Herpetic Whitlow

[Marley91]

I was diagnosed with HSV2 Herpetic Whitlow (left palm of hand) at the end of April 2018. Ive had 2 OB since then. RIght when one is about to heal ill get another cluster. My current breakout is almost healed and now im getting severe pain & tingling in my right hip.

 

Can you have tingling in areas of your body other than your breakout site? Or does the tingling mean you are likely to have a breakout in that area too?

Im pretty confident I havent spread it anywhere else because i have it covered 24/7.

Also can I spread this through unprotected sex? Or is it only if an area comes into contact with my hand?

 

Any and all info help. Thank you!

[Cas9]

Generally, the pain and tingling would be in the area associated with the nerve ganglion that was infected. For whitlow I don't believe there would be any connection with the hip area; i.e. I believe (but not absolutely sure), the nerve ganglion that get's infected for whitlow, resides in the armpit area.

Is the nerve pain in your hip a deep pain or is a soreness at a just below the skin?

Edited June 28, 2018 by Cas9

[Marley91]

How interesting, thank you for your response. 

The nerve pain on my hip is just on the surface. My skin feels like its burning almost as if i have a bad sunburn or curling iron burn- but its a large area of skin from my butt all the way around my hip and into my groin. 

Before I had the OB on my hand i had the severe pain all up and down my arm & hand.

Also, do you know what the relativity to the OB site vs site of initial infection is? If i have the outbreak on the palm of my hand then does that mean thats where i originally came into contact with the virus?

[Cas9]

7 hours ago, Marley91 said:

How interesting, thank you for your response. 

The nerve pain on my hip is just on the surface. My skin feels like its burning almost as if i have a bad sunburn or curling iron burn- but its a large area of skin from my butt all the way around my hip and into my groin. 

Before I had the OB on my hand i had the severe pain all up and down my arm & hand.

Also, do you know what the relativity to the OB site vs site of initial infection is? If i have the outbreak on the palm of my hand then does that mean thats where i originally came into contact with the virus?

Generally, yes, the OB occurs in the area where you got infected. The virus travels from the skin where the virus entered, then down the nerve axons to the nerve cell bodies in the ganglion. The virus lives there. When the virus replicates (i.e. becomes active), it travels from the nerve cell bodies, and back up the axons and to the same locations on the skin where you were infected, resulting in sores. Over time, the other nerve cells in that same ganglion will also get infected via the initially infected nerve cells. This reinfecting occurs within the ganglion. These newly infected nerve cells travel to different locations on the skin, so when the virus becomes active in those newly infected nerve cells, you can get sores at different locations than the initial infection site. I think that generally, those other locations on the skin are in the same general area however. So, for example, a whitlow OB could show up on another part of your hand.

I doubt that the nerve ganglion in the armpit, has nerve cells that travel to your hip area. But your description of the pain on your hip does sound like herpes. That hip area is one of the areas where I get that pain you describe, because of my genital herpes. So I'm wondering whether you also have ghsv (i.e. genital herpes).

Edited June 28, 2018 by Cas9

[Marley91]

15 hours ago, Cas9 said:

Generally, yes, the OB occurs in the area where you got infected. The virus travels from the skin where the virus entered, then down the nerve axons to the nerve cell bodies in the ganglion. The virus lives there. When the virus replicates (i.e. becomes active), it travels from the nerve cell bodies, and back up the axons and to the same locations on the skin where you were infected, resulting in sores. Over time, the other nerve cells in that same ganglion will also get infected via the initially infected nerve cells. This reinfecting occurs within the ganglion. These newly infected nerve cells travel to different locations on the skin, so when the virus becomes active in those newly infected nerve cells, you can get sores at different locations than the initial infection site. I think that generally, those other locations on the skin are in the same general area however. So, for example, a whitlow OB could show up on another part of your hand.

I doubt that the nerve ganglion in the armpit, has nerve cells that travel to your hip area. But your description of the pain on your hip does sound like herpes. That hip area is one of the areas where I get that pain you describe, because of my genital herpes. So I'm wondering whether you also have ghsv (i.e. genital herpes).

I hope I don’t also have ghsv. I’m having a hard enough time with it being on my hand. I’ve had the pain in my legs and hips before but never had an ob in those areas. I feel like I would have known since my first ob on my hand was so incredibly painful! 

Thank you for all of your info! I’m super confused about the shedding process. I was told you can only infect people if the listed pop and any of the liquid gets into someone’s open skin? Is that not the case are there other ways to spread it? Also- is it just the ob itself that’s contagious or could other parts of my hand be?

[Cas9]

24 minutes ago, Marley91 said:

I hope I don’t also have ghsv. I’m having a hard enough time with it being on my hand. I’ve had the pain in my legs and hips before but never had an ob in those areas. I feel like I would have known since my first ob on my hand was so incredibly painful! 

Thank you for all of your info! I’m super confused about the shedding process. I was told you can only infect people if the listed pop and any of the liquid gets into someone’s open skin? Is that not the case are there other ways to spread it? Also- is it just the ob itself that’s contagious or could other parts of my hand be?

In general, you can pass the virus to someone else when you're shedding, albeit it is less likely than if you have an actual OB (sores).

The location factors into this issue also. For example, shedding from the hands is, as I understand it, less of an issue because the skin is thicker there. So even if the virus becomes active and travels to the skin, it stays underneath the skin because of the thickness of the skin. In that case, you can't spread it to someone else. So if you're not having an OB on your hands it's far less likely that you would be contagious, but I wont say impossible.

But if you're having an OB on your genitals, you are still contagious when shedding because the virus can get through and onto the skin surface.

How do you think you got whitlow? You said you had it on your palm so I was thinking that you masturbated someone who had ghsv2. Unless you've never masturbated someone, then that's a distinct possibility. And if that's the case, then that guy could have given it to you genitally also during intercourse. I'm not saying any of this is true, just pointing out some possibilities.

BTW, I have ghsv2 (confirmed) and I believe I have whitlow also (unconfirmed). So you're not alone.

[Marley91]

17 minutes ago, Cas9 said:

In general, you can pass the virus to someone else when you're shedding, albeit it is less likely than if you have an actual OB (sores).

The location factors into this issue also. For example, shedding from the hands is, as I understand it, less of an issue because the skin is thicker there. So even if the virus becomes active and travels to the skin, it stays underneath the skin because of the thickness of the skin. In that case, you can't spread it to someone else. So if you're not having an OB on your hands it's far less likely that you would be contagious, but I wont say impossible.

But if you're having an OB on your genitals, you are still contagious when shedding because the virus can get through and onto the skin surface.

How do you think you got whitlow? You said you had it on your palm so I was thinking that you masturbated someone who had ghsv2. Unless you've never masturbated someone, then that's a distinct possibility. And if that's the case, then that guy could have given it to you genitally also during intercourse. I'm not saying any of this is true, just pointing out some possibilities.

BTW, I have ghsv2 (confirmed) and I believe I have whitlow also (unconfirmed). So you're not alone.

Okay thank you for all of that info! 

I don’t think I have ever just used my hand in a sexual activity like that lol. So I feel like if I got it sexually I should also have it in other areas so that’s why it’s so bizarre that I have it on my hand. I’m very curious how long I’ve had the virus and if it just now chose to show up? I used to think I had fybromyalgia bc I would get that burning skin feeling and I never knew what it was but until April I never had a breakout. 

 

I’m very frustrated because every time one of my ob is almost healed I get another! I’m going on over 2 months of this. I’m on my 4th round of antivirals and I take a million vitamins a day to try and boost my immune system. I’m wondering if I have an intense version or something because it never seems to go away? I’m hoping I dong deal with this forever. The pain isn’t as bad as it was in my initial ob and finally they’ve given me anyivjrals thy seem to help so maybe I’ll be in the clear after this. 

 

Even if there is stull redness fading on the slin thats not considered an ob is it? If it’s all healed and almost looks like you have a faint pink scar left over? All of this is so frustrating and so confusing thank you so much for helping me!! 

 

Do hou take lysine? And if so how much? And do you up your dosage during an ob?

 

i also forgot to mention that I’m an esthetician and I specialize in waxing specifically Brazilians. But I ALWAYS wear gloves and it’s my understanding that the virus can’t live on foreign surfaces? Also I can’t remnebe ever having a time where I had a cut on the palm of my hand in the location of the ob’s. I feel like I would have seen if a client had an ob and to my knowedge I’ve only had one client who ever disclosed that info to me. But again I’m always wearing gloves 

Edited June 28, 2018 by Marley91

[Cas9]

7 hours ago, Marley91 said:

Okay thank you for all of that info! 

I don’t think I have ever just used my hand in a sexual activity like that lol. So I feel like if I got it sexually I should also have it in other areas so that’s why it’s so bizarre that I have it on my hand. I’m very curious how long I’ve had the virus and if it just now chose to show up? I used to think I had fybromyalgia bc I would get that burning skin feeling and I never knew what it was but until April I never had a breakout. 

 

I’m very frustrated because every time one of my ob is almost healed I get another! I’m going on over 2 months of this. I’m on my 4th round of antivirals and I take a million vitamins a day to try and boost my immune system. I’m wondering if I have an intense version or something because it never seems to go away? I’m hoping I dong deal with this forever. The pain isn’t as bad as it was in my initial ob and finally they’ve given me anyivjrals thy seem to help so maybe I’ll be in the clear after this. 

 

Even if there is stull redness fading on the slin thats not considered an ob is it? If it’s all healed and almost looks like you have a faint pink scar left over? All of this is so frustrating and so confusing thank you so much for helping me!! 

 

Do hou take lysine? And if so how much? And do you up your dosage during an ob?

 

i also forgot to mention that I’m an esthetician and I specialize in waxing specifically Brazilians. But I ALWAYS wear gloves and it’s my understanding that the virus can’t live on foreign surfaces? Also I can’t remnebe ever having a time where I had a cut on the palm of my hand in the location of the ob’s. I feel like I would have seen if a client had an ob and to my knowedge I’ve only had one client who ever disclosed that info to me. But again I’m always wearing gloves 

I'm surprised you haven't ever manually stimulated your partner. I mean, isn't that a pretty common thing during foreplay? lol

Anyway, I think at this point it's not worth speculating how you got it on your hand. My comment about stroking a man was simply that the palm of the hand, as opposed to the fingers, is not a common place to get whitlow, and certainly, the palm is involved in stroking of his penis. And you also mentioned the skin pain at your hip and buttocks. So I was envisioning the possibility you had an encounter with a man who had ghsv. During that encounter, you manually stimulated him (not necessarily to the point of ejaculation), and then had intercourse. That combination could have led to infections in both areas (genitals and hand). But just speculating of course.

Your lower 48 issues may be something else. You mentioned fibromyalgia; Have you now ruled that out?

Generally, you should wait until your sores are completely healed. The faint pink color is probably ok; i.e. the virus is probably gone by then. That said, if that faint pinkness only hangs around for a day or two you could just play it safe and wait. But to be honest, the virus is likely long gone at that point.

No, I don't take lysine. The jury is still out on whether that works, but if you try it and you see benefit, by all means, go ahead and take it. Remember though, there's the placebo effect. So if you "believe" the Lysine is beneficial, it may help you.

The virus can live on foreign surfaces briefly. It depends on the surface; i.e. temperature and humidity may play a role. I don't want to get too specific on this issue because I really don't know except for a couple of articles I've briefly read on the internet. But generally speaking, yes, the virus doesn't really last on a surface. Furthermore, it's easily destroyed with simple soap and water.

The cut on your hand is a possibility for viral entry. But again, there's no sense in banging your head against the wall trying to figure out where you got it.

Regarding your immune system, eat well, exercise moderately, keep your stress level down, and by all means, get the proper amount of sleep. Sleep is very important to your immune system. In all the years I've had that burning skin sensation, 80% of the time it is resolved after a good nights sleep.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Cas9

[Marley91]

On 6/28/2018 at 4:50 PM, Cas9 said:

I'm surprised you haven't ever manually stimulated your partner. I mean, isn't that a pretty common thing during foreplay? lol

Anyway, I think at this point it's not worth speculating how you got it on your hand. My comment about stroking a man was simply that the palm of the hand, as opposed to the fingers, is not a common place to get whitlow, and certainly, the palm is involved in stroking of his penis. And you also mentioned the skin pain at your hip and buttocks. So I was envisioning the possibility you had an encounter with a man who had ghsv. During that encounter, you manually stimulated him (not necessarily to the point of ejaculation), and then had intercourse. That combination could have led to infections in both areas (genitals and hand). But just speculating of course.

Your lower 48 issues may be something else. You mentioned fibromyalgia; Have you now ruled that out?

Generally, you should wait until your sores are completely healed. The faint pink color is probably ok; i.e. the virus is probably gone by then. That said, if that faint pinkness only hangs around for a day or two you could just play it safe and wait. But to be honest, the virus is likely long gone at that point.

No, I don't take lysine. The jury is still out on whether that works, but if you try it and you see benefit, by all means, go ahead and take it. Remember though, there's the placebo effect. So if you "believe" the Lysine is beneficial, it may help you.

The virus can live on foreign surfaces briefly. It depends on the surface; i.e. temperature and humidity may play a role. I don't want to get too specific on this issue because I really don't know except for a couple of articles I've briefly read on the internet. But generally speaking, yes, the virus doesn't really last on a surface. Furthermore, it's easily destroyed with simple soap and water.

The cut on your hand is a possibility for viral entry. But again, there's no sense in banging your head against the wall trying to figure out where you got it.

Regarding your immune system, eat well, exercise moderately, keep your stress level down, and by all means, get the proper amount of sleep. Sleep is very important to your immune system. In all the years I've had that burning skin sensation, 80% of the time it is resolved after a good nights sleep.

I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that the chances of me having it on my hand and not in other areas is slim if I caught it sexually. Although I have only had an ob on my hand and not in other areas. 

I didn’t realize how important sleep was for it. I exercise daily and don’t eat terribly. 

I’m hoping that the ob’s calm down? I’m going on my 3rd consisting ob in 2 months. It’s overwhelming and I feel ridiculous having a bandaid on my hand. 

 

My doctor told told me I don’t need to disclose that I have hsv2 to my partners and that if I have an ob on my hand I can not pass it through having unprotected sex. I’ve read online that if you get ob’s in one area it’s less likely to see them in other areas unless you pass it to yourself? I really never use my left hand and I always have a band aid over it so I feel confident that i haven’t spread it anywhere else. I’m wondering if there is a chance I could have it Genital and not know it? 

[Cas9]

5 hours ago, Marley91 said:

I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that the chances of me having it on my hand and not in other areas is slim if I caught it sexually. Although I have only had an ob on my hand and not in other areas. 

I didn’t realize how important sleep was for it. I exercise daily and don’t eat terribly. 

I’m hoping that the ob’s calm down? I’m going on my 3rd consisting ob in 2 months. It’s overwhelming and I feel ridiculous having a bandaid on my hand. 

 

My doctor told told me I don’t need to disclose that I have hsv2 to my partners and that if I have an ob on my hand I can not pass it through having unprotected sex. I’ve read online that if you get ob’s in one area it’s less likely to see them in other areas unless you pass it to yourself? I really never use my left hand and I always have a band aid over it so I feel confident that i haven’t spread it anywhere else. I’m wondering if there is a chance I could have it Genital and not know it? 

I see.
OK, so I was basing my scenario on the premise that you may have ghsv2 also, given your symptoms (butt and hip). That said, the scenario where someone performs oral sex only (which can involve manual stimulation also) is not an unlikely scenario, and in that case, one could get it on their hand only; i.e. it's difficult to get hsv2 on the mouth (albeit not impossible) because that strain of virus doesn't do well in that area. Hsv1 is the predominate virus in the oral area.
I'm just throwing out some scenarios for you to ponder on how you could have gotten it just on your hand via a sexual act. Of course you could have gotten it via a non-sexual act also.

Yes, you could have genital and not know it. You would have to get a swab of the area to see if it's there also; i.e. a blood test wont tell you where you have it specifically, it just tells you that you have it. If you don't have any sores, a standard swab wont work. You would need a PCR test/swab, which can detect the presence of the virus on the skin without the presence of a sore. But of course that would still require the virus to be present, which would not be the case if you were not viral shedding.

Regarding your hand, as long as there's no sore there then I would not be concerned with passing it on; it's quite unlikely, perhaps nearly impossible. Personally, if I had no sore on the hand I wouldn't give it a second thought in terms of using my hands in sex. If you do have a sore there then by all means, avoid having it come in contact with a partner. You could do that by total avoidance or by covering up the sore.

Passing the virus to yourself is quite possible prior to the establishment of antibodies, which likely takes weeks. You would have to check out how long it takes. Passing it to yourself once you've established antibodies is possible but rare. It can happen if a person's immune system is compromised. But again, it's quite rare according to the experts.

 

[Marley91]

Thank you so much!

Im getting nervous that the antivirals im taking arent working?

My frist ob i was given Acyclovir (1 tablet 3x/day for 5 days) I wasnt sure what to expect and didnt get great info from my physician so I took the dose and that was it. Nothing happened I still had the ob and it was extremely painful.

2 weeks later I got another ob (the 1st one still hadnt healed) I didnt take anything for it. 

2 weeks after that both ob's were almost healed and then i got another one. I called the dr and was given the same treatment, Acyclovir (1 tablet 3x/day for 5 days.) Nothing changed after taking that so i was given Valacyclovir (1 tablet 2/day for 3 days) This seemed to finally help heal my ob- I stil had marks on my skin but no blisters, they were healing. (note: my blisters never pop & never scab over due to the thick skin on my palm) 

As the last ob was healing i started feeling the tingling in my hip & arm and i took another dose of the Valacyclovir (1 tablet 2/day for 3 days) I just ended that yesterday and now today i see & feel another ob and blisters coming.  I thought that taking the meds ASAP would prevent an ob? 

 

Im getting nervous that maybe my body doesnt react well to the antivirals? Im also seeing a lot online about people having HIV & herpes and wondering if those go hand in hand and if its something i should worry about??

[WilsoInAus]

Back to your first diagnosis, did you get a swab and blood? What were the results?

[Marley91]

1 minute ago, WilsoInAus said:

Back to your first diagnosis, did you get a swab and blood? What were the results?

I had a swab of the ob on my palm and the results were HSV2

[WilsoInAus]

Did you get the results? What test did they do to determine type.

A blood test may have indicated whether you had the virus well before the outbreak. 

In these circumstances, many non genital HSV-2 infections are acquired at birth - pretty much assuring a singlular location.

[Marley91]

I did get the results but I no longer have them.

My doctor said that getting the blood test wasnt necessary but maybe I should so that I can have peace of mind. I just had my first ob at the age of 26- is it typical/can  the virus stay dormant for that long if it was acquired a birth?

 

[WilsoInAus]

Yes, especially with HSV-2 infections off the genitals - it so rarely even sheds.

Do you happen to remember if the test was PCR or culture?

[Marley91]

I have a question about your first statement 'it rarely even sheds' can you explain that to me? hsv2 rarely sheds, or if its off the genitals? 

 

Im sorry i dont remember but i can call on monday and ask. I just know that they punctured one of my blisters and swabbed it. The doctor was so confident saying it can only spread if the lesions are open and there is liquid present- she was rubbing her fingers all over my ob i was dying! I havent been back since and im searching for a new doctor. Is there a specific doctor i should see? Its so hard to get any info since hsv2 on the hand is so rare, not sure if i should see my obgyn?