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Herpes in the throat...?


ali2488

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Hi, I just went to the doctor this week and was told I have herpes although I am still waiting on lab results... But the symptoms and signs all say herpes. Definitely. I have it in my vagina but I am also very sure it is in my throat. I asked about my throat briefly at the doctor's office because it has been very swollen and there are white, painful, blister- looking spots on my right tonsil and a couple on the back of my tongue. The doctor just asked me "did you have oral sex" and I said yes, and that was that.... I was really upset and didn't really think to ask further about it and she didn't even look or test it.... I've been reading about throat herpes and there isn't a whole lot of information other than it is rare and that recurrences are also rare. So my burning question now is, am I contagious in my mouth? Can I ever comfortably kiss someone again without fear of infecting them with my throat herpes??? Does anyone here have any experiences with herpes in the throat that could shed some light on this for me? It hasn't spread anywhere else - I was nervous it would start popping up around my mouth but that hasn't happened... It's so stressful having all these questions :( any input is greatly appreciated!!

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You are correct, herpes in the throat is rare and she should have tested it.

Many people who get genital herpes also fear they spread it all over their body. Your swollen throat could be the result of your immune system firing up to fight this virus. Your lymphatic system which contains your immune system has nodes which are near the throat, so that could explain why your throat was swollen.

The only way you will know for sure it to get an outbreak swabbed. However, if it is oral hsv2 you may never have another outbreak and hsv2 doesn't like to be oral and rarely sheds from there. So unless you have symptoms in your mouth/throat I would say kiss away :)

Good luck!

JB

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Thanks for the response! I am kicking myself for not thinking to ask her to swab my throat...guess I'll just wait it out and pray it doesn't come back in my throat again I thought maybe it was just swollen lymph nodes but I'm pretty in tune with how my body reacts to sickness and im always examining my throat when my glands swell up and I've just never seen it look like this before haha which is why I think it is in fact herpes. *sigh* life really knows just how to kick ya when you're already down!

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Yes a swab was taken, I was told 10-14 days for results? So I'm not sure what strain I have yet...my partner was blood tested I believe (not really sure he hasn't been super communicative..) but he came back negative. I'm not sure if maybe he recently contracted it and is just in that window where the antibodies don't show up it blood tests...or if I've been carrying it for a while and just happened to breakout the day after I had sex with him lol God only knows...

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Ask to see his results. If he has genuinely had a negative IgG HSV-1 or HSV-2 result then if he does carry the virus, he'd need to have been infected in recent weeks and probably have had an outbreak.

Herpes does not show up a day after sex, it takes at least 2 days for symptoms to start appearing (but you probably had sex in the days beforehand?).

Definitely ensure they have typed your swab, don't let them tell you that you've tested positive for HSV and hence it is HSV-2 because of the genital location.

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He isn't responding to me since he told me he was negative. And yes I stand corrected, I started having uti symptoms the following day...then I started getting a painful rash by day 2/3 and by day 6 the fever/flu symptoms... Followed by sores breaking out on day 7.

How do I ensure that? Can I call the doctors office and request that they type it even if they have already sent the sample to the lab for a culture? I have been worried that they may not type test it...

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Yes request that. The culture within 2 days should identify the presence of HSV and then a couple of days later it can be tested for type.

Are you saying you had sex with him just once? Did you receive oral sex?

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Just once.... I did not receive just gave. I called the office and they said 10-14 days I don't know why...its a planned parenthood so maybe budgetary reasons...

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My dr did not type it, I hope the planned parenthood folks are more with it than my dr. The new gyno I went to rolled her eyes when I said he didn't type it. My partner tested + for hsv2 so probably what I have. My blood tests are neg still. But since my Bo is ongoing, I have new lesions and am getting them swabbed tomorrow. Lucky me lol.

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Much blessings and hugs to u having this I know is stressful but you will be ok this is a really cool site and it's very helpful with these kinds of questions so u came to the right place but to answer your question yes u can get herpes in the throat but it is very rare and your doctor should have swabbed you and examined you so that you could know for sure these doctors I tell ya my doctor never even told me Which strain i had and didn't give me a blood test to know when I caught it but in the end I wasn't really all that concerned either cuz I figured it out myself I'm in the medical field right now trying my best to change things when it comes to the attitude that is expressed when diagnosing these kind of things but I hope everything works out for you and yes you can have your results in writing it is your right for all of your medical information to be given to you in hardcopy once again hugs to you and good luck and stay positive [emoji111]️[emoji6][emoji8]

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Thanks for all the feedback :) I called my doctor today to ask if my culture would be type tested and they said yes. So we will see.... In the meantime I am just happy that things seem to be healing, whatever is happening in my throat is calming down which is a big relief. Ive been trying all kinds of home remedies, taking l-lysine, vitamin c supplements, using an all natural/organic tea tree oil based soap in the shower which seems to be working very well! Vinegar, baby powder, licodaine....hahaha so many things. I am glad I found this support group, I have been reading through lots of posts and comments and it is extremely informative and comforting to know Im not in this alone.

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Hello ali2488. I just joined this site and ran across your post. Although my symptoms are not as severe as yours, I've found out the L-lysine and vitamin C combo have helped me personally. I have occasional outbreaks in the groin area. But not very often. I've taken 500mg of L-lysine and 1000mg of Vitamin C to sustain and 'hold it back' and it seems to work. I"ve used up to 3000mg of vitamin C and 1000mg of L-lysine a day when I have an outbreak. Honestly I stopped using the combo for a while and I think that may have been why an outbreak came back. For maintenance, I keep clean of course and I do a really weird practice that will probably panic most readers. When I do have an outbreak, I clean the area really, really good (maybe to the point my sores are open?) and then I do what would probably freak most people out; I spray it with Lysol. Really. The shit is lab tested to kill almost any virus including type 1 & 2 Herpes; the label says will kill it in 30 seconds! I figured it couldn't hurt and the physical affect is short lived and minimal. Plus, honestly, I think the practice of doing all of this has drastically cut down my recurrences. Anyway, I hope you're condition gets better. Gimme any feedback you'd like; would love to hear it.

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Lysol?! Ahhh I don't think that's safe to spray on your body especially in sensitive areas like your genitals! Haha I use Lysol to kill flies... How long have you been doing that for? I've been taking the l-lysine and vitamin c along with acyclovir and it seems to be working to clear up the outbreak, going forward I'm trying to figure out my best options to keep outbreaks from coming back. I would like to take a more natural route rather than taking medicine everyday so I'm planning to continue with the l-lysine and vitamin c supplements going forward...I've also read about cutting out coffee and chocolate becaus of the arginine but those are two of my favorite things in life hahaha any tips from anyone for other preventative measures?

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    • WilsoInAus
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    • WilsoInAus
      Hi @kpn the first thing to note is that it is all OK to have HSV-1 or indeed any HSV type. It is not negligence, it is just being human. Oral HSV-1 is not an STD in the sense that the primary transmission is non sexual and the majority of it occurs between parents to children. If any of your children contracted HSV, you would know it. It wouldn't be a silent infection for children. HSV-2 tends not to shed from the oral region for people who have it there in any event. At age 73, about 80% of the population has HSV-1. There is no reason to believe that your mother isn't one of those people. About half of all carriers of oral HSV-1 do not realise they have it and have no living memory of cold sores as they were infected when very young. The most logical explanation is that your mother has oral HSV-1 from her childhood and that your daughter doesn't have oral HSV. Not that it is relevant to anyone but yourself, but your wife might find she actually has genital HSV-1 having had an untyped swab when she was diagnosed.
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