Throat HSV2 from oral sex- it can happen

Hi everyone

Wanted to tell my story as it is supposedly rare and lots of misinformation out there.

When I was away on vacation, I hooked up with a fellow traveller. We had protected sex with very little forplay. I gave him unprotected oral sex for literally 2 mins. The next morning my throat was sore, so I figured I was getting a cold. That afternoon I noticed there was white spots on my tonsils, so I thought oh great I have strep throat. I couldn't access a doctor or medication so had to tough it out. A few days later I feel better though not a 100% and white spots were going away. Feel I'm on the mend so have some drinks (a few too many but hey I'm on vacation).

Next day I wake up with a massive headache, wicked sore throat, fever, swollen glands and white spots now in the back of my throat. When I get to a doctor they give me antibiotics without testing (still on vacation). Finally, get home and go to the hospital (I can't eat or drink much and pretty much feel like I am dying)and they test me for everything under the sun and start giving me all kinds of antibiotics and steroids. At this point the pack of my throat is covered with yellow/white coating and tonsils with white coating. They admit me as they X-rays show lesions all the way down my throat. After getting well enough im discharged with no results yet.

2 days later, the doctor phones and said the throat cultures came back positive for HSV2. I couldn't believe it. I had even looked this up before on medical sites and it had said it pretty much doesn't happen.

In the 2 months since (likely) infection I have not felt 100% healthy. Took antivirals for 8 days and naturopathic therapies ever since. Have had a massive headache most of the time and very low energy. Feel like when I had mono when I was young. There is very little information out there, so it is hard to know what to do or how to treat it. Have had several yeast infections due to all the antibiotics.

After diagnosis, I went to my family doctor got cultured again about 3 and 5 weeks in and both were negative but as I said still feeling a bit sick. Last week my throat started to hurt again. My glands are very swollen and white spots forming, so need to go back and find out if it is another outbreak or something else. Truthfully I think it has never fully gone away yet as tonsils never looked fully healed (have had strep many times, so know what infected tonsils look like).

It's starting to feel like I will be sick forever, though I'm sure it will be become latent at some point.

I hope this is a warning to people that you can get oral hsv2 from oral sex with someone who is asymptotic. Both my doctor and I believe many more people have it but just don't get sick from it and don't pass it on, so no one really knows the true statistics. It's s tough lesson to learn as I felt that I was very well informed about stds and was very good about condom usage. I now tell all my friends to specifically ask to be tested when they do there checks.

@lifegoeson1

Hello and Welcome!

First, sorry that you are dealing with this and yes, it CAN happen and we never say on here that it can't happen. However, reality is, if people look at the statistics of the potential for getting oral HSV2, the risk is VERY small.....

If we didn't do things in life based on risks that are in that range then no would ever have sex, no one would ever get in a car, no one would ever leave their house.

A life well lived assumes risk. We will walk out the door and get in our car every day and there is a *small* risk we could be killed in a crash. But we do it anyway. And smart people do what they can to reduce that risk... they keep their car maintained, they don't drive drunk, they drive in the speed limit. And sometimes life happens and they don't see the guy who is running the red light and heading right towards them... and it may be that *THEY* did everything right but their brakes failed or they had a heart attack. Sometimes things happen that we can't see coming, and we have to live with the consequences.

Yes, it would *help* to get everyone tested. AND, people have to understand that no matter what, if you are having non-monogamous sex, there will always be a risk of *something* going wrong and someone getting an STD (according to the CDC EVERYONE will get HPV if they are sexually active) or, as happened to my daughter, an unplanned pregnancy.

Your risk of getting oral H was LESS than my daughter's chance of getting pregnant while on the pill. Yet you both ended up on the wrong end of the odds. To have those odds, *someone* has to get unlucky. It's just life. All we can do is do our best to become well informed, take precautions, and learn from our mistakes. Or we can lock ourselves in our house and never come out again.....

And I'm not knocking your story.... it's good for people to be aware that yes, this *can* happen. But I just feel that we have to look at the reality of life. It's imperfect. We can't control everything. And honestly, I'll take having Herpes (anywhere!) ANY DAY over being on the wrong end of the statistics with many other things in life. Because "odds are" at some point, we will end up on the wrong end of the odds... (Or the RIGHT end in the case of the Powerball winners!)

(((HUGS)))

Wow... I am so sorry to hear that and I know all too well, how HSV 2 can just wreak havoc on your body in strange ways, as I've had issues as well, but I have HSV 2 genitally and HSV 1 orally. It sounds like you developed herpetic esophagitis, which is pretty rare and I've seen people get it from HSV 1 too. Most do not get that. This is an example of why I feel the typing of herpes needs to change and we view both types as just herpes. That would also assist w stopping the stigma. Prior to my H diagnosis, I knew 7 people w H and not one of them has gotten it orally and have plenty of oral sex. It sounds like drinking and travel really lowered your immune system and had you not drank that one night, it may have calmed down. When I drink liquor, it triggers an OB for me. You should get on antivirals for awhile.

So you have no symptoms in your vagina at all? He must have been shedding only in the area covered by a condom.

It took me quite awhile to get where I am w H, cause I have autoimmune diseases. I too development chronic fatigue syndrome, when doing physical activity when not on antivirals. I had to go back on them, because of that. I really think you should try daily suppression for awhile, until things calm down and STAY AWAY FROM ALCOHOL for awhile. Hang in there!

Thanks for the message @WCSDancer2010. You are right about life, anything can happen. Part of what makes it so magical. I just want people to be aware as I was shocked due to my prior research. I am prone to throat infections, so I'm not super surprised this is where it manifested for me. At this point this is new to me so I'm more concerned about my health (or lack of it) then the stigma.

But I'm also a natural born skeptic and though I truly believe in science, I'm not that sure about all those statistics out there. How much testing and research has really been done? Herpes is not a priority to the medical community due to it not often causing serious complications (thankfully).

I remember when the HPV vaccine came out and they wouldn't even give it to anyone over 25 because they said you would have already been in contact with it. Now they know there are so many strains that they have completely changed their approach and even give the vaccination to guys. Personally, due to my hypochondriac ways I like to have all the information available. Yes, it's a small risk but I would have changed my approach to oral sex, had I known.

I'm sure most people on this site are extra careful about sex in general but it is a jungle out there with Super G and Super C and who knows what is coming around the corner.

In the grand scheme of things, this has caused me to slow down and put my health first, so I'm grateful for that as there are many more serious things out there than Herpes.

This site is full of supportive and informed people, so thank you for that.

Sometimes it can be hard to see, but there's always a silver lining to getting H.

Hi lifegoeson1, curious how you're doing? Finally someone with a similar story! I had an exact situation happen to me! I now have autoimmune thyroiditis and have been dealing with swollen glands, constant sore throat and a painful blister on the back of my throat for over a year now that won't go away. When I've told doctors that I think I got herpes from oral sex, they don't believe it's possible. The fellow and I were intimate a few times and AFTER the fact he tells me he has herpes but takes acyclivir daily to keep it under control and his doctor said he cannot infect a partner if he's on the meds. I wish he would have told me before I had oral sex with him and let me make that choice, I think his doctor is wrong! :-( My throat hasn't been the same since! One doctor said it's pointless taking acyclivir because it's prob from my thyroid (which btw, never had an issue with my thyroid) and then my thyroid doctor says that its not common to have throat issues with an autoimmune thyroid. So tired of this, I think I need a new set of doctors!

Sorry for what you went through , when I had my ob of hsv 2 genitally my throats was on fire the first 5 days couldn't swallow, couldn't eat it was scary to even think about swallowing, never inspected the back of my throat but it was horrible, I heard from many doctors saying hsv 2 can't be oral only genital like every last one of them said hsv 2 is only genital and you can only have hsv 1 orally and genital , made me think this was impossible

I think we need more information. You may have had HSV-2, but the symptoms you describe are not typical of HSV-2. It is likely you are coinfected with other organism. In addition, why would they do a culture of HSV-2 (do you mean PCR swab), viruses are difficult to culture. Have you been checked for G/C orally.

I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. I contracted HSV2 genitally about 5 weeks ago from my asymptomatic partner who had no idea he had it. We had oral sex about two weeks ago because everything points to oral HSV2 bring rare, but I now have it orally, too. It is difficult and you are right. There really isnt a lot of information out there on oral HSV2 infection. I do wish there were more because even though it is not common, it can happen and that is so important to know when making conscious decisions that impact our bodies. I hope you are doing better. Thank you for sharing your story.