LynnDewald

This message is for anyone who is curious about herpes or wants to know if they have it and what the symptoms are. I will tell you from a man and womens' perspective considering my boyfriend and I both have it.

Know that I am not a dr. and do not have all the answers! Everyone is different. This is from personal experience. Details may be graphic!

When I was 16 I was sexually assulted by a man who had genital herpes. We did not have sex. He simply forced his bare genitals against my bare genitals and that was all it took. 4 or 5 days later I noticed small red bumps near the opining of my vagina. Bee sting bumps is what I compare them to. Shortly after I noticed them, it started hurting to pee. I noticed that those 'bee sting bumps' were creeping into the inside walls of my vagina. I also noticed small tearing lines around the inside of my vagina also. They hurt to the touch. Then came the scabs which formed all over my inner vagina lips. The scabs were yellow/brown. My final step to pushing me towards seeing a doctor was when it hurt bad enough to where I couldn't walk. I went to the doctor with my mother (yes it was embarrassing but trust me, it hurt too much to continue denying anything was wrong) and he did a test on me. That consisted of him taking a single q-tip and taking a sample of my discharge. Three days later the results came back and I was positive. He gave me pain killers (upon request) and within a few days (2-3) the pain started to become less and less. When healing, the scabs can fall off and that can hurt! Women, try using a pad when you begin to heal, as changing your underwear may hurt. Total relief of pain takes around one week.

For my boyfriend (he knew about me having herpes and wanted to have unprotected sex anyway as we are engaged) things went differently. There was no pain, only small, scattered red bumps that went away over a course of a few days. Then sometimes he would get white or purple dry scabs which were small and also unpainful. He does not take any medication for this.

Symptoms are different for everyone. You can have genital herpes and not know it!