Happy to be here, (in spite of the circumstances)

Hello. I've had issues since last August, when I had reconnected with an old flame from 12 yrs ago. We were safe, but apparently not safe enough as I've had what I thought was a yeast infection the week of my period every mth since. And in August, the first time we slept together, I woke up swollen and in pain. A few days later I found myself in Urgent Care with the worst flu-like symptoms and pain down there ever, and was wrongly diagnosed with a yeast and a bacterial infection. I took all the meds and went on with life. In Sept, I had gone to Planned Parenthood for what I thought was the gamut of std testing, just to be on the safe side, and of course all was negative. (not tested for the H of course, which at the time I was unaware of).

Since October I've been in a wonderful new relationship with the most amazing, intelligent, thoughtful man ever. However, every time we've been intimate I wake up the next day with a "papercut" in the same spot, and it stays there for several days.

I thought it was because I hadn't had much sex in the past several years, and with condoms I've been getting dry, even with lube. Fast forward to January, and my poor sweet boyfriend breaks out in a horrific rash all over his base and scrotum. He goes to the dr, is ALSO wrongly diagnosed with an "allergic reaction", and is given a topical ointment which did nothing to heal him. Eventually after a couple of wks he scabbed and healed, and we continued to believe that he had just had an allergic reaction and thought nothing more about it.

Fast forward to Valentines weekend. We actually get the weekend to ourselves, despite our hectic schedules, kids, jobs, etc. We go away for the weekend and have an amazing time. However, the very next day I wake up to light bloody spots and the papercut thing again, in the very same spot. I waited it out for a few days but things got worse. I called my obgyn, she wanted to see me this time instead of just calling me in the standard Diflucan. She took one look and called out to her nurse to grab an hsv culture kit. Then she broke the news, it was either hsv1, or hsv2, but I would find out in 7-10 days when the culture was complete. Then I got the call, extremely positive for hsv2. I was shocked, devastated, and even more so that it became clear that I had also infected this wonderful new man in my life. I broke the news to him and he was very understanding. He got tested as well and was also positive for hsv2. He didn't have lesions for a culture, but took the antibody blood test. He was told it was a recent infection based on his counts. I feel terrible. And how were 2 different people so wrongly diagnosed? And why didn't I get an initial outbreak like the ones I see online? Is that coming later for me? I did feel awful that day in August and could barely drive I was so weak with a high fever. But I wasn't covered in sores. Just the one papercut area that the Urgent Care dr told me was an ulcer from yeast. I wish I had known then what I know now, then I could've prevented myself from spreading this to someone else. Does anyone else have a similar story? Also, we have not been intimate since Valentine's weekend. He's still very much in this (as am I), but 1) I don't want him to outbreak again like I have continuously each month with my papercuts, 2) I don't want ME to outbreak again from having sex again, which is obviously a trigger. But we're still in love, in spite of our recent diagnosis. I feel very lucky as I know it could've easily gone the other way. I'm just looking for some advice, or to find out if anyone else had a similar story to mine.

Hello @sadpanda,

Sorry you encountered the Keystone Doctors. You've found out the hard way how poor herpes knowledge can be in medicine. WCSDancer 2010 has always said obgyn doctors are the best ones to see when it comes to herpes.

Are you two taking antivirals? Might consider them if you are not. They can help your bodies get a handle on the virus. The first year can be hell. It will settle down eventually. Look around the site. Read the handouts and ebook, great information to get started with.

@Sadpanda

Hello and Welcome!

Hate to say it but Urgent Care is one of the last places I'd send someone with a possible STD... especially Herpes... they may be good for sewing you back up or diagnosing a heart attack, but their training on STD's is usually brief and incomplete, and terribly out of date :(

Your "papercut" OB's are typical Herpes but sadly most of these "clinic" Drs (as well as GP's and PCP's) mostly just believe that Herpes presents as a blister and don't recognize the other ways that it presents.... :(

As for having sex.... well, you can't pass it back and forth and likely if he was going to autoinnoculate it would have happened by now. So don't worry about that. And unfortunately H can be triggered by sex ... but as @Ihaveittoo said, perhaps you should try anti-virals ... you can either take them episodically (ie: maybe take them when you plan to have sex (or right after if you have a spontaneous encounter) ... I'd take a double dose for the first one then daily for 3 days after ... see if that helps you to keep the sore from coming up... You can also take them to suppress it for awhile until one of you has it under control then try to wean off and see if you really need them at that point or not.

Over time, the OB's should lessen and you will learn what works for each of you ... so try to be patient with the process and take each day as it comes :)

(((HUGS)))

Thanks guys. The week I found out, I was prescribed acyclovir 3x daily for 7 days.

Then I was prescribed it 2x a day as suppressive therapy. I started to feel another ob

starting not long after the one before it had healed. So my dr switched me to generic

Valtrex, 500 mg a day. I'm also taking olive leaf extract and a probiotic. I was taking

Lysine as well but it was making my kidneys hurt pretty badly. Since the Valtrex, I haven't

missed any doses but I still feel weird pricking pains down there even though I can't see

anything. I also feel achey again all over, and itchy like a yeast infection. I haven't felt

"normal" down there in over a mth. Is that typical? Will I ever feel normal again? I'm so

grateful for this site as it's nice to have some non-judgemental, informed support. I will

also be seeking a new obgyn as I feel like mine was not very understanding/empathetic when

diagnosing me. Anyway, thanks for the kind words. I'm learning a lot from the other stories

on this forum.