Hi, I met a guy at a party last week and we started having protected sex (it had been 4 years since I slept with anyone). But then on Sunday night (about 4 days ago) the condom slipped down to an inch or so covering - he realized this and we stopped. The next day, I got my period and also started feeling really itchy. 4 days later, I still feel really itchy, sometimes I get a slight tingling, but in general it just feels sore, yet there are no visible sores. i'm freaking out that i may have gotten herpes. i know this guy has slept with a lot of girls ... which makes me think my chances of getting it are higher. a few weeks ago i went to the gyn for itching (before any of this happened) and at that time she said it was probably yeast. but i didn't end up taking the diflucan because the itchiness went away on its own. and now it's back, and i'm really afraid it's herpes this time. i made an appt to see a gyn next week, but in the meantime, please let me know what you think ... i'm going crazy thinking about it. what do you think my chances are?
Herpes is a crazy virus...and can cause a wide variety of symptoms. The symptoms can vary between itching, redness, sores, burning, tingling, bumps, cuts...in some cases, people just get itching or tingling without ever getting any visible symtpoms. In fact, some people never get any symptoms at all, but are carriers. So in short, it is impossible to tell if your symptoms are herpes or not...
And as for you chances, again theres no way to tell. Some people go for years sleeping with an infected partner and never get it. But then you have people like me who used a condom but still got infected from having sex just once with an infected partner. Condoms are not all that effective against herpes, because herpes only requires skin-to-skin contact to transmit.
Only thing you can do is talk to your doctor. On another note, since you had similar itching just a few weeks ago, that might be a good sign that it is just yeast...but you won't know for sure until you get tested.
My advice is: Go get a blood test ASAP to make sure you didn't have herpes from before (meaning you were a "carrier"), and then you'll have to wait for 4 months to be blood tested again, because that is how long it can take for your body to build detectable anti-bodies to this virus.
Last edited by unlucky_guy; 02-11-2005 at 10:07 AM.
Thanks for writing back so quickly. I've been checking this site every 5 minutes for responses because I'm so paranoid. Unfortunately, doesn't feel like it's just yeast this time because I've had slight pain/burning/soreness & the feeling that I have a cut - these symptoms have been constant all week, and unexperienced before. I have an appt with my gyn on monday and will get all of the tests done. I'm a little confused by your comment, though. Do you mean I won't know from Monday's testing if I was recently infected? I have to wait 4 months to find out?? I'm really going to go crazy if that's the case. I'm very emotionally stressed about the whole thing. Wish I had never slept with this guy ...
Thanks for writing back so quickly. I've been checking this site every 5 minutes for responses because I'm so paranoid. Unfortunately, doesn't feel like it's just yeast this time because I've had slight pain/burning/soreness & the feeling that I have a cut - these symptoms have been constant all week, and unexperienced before. I have an appt with my gyn on monday and will get all of the tests done. I'm a little confused by your comment, though. Do you mean I won't know from Monday's testing if I was recently infected? I have to wait 4 months to find out?? I'm really going to go crazy if that's the case. I'm very emotionally stressed about the whole thing. Wish I had never slept with this guy ...
Unless you have a visible symptom (like a fresh sore), the swab tests are not very reliable (they give a lot of false-negatives). So unfortunately, unless you get a positive result by swab, you won't know for sure whether or not you have herpes until 4 months has passed since your last sexual exposure. Because thats how long it can take before the blood test is able to detect herpes anti-bodies (which is how it works).
oh, I didn't know you were supposed to wait 4 months. Really? When I called Planned Parenthood yesterday I told them I wanted to get the blood test done and they didn't mention anything about that. I had sex with my ex in December, so I should wait till April to get tested?
oh, I didn't know you were supposed to wait 4 months. Really? When I called Planned Parenthood yesterday I told them I wanted to get the blood test done and they didn't mention anything about that. I had sex with my ex in December, so I should wait till April to get tested?
You can get tested earlier than that, because sometimes the virus will be detectable sooner. For instance, some people get a blood test every month just so they may be able to know if they are positive quicker. But as far as definitive results, if you get a NEGATIVE result after 4 months, then you can be 99% certain that you are not infected with herpes.
Last edited by unlucky_guy; 02-11-2005 at 11:01 AM.
I too thought i was having a yeast infection when my symptoms started, massive discharge and over sometime sore appeared.
I had the cultural swab done (open sore test) and it came back positive on me.
I know you are freaking out now, and you said it yourself you knew this guy had slept with a lot of girls, why did you feel it necessary to hook up w/him without thinking he may have this?
I'd get the blood test done, and be more careful in the future if you results come back negative...good luck!!
I normally dont like to write back to these posts because I am not a dr and I dont want to scare anyone, but I got bad info the first time I went to teh dr about what I thought was a yeast infection. So all I can do is tell you about my experience. I went in for tching and burning, I leftwith a perscription for diflucan as well. I took it, it didnt help. About a week later I went back, saw a sifferent dr though. She looked and said I have to run a test, but Im pretty sure its herpes. She explained to me that when you get a yeast infection you get a chunky dischange very very simular to cottage cheese looking accompanied by the tears etc. (sorry so graphic) and that herpes isnt like that. I dont have open sores when I get a OB, I get a few cuts that sting a little and itch. Can you use a mirror and look closer? I dont want to scare you, trust me I dont, I guess I tell you this so you can question the dr, ask questions and dont leave with a bad diagnosis, dont be scared to ask and ask for both blood and swab tests, be sure. Granted because you said how you had ichy feeling before, this could be nothing, so like I said I dont want to scare you. Woite back and let us know it went.
well i went to the dr today and she wasn't really helpful. she wouldn't say anything without seeing test results. at this point, i know it's not just a yeast infection, because over the weekend i had a terrible sore throat, fever, and fatigue ... flulike symptoms that are common to herpes. also strange, but it appeared that i had blood in my stool. dr did a stool test though and said it was negative. it's been about a week, and i still have mild sharp pains inside the vagina. i ended up getting a few blood tests, as well as a throat culture. somebody above asked why i slept with the guy if i knew he had slept with a lot of girls. simple answer is ... a stupid mistake. i had only slept with 1 guy before that (a 5 yr relationship) ... 4 years had gone by since then and i thought if he uses a condom, i wouldn't be able to catch anything. didn't know you could get herpes. and didn't know the condom would slip down. that had never happened before. i'm very depressed by this whole thing because i've stayed clean my whole life and just ruined it for myself. wish i could turn back the clock. question, does it sound to you like it's herpes or something else? the dr saw yeast which is causing the itching, and i'm assuming it's herpes that's causing the slight pains (constant for a week now) and flulike symptoms over the weekend.
Confused...I had a similar problem. Here I am 3 months and 5 doctors later and no one can give me an answer. If you find out, please let me know!!! [ please carefully review the posting rules - no emails ]
Last edited by moderator2; 02-17-2005 at 07:08 AM.
Reason: please carefully review the posting rules - no emails
well, I saw another gyn yesterday and she said there was nothing wrong with me. she said my yeast infection may have caused little cuts/soreness, and that my flulike symptoms over the weekend may have been coincidental. she said that i probably got sick over the weekend because i had been stressing so much and totally shot down my immune system. so for now, i'm just going to act normal, not stress, and wait for the test results ... i guess in 4 mos time i'll know for sure. meanwhile, the guy i slept with had tests taken and said he was negative for everything. but again, might be early for it to show up in his tests, because he had slept with someone 3 weeks prior. so, for now i'm going to try to put it in the back of my mind. thanks to everyone who's written on these message boards, you've all been really helpful! and i guess staying calm is good advice ... stress only makes things worse...
