Please help...

[wordtothat]

I dont know how to deal with this..I am so freaking scared.

I am very conservative and do not sleep around. I have had sex with 2 people in my entire life(I am 21).

I had sex in december of 2006 with a female friend. I know that she has slept around a little bit. Her best friend was diagnosed with herpes and so i questioned her alot. She says that she has gotten tested on multiple occasions and does not have it.

The second time I had sex was on january 1 2007. It actually really wasnt sex. We did not have a condom so after one min of putting it inside her we decided we better not until we had a condom. Now I know that this girl also has slept around a little bit. She insisted very much on us using a condom, and im afraid maybe she has herpes?

Fast foward to 3-4 days ago. on the tip of my penis i noticed 2 little bubble looking things. They are the same color as the skin. The next day i noticed bumps on the right side of my penis(on the shaft). I am terribly scared that I somehow have herpes?

I have read the symptoms and none of them match me except for having bumps. It doesnt itch or burn at all, i have no flu like symptoms, it doesnt burn when i urinate and so on.

I am in the marine corps and when we are out in the field I get very sweaty and sometimes(recently) have even gone a week with the same boxers...I dont know if that can have any part of it.

I was given a HIV test from the marines in february and obviously there was nothing wrong with the results because nothing was said to me. Im assuming that herpes was not tested for in that test.

Any opinions?

[Caliope]

Well for starters I'd like to throw in an opinion. Not everyone who has been infected with herpes has slept around. It is not a prerequisite. And alternatively some people who sleep around alot don't have herpes. So always approach a new partner with self preservation in mind and protect yourself. There are much worse things out there than herpes. Even if I was a virgin today, with what I have learned on this site alone, you can bet your life that I would not let anyone touch me without a clean bill of health and a condom.

You could in one brief moment of unprotected contact get herpes from either oral or genital contact.

A blister could be herpes and a blister could maybe not be herpes. The only way to know for certain is to get tested. It can look like a rash or a blister or a pimple. It can even look like dry skin or only be a tiny little itch. It can also be something so severe as to cause a fever, swelling, weeping sores, pain down your legs, pain in the back, headaches, symptoms of a major yeast infection, all of the above etc.

If you have an active ob with blisters or vesicles containing viral fluid you can get a swab test and it goes to a lab to be cultured. or you can get herpes specific blood tests done but until a sufficient number of antibodies are developed in response to an infection you will not get an absolute positive on the test. Sometimes it takes several tests and waiting til several months later. If you are infected and your tests are still inconclusive you can spread this to someone else.

It is also possible to be infected and never even know and never have an ob. It can be a very sneaky virus and depending on your own personal immune system the effects of an infection can vary greatly from individual to individual.

For some reason most std test series don't include tests for herpes. You need to ask for it specifically and if you have ever in your life had a cold sore you will test positive for hsv.

[hopingseeking]

Your HIV test probably didn't test for herpes, but you can always go back and ask them to see the complete test results.

Otherwise, you should ask her to get tested, and also go get tested yourself. Caliope is right, the blisters can be or not be herpes, and getting tested is the only way to find out. You want to get them cultured.. otherwise, get a blood test now (which won't show anything, but it does establish a baseline) and then get another test in 3 months. This will tell you if it's a recent infection, if the results are positive in 3 months.

[wordtothat]

Your HIV test probably didn't test for herpes, but you can always go back and ask them to see the complete test results.

Otherwise, you should ask her to get tested, and also go get tested yourself. Caliope is right, the blisters can be or not be herpes, and getting tested is the only way to find out. You want to get them cultured.. otherwise, get a blood test now (which won't show anything, but it does establish a baseline) and then get another test in 3 months. This will tell you if it's a recent infection, if the results are positive in 3 months.

How long after you are infected would it show up on a blood test?

[Caliope]

depends on your immune system as to how fast your body will produce antibodies. I'd wait until at least 8 weeks have past after initial exposure. You may want to do it right away and establish a base line like was suggested by hopingseeking who also recommended testing 3 months later which is more like 12 weeks.

[wordtothat]

The bumps that I have look like pimples but instead of feeling like pimples the white part feels hard. Is this what herpes feels like?

[Caliope]

I never had that myself.

But then again I had my first ob 8 years after being exposed and my first ob looked and felt like a cigarette burn. My second ob occurred 2 years later and was 3 tiny flesh colored blisters that never ruptured or scabbed. During the weeks that followed my second ob I had a red itchy rash. I experienced pain with both ob's.

No two people describe the same type of symptoms exactly. That is why the information out there is confusing. Some dr's don't even recognize the symptoms the only way to know for sure is to get tested.

If you aren't sure about it - then you need to see a dr for testing. We can't diagnose you or prescribe treatment or prescriptions.

[JRTJRT]

Could be lots of things...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordyce_spots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_penile_papules

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acne_vulgaris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genital_warts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molluscum_contagiosum

[gutted.]

sounds like what mine look like - but thats no diagnosis.

everyone seems to be different! GO GET CHECKED OUT

[wordtothat]

Is it standard for the sores to hurt? Mine do not hurt at all?

[JRTJRT]

No one can tell you anything more that will confirm herpes.

Are you not going to see a doctor?

You can go to a free clinic or planned parenthood clinic if you are worried about confidentiality.

[wordtothat]

No one can tell you anything more that will confirm herpes.

Are you not going to see a doctor?

You can go to a free clinic or planned parenthood clinic if you are worried about confidentiality.

Yea I was thinking about calling them in the morning. Im kinda scared about going to it because Its right off of campus and i dnot wanna run into someone that i know there. I may have to travel to the next closest one

[hopingseeking]

Don't worry, just make up an excuse like, "My partner wants me to get tested before we start having sex", etc etc. But bottom line - go get looked at soon.

[mbrauneis]

if they don't hurt it could also be genital warts hpv can cause these and usually only the high risk hpv strans can cause the warts just go to your doctor and get checked out that would be your best bet

[BoxofRain]

the strains of the hpv virus responsible for producing genital warts are not the strains that are correlated with cervical cancer, so you know,in case it is genital warts. A certain amount of other strains of the virus, that do not cause warts, are correlated with cervical cancer. Im not sure what the person above wrote about "high risk" I didnt undertand what they meant by that, but in case they meant high risk in reference to cervical cancer i thought id add this in.