posted 02-11-2003 02:05 PM            

No, not necessarily. There really are such things as ingrown hairs and pimples and so on that have nothing to do with herpes. If they come up in the same place over and over, then you should get it checked out by getting a culture swab within 24-48 hours of the onset of the symptoms.

Most people that find their way to this board usually have some other reason to suspect that it is herpes in their case. If you're concerned and want to be sure for your own peace of mind, get a type-specific blood test done, which will show if you have either type even when you don't have any symptoms.

The stuff around your mouth could be HSV-1, which most of us have from childhood. To be on the safe side, you should avoid kissing or other skin-to-skin contact from the symptomatic areas when you have those symptoms.

Hope that helps.

posted 02-11-2003 03:50 PM            

People might suspect they have herpes when symptoms suddenly appear within a few weeks after having sex, esp. with a new partner. There are other symptoms too, like tingling, itching, burning, swelling or redness in a particular area, or flu-like symptoms like swollen lymph glands. If they get sensory or visible symptoms in the same place over and over, that's a red flag too.

Hope that helps!

posted 02-15-2003 06:47 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by TickledPeenk:
I still am not sure which type I have, even though I'm pretty sure it's HSV1. I'm on Kaiser and they're really cheap, and I doubt they'd do the western blot. If I asked them to do the POCKit and it came up negative, would it be safe to assume I have type 1?

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That would be my conclusion too, assuming your first symptoms came on more than 16 weeks ago.