Just found some bumps last night

[piratedude]

I'm 23 years old and I just lost my virginity saturday night. I'm angry that I missed out on sex for so long and when I finally do it, I get herpes. Doesn't seem fair, but truly I was asking for it. Unprotected sex with a girl you met that night is retarded. I've been able to stop myself in similar situations, even while drunk, but I guess this time I was too drunk and probably sick of waiting.

It's surprising that I would develop symptoms within 24 hours. This worries me a little into thinking that I may have a strong case of the virus, as I've heard this can be the case with viruses. On the other hand, I have very mild symptoms so far. I have about a dozen tiny red dots that I kind of need to focus on to even see, but they are definitely there. One of them is white, but smaller than a pimple. I have a gut feeling the rest won't turn to blisters, but I'm not sure how long it takes. They definitely have not gotten any worse looking in 24 hours, and maybe even improved. Also my right calf feels really weird, as if the blood isn't flowing right.

I've read that the first outbreak is usually the worse, so I am hopeful. I've also heard that many people never show symptoms, or perhaps one breakout and no recurring breakouts. If my first outbreak stays this mild, am I being too optimistic thinking theres a chance I won't have any more? I've had the type 1 herpes on my mouth for as long as I can remember, and I've read that that may improve the immune system response to type 2. Never thought I'd be happy to have type 1, haha.

I think my biggest concern may be depression. I believe I've been somewhat depressed in the past. I'm sad because I was making really good progress in my life in general. I've quit weed and started being pretty social. I was really starting to feel good about life. I'm wondering how much of that progress I will lose. I've felt terrible all day, even a suicidal thought or two. Right now it's impossible to not think about this, and I keep saying to myself 'oh my god, I have an STD.' And I'm sure I'll feel anxious waiting for another outbreak. Never having the self esteem to have a girlfriend my entire life...I feel like this could make it almost impossible. But right now I feel a bit better. Logically, I know that herpes isn't a big deal. It's more of a cosmetic disease than anything else. It's fucked up that society makes people feel so bad for a couple warts once in a while that aren't even harmful. I know that there is no reason this should be anything more than a bit of a nuisance...I just hope I can fully believe that myself.

[bluefrog]

unfortunately, you can have symptoms within two days of transmission. i felt alot like you regarding life. i broke up with a boyfriend of 5 years, who was abusive. i met a guy in march and we had sex, unprotected, because i trusted him and he treated me like a lady should be treated, and now i have herpes. well, we are here, we live and learn, and now we have to accept and deal with this. this is a great place to be for support and information. make sure you get to the doctor and get tested.

[Christy C]

I want you to fully believe your self. I know that there is no reason this should be anything more than a bit of a nuisance...I just hope I can fully believe that myself. I really do because if you don't it will over come you. But how? How does one convinc one's self of that especially during an outbreak when it doesn't feel like a nuisance at all or when you've got to do the talk and all you want to do is die?

Here's how. First you go about reading the sucess stories. How others became outbreak free. How others told. How others found love afterwards despite. When you've done reading you're standing on the shoulders of giants, those who came before you. And you don't have to do the climb yourself. Just enjoy the view.

Stand on my shoulders for a while. Check out those articles below plus another called Stay Alkalne, Stay Outbreak Free. The link is in my signature at the bottom.

This is not going to get you down. We won't let it. I want to help you beat it, because it is just another bump on the road to awareness. Let's just step over it.

Christy

[always searching]

Have you even been diagnosed yet? From your post it sounds like you just had sex two days before and are already diagnosing yourself with genital herpes. If you have not seen a doctor, please do. Unless you, yourself, are a doctor you can't diagnose herpes. Get checked. Red bumps on your penis could be a lot of things. Maybe not even an STD. You need to know what you have before figuring out how to manage or treat it.

[Lonnidet]

Just my two cents but 24 hours until symptoms sounds a bit to quick from what I have read. It usually takes atleast 2 days. I hope this is a false scare for you.

Since this was your first time maybe it is just your skin getting used to this new environment!

Go see your doctor! It is critical you do this NOW versus waiting in mantal agony for 4-6 months on blood results.

[piratedude]

Kind of a flurry of emotions for me. I saw the doctor yesterday. He took a look and found that the white blisters at the base all had a hair growing out of them and figured that they were just irritated during sex. And he thought the red dots at the tip were probably just irritation or yeast infection. I was shocked because I really had no doubt it was herpes, but I didn't think of yeast infection. He said he would be very surprised if it turned out to be herpes, but said we might as well test just to be sure. I was still a bit concerned about the pain in my leg, but he said that muscle aches should be all over, not on one side (I've read the opposite often on the internet).

Turns out he is very surprised. Lab results came back today and I'm positive.

I don't understand why the blisters form around hair or why the antifungus cream he gave me seems to be working on the red dots. I doubt the test could be wrong unless somehow it picked up the type 1 I already have.

Anyone know what sort of recurrences I can expect? I'm hoping they will be minimal since these first symptoms were so minimal, but that could just be because I already have some immunity due to having type1. The fact that they showed up within 24 hours also kinda scares me.

[ouch]

I am glad you did go in and get tested piratedude (love the name by the way!) and while I am sorry you DO have herpes, at least you know....and that is the first step in enpowering yourself against this virus.

It is totally possible to show symptoms immediately. I did. Some people show within a day or so, some won't for 30 days or more. I think I read somewhere on average, most people show signs of herpes outbreak 2-14 days after exposure.

I am sorry it was your first time too, I hope it doesn't frighten or sour you from sex altogher. Unfortunately, any future partners you will always have to have "the talk " with them. It is tough, but you sound like a level headed guy and very intelligent so I am sure you will be ok. You are taking this pretty well too, so that is good. Just be sure to try your best to stay healthy and stay on top of this virus by eating well and exercise, maybe some vitamin supplements too.

I am sorry you are here with us, but now that you are, I wish you all the best of luck and good health.

[piratedude]

I really appreciate the support. It really helps to talk to other people who have the same issue.

I just found out about an hour and a half ago, and of course I was pretty upset (and still am), but I feel a bit better. I guess I got a lot of the emotion out the first day I suspected herpes.

The leg pain was really the only thing that bothered me physically, and that has mostly subsided. I can still feel it from time to time, but it's not affecting my sleep like it did the first night. I've read that flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches are more common in the first episode, so perhaps it won't come back. Although I think the first episode may only be more severe for people without the preexisting type1. Maybe a little leg pain as a warning isn't too bad.

As far as the warts themselves, they're not that bad. They're barely there and I don't seem to notice any itching. As long as they don't get worse, I can handle them just fine. Granted, it's annoying to have to be concerned about washing my hands and being careful with bath towels, but I'm somewhat used to that having type1. Hopefully my two types will work together and come out at the same time instead of alternating;)

I just hate the stigma. If everyone had herpes, I don't think people would really give a crap. The effects of the virus are so incredibly minor.

But at least I got sex out of my system, more or less. I think not having it for so long made me somewhat obsessed with it. Maybe I'll be able to refocus on other things that matter to me.

[piratedude]

Well I went to the doctor today just to talk about treatments and whatnot. He mentioned again how surprised he is because the outbreak was so small he had to really scrape at it and got mostly (or a lot of) blood. Apparently this scrape test doesn't inform on type. So if any blood got in, and I already have oral type 1, doesn't that pretty much guarantee a positive result? He said it was a possibility, but more or less shrugged it off. I don't think he wants me to get my hopes again.

It is strange to me. Combined with the fact that every blister had a hair coming out makes it seem like it could be irritation. If it weren't for the leg pain, I would be pretty hopeful. But the pain was very real, very strange, and too much of a coincidence.

The doctor suspects I infected myself with the type 1 I already had. I don't think that would cause leg pain though. I'll take a blood test in a month, and if it's only positive for type 1, I may never know for sure because theres a good chance I wouldn't have another outbreak. Ah well, it could be worse.

[piratedude]

Geeze this has been a wave of emotions, I really don't know what to think. I asked a doctor at medhelp.org and this is what he said:

It sounds like your doctor did a versions of the Tzanck test. Like the pap, it involves looking under the micrcoscope for abnormal cells, in this case cells typical of herpes simplex virus infection.

It is an old fashioned, totally worhthless test. It should not have been done. It misses most cases of herpes; and false positive results are common. (We did our last Tzanck test in my STD clinic over 30 years ago.) Your symptoms do not suggest herpes, and unless you are the unluckiest guy in the world, you weren't exposed. Not that someone couldn't get genital herpes the first time s/he has sex, but the odds are overwhelmingly against it. Your own oral herpes is irrelevant; you cannot catch your own HSV infection at a new body site.

Having had the positive test, even though I believe it is meaningless, you now should have proper testing. Have your provider do a blood test for HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibody. You can expect a positive result for HSV-1 and negative for HSV-2. Then have another test in 3-4 months. If the result is the same, you can be absolutely certain you weren't infected last Saturday. Make sure your doc does NOT send the specimen for IgM antibody testing. (You can search the forum for "herpes diagnosis" and "IgM" to see why that test is unreliable.) In the meantime, I believe you can be confident you do not have herpes, despite the reported test result.

[thiscantbe]

sounds like you should find out which test was done....

whether this was your first sex experience or your hundredth, herpes doesn't care unfortunately. it just depends on whether your partner had it ... or you somehow did manage to reinfect yourself.

quote from this site on transmission

One kind of complication involves spreading the virus from the location of an outbreak to other places on the body by touching the sore(s). The fingers, eyes, and other body areas can accidentally become infected in this way. Preventing self-infection is simple. Do not touch the area during an outbreak. If you do, wash your hands as soon as possible with soap and warm water.

I don't know what to think about what your medhelp doc wrote. It does seem less likely to infect yourself in another location because you already have antibodies to your own virus, but it apparently happens. You might want to ask on here if people have experience with that (cause some of the peeps here are way more informed that 90% of medical profs).

I do know that a lot of online medical resources tell people with oral hsv1 herpes to only abstain from sex if they have sores... and that is totally bogus... just check the forums and find several people who now have genital hsv1 from oral sex with a partner who had no symptoms/sores, so unfortunately you really have to take everything you read with a grain of salt.

One thing that does seem like good advice is to get tested again... now, and then in 4-6 mos, just to be sure.

It sucks that it leaves you in limbo a bit, but in the end you really will need to know...

[piratedude]

Yeah I was surprised that he said it's impossible to spread herpes to other parts of your body. But maybe it is true. I don't have any evidence one way or the other, but just figured it could happen because everyone says it can.

The doctor is pretty well qualified, check out his profile:

http://www.medhelp.org/doctors/hunter-handsfield/index.html

From reading his other posts, he's more knowledgeable than my general practitioner, but of course he should be. I guess theres really no point in speculating, just gotta wait for a blood test. Is there much point in doing one now in addition to one later? I guess I could see if I already had type2...and I'm slightly curious because normally my cold sore appears in the same place, but there was one or two times where like the whole left side of my lips was just covered. But I don't see how I could have been exposed to type2 before this.

[Ilovemyjob]

Piratedude,

Did you get the herpes select blood specific test?

What were the results? Sometimes it takes a while to wait for the results.

You aare doing so well for yourself. You have a lot to be thankful for. It seems you haven't let this ruin your out look on life. I admire you!

[piratedude]

Thanks! I think it helps that I'm pretty used to getting frequent cold sores, although those have really subsided lately.

I haven't had a blood test yet...it would be good if I did, but it's kind of expensive. Since I hadn't had sex before this, I doubt I could have picked up type2 any other time. If I do test positive for type2 a few months from now, that's all I really think I need to know.

I do need to see if they still have my sample and if they can do a culture.

[awake67]

Herpes bumps?

Are you sure it's herpes if you just got bumps last night? It might be something else that is not a virus and can be treated.

Do you have an appt to see a MD? That is my immediate suggestion. You need a correct diagnosis in order to treat whatever infected you. Unless of course, the lady you were with admitted to having herpes.