steps for doing the western blot
If you want to pursue this, here are the steps to obtaining the test. Our physical clinic is now officially closed, so there is no one to talk to on the phone about this to set it up initially. You must follow the precise steps below if you want our staff to serve as your ordering clinicians.
• Set up an appointment with me via eVisit. Click the green button below labeled eVisit. When you get there, you will be given three times of day options to talk to me. If none of those offered is right for you, you will have a chance to pick others. This conversation between us is not optional – we need to do this together as part of the nursing standard of care guidelines. The eVisit site will then ask you some basic questions about your health history and request your credit card information. While you are waiting for your appointment with me, you can call the University of Washington and ask them to send you the herpes Western blot kit. You can tell them you are working with me. Their phone number is 206-685-6066. If you have your kit with you or it’s on its way when we talk, this will speed things up for you.
• At the time and date you have chosen, you will go back into the eVisit website and enter the “waiting room.” I will join you, and we will talk face to face for 20 minutes. If you, for some reason, absolutely cannot use the video format, we can do this over the phone. Still, the video is my preferred method to do this. It is really important that you come into the site at the chosen time, as there are often appointments booked back to back, and everyone deserves to start as on time as possible. Please have the results of your previous IgG testing, if you have had one done, and if at all possible, attach them to your evisit chart. I need the specific numbers from your results, the name of the laboratory that performed the original testing, and the date of your most recent test. I will also need the dates of your most recent sexual contacts, and if you know the herpes testing status of your partners, that will be even better. I will also ask you about any symptoms that you might have had.
• I will ask for your permission to use the results of your most recent IgG test and your Western blot results in our study, with no identifying information about you. We are able to help you get the western blot in your location because we are doing this as part of a research study.
Quest and LabCorp will not draw your blood for the Western blot. However, if you live in a city or can travel to a city that has an AnyLabTestNow or an ARC point lab, you can use them to draw your blood, spin, and ship it. They have been quite accommodating. There is a charge for their lab services – usually between $50-$100. You will also need to pay for shipping your sample to the University of Washington. I am aware of additional labs in some cities that will draw and spin down your blood sample for you.
• In one to three weeks, with your permission, I will send you an email with the results of your western blot – it is an actual scan of the lab test result. The possible results are positive, negative, or indeterminate. There are no numbers associated with western blot results. Sometimes (about 8% of the time), the test cannot determine your result, resulting in an indeterminate result. But we know how to resolve that, based on the timing of your most recent sexual exposures relative to the timing of the testing. It may require another test later.
• If you have questions, once you receive your results, you will have an opportunity to ask me questions via email.
