Question:
Listen to my story... it's very unusual and I need to find out if anyone has ever heard of anything like this.
I'm a 24 year old female who has not had sexual contact of any kind with anyone for three years. Three weeks ago, I developed flu symptoms - fever, aches, diarrhea, for two days. On the third day, I noticed bumps in my vaginal area - several red, hard bumps. My butt had been hurting alot in the past few days because of the diarrhea, but now I noticed the pain had worked its way into my vaginal area. I examined with a mirror, and sure enough, I had more of these bumps - I burst into tears immediately because all I could think was HERPES. I went on the Internet and researched facts - every website said "symptoms typically appear in 2 to 20 days after infection" and I couldn't understand how my first outbreak would appear 3 years later!! Plus, I could never know who gave it to me because the outbreak happened so far after I had stopped sleeping with people. I went to a doctor the next day who examined my sores, heard my sexual history, and confirmed she didn't really think it was herpes, the sores didn't look "typical" (there was no blistering, just red bumps that looked raw and scraped on top), but she still performed a swab test. Two days later and much crying later, I was in so much pain everytime I had to pee I cried. I spent each morning soaking in a bath with baking soda for 20 minutes. I changed my underwear several times a day - I didn't know what to do and how to make the sores stop hurting. I actually went to a pharmacy and described my situation to a pharmacist, who recommended I apply hydrocortisone cream on my sores. So I started doing that, it didn't hurt them but it sure started drying them out. I finally had it and went to a second doctor for a second opinion. When he saw my sores, he declared "sure looks like herpes to me, but we will have to wait until you get that first swab test back." I felt like he didn't even listen to me - when I told him I hadn't had sex for three years, he just nodded his head and said "yeah, sure". Then he proceeded to tell me that the outbreak I was having looked like a SECONDARY outbreak, and I must have already had my primary outbreak long ago but I didn't notice it. How could I have not noticed it! This hurt like hell - bullshit it was a secondary outbreak. The next day and even more crying later, my friend suggested I go to our town's STD clinic because they are the experts on this kind of thing. The nurse there was very sweet and kind, but she too said "it for sure is herpes - I'm sorry." I asked her about the having-no-sex-for-three-years thing, and she admitted it was very rare but it does happen - people can have their first outbreak YEARS later. I asked for a second swab test, because by this time the sores had changed a little in appearance (they were looking crusty and zitty, probably from the hydrocortisone cream I had foolishly applied days earlier). She did a second test and told me I had to call a week later for my results. So I sweated out the next week waiting, I had pretty much convinced myself I had herpes and things were going to change in my life, and I was out of the denial stage and in the "how the hell am I going to ever meet anyone" stage. Then the shocking happened: the first clinic I went to that performed the first swab test told me my results were "absolutely negative". I went back to the doctor and asked, how can that be: I had the flu symptoms, the sores appeared two days, it all fit too perfectly that I had herpes! She didn't have an answer for me - she thinks I might have had a yeast infection, or when I was having that diarrhea with my flu, I may have "wiped improperly" and transmitted bad acidic bacteria to my vaginal area and caused a surface skin infection. I was perplexed. I called the STD clinic who performed the second HSV test, and got the same answer "negative". I asked if perhaps they didn't get a good enough swab, but they confirmed that negative means negative - and they didn't have an answer as to what happened to me. My sores appeared on a Tuesday; they were completely gone by the Wednesday of the following week.
So what the hell happened to me? Everything spelled out herpes, but the tests say otherwise. Plus, I had a test at the very beginning of my outbreak, and the second test was near the end of my outbreak so the timing was done correctly. The only thing not correct was their diagnosis. Still to this day, I don't absolutely believe 100% that I don't have herpes - I'm suspicious I had a "weird undetectable" strain. What else could it be? Anyone feel free to respond if you have heard of anything similiar to my story. Thanks.

Answer:
Maybe you don't have Herpes, but let us not forget that the doctor's word is not the gospel. If you have a situation like that again, you need to go see a new set of doctors that specialize in STDs. It is good that you got a second opinion, most people think one doctor's results are written in stone when in actuality that doctor could have given a misdiagnosis.

All I know is, I have HSV 2 and my outbreak was very painful much like what you described, but maybe 10x's worst. I could hardly walk, stand up straight, get out the bed, take a shower (the soap burned me so bad), and I definitely had a hard time making myself urinate because the urine burned the skin irritation I was having. I wanted to die, no, I wanted to kill my sex partner then I wanted to die.

My outbreak was the very first one and they say the very first one hurts like hell, but everybody's body is different so someone elses first outbreak probably went unnoticed or maybe they only suffered a mild case of it unlike myself since I was humpped over in pain. I developed the Herpes attack twelve days after sexual contact with the guy I slept with so it was in the 2 to 20 days range. The attack lasted for a whole week and I will never forget how much pain I was in. :cry:

Answer:
Thanks for reading my story and replying. I can definately agree with you, I am 100% wiser now than I ever was. I had only a few "careless" times, but after going through that, wow, does it ever make you stop and think... it only takes a second for things to change forever. And the facts I learned about herpes were scary: 1 in 5 people have it, and nearly 90% of people that have it don't know it! I had no idea it was that common. I agree that doctors don't know all the facts, and the next time this ever happens (hope to god it won't) I'm hightailing it back to that STD clinic for more testing. Your outbreak sounds very severe, especially not being able to stand up or get out of bed - that sounds awful! And here, I wanted to die because urine hurt my sores (I'm such a wimp). If it's any consolation, and I'm sure you already know this, the first outbreak is supposed to be the worst one ever and subsequent ones are very few and far between and much less severe - plus they can be controlled with prescriptions like Valtrex. I think most people have maybe two or three outbreaks a year after their primary, and 30% of people with HSV 2 have only the one primary outbreak as their only outbreak ever. The majority of people have their outbreaks cease after 5 years - it's almost like you never had herpes, although the virus lays dormant in you. If that's any tiny bit of consolation for you, I hope - I'll be thinking of you. Take care and stay strong :wink:

Answer:
I have been married for 26 years and having an affair for 4 months with someone I feel I can trust and I have never seen any sores on him. Three weeks ago I began having stomach problems that affected my genital area and cause difficulty urinating etc. About 8 days ago it turned into incredible pain. I had shooting pains in butt, down legs, and in feet. I also could not walk or get out of bed. Worst thing in my life. Doctor did a vaginal and said I looked fine other than fever, she didn't know what was wrong. Well the next day my husband shows me that his penis is covered in blisters, he has no pain though. He had a culture done yesterday and I know we will just wait on results. I just don't understand how I have all the pain, no blisters, and he has the blisters with no pain. I don't who to disbelieve my boyfriend whom I am in love with or my husband. Wish I knew who gave it to who. I am so confused and hurting sooo bad. Any ideas, please??? :cry:

Answer:
My opinion Somegirl is that it is not. It may be something else. I did not have an experience like that but I can say what I did have an experience with that might help you see differently.
I was infected at birth and am 34 yrs. I never knew what it was that I had only surmised it. Of course I surmised it to be herpes. It wasn't until 25 yrs. that I went for a diagnosis and it came back absolutely postive. I don't remember if I got the results done that day or had to wait a week but whatever the wait it definitely came back 100% positive. I would trust the swab test. It seems pretty accurate. esp. since you have had more than one that came back the same.
You may have had another kind of infection that went away. I can't say what but I would trust the swab test. They are on the sure side. If this sore you had doesn't come back than it is not herpes. You did describe the bumps as red and hard. Herpes is soft, fluidy and is more translucent than red. It's tiny little bubbles of fluid all in one cluster. It spreads almost instantly. When it spreads the bubbles grow by mulitipling and inflaming rather than by inflaming one hard lump. If you know it is hard that means you must have pressed it. With herpes if you press it to feel it it would feel soft and fluidy, sting and spread. Herpes does comes back.

Answer:
Black-Orchid, are you female because I have a question. IF you can answer this for me I would whole-heartedly appreciate it. When I come on my cycle, that is when the outbreaks normally occur. Now my cycle isn't like a regular cycle, it's like it'll start off normal with me spotting, but then it turns into one big discharge instead of blood. It's like maybe I have the ulcer of Herpes bumps inside of my vagina that probably erupt and cause me to have a tan colored discharge which later turns yellow with gut looking particles that follow. Sorry to gross you out, but I have been wondering if that's normal for Herpes in Women. :?

Answer:
Thanks to all who have replied and posted messages here....First, to Kara: when you talk of stomach problems and difficulty urinating, do you mean you have pains in your stomach and it is painful to urinate? Immediately I thought maybe you have a bladder infection that has not been attended to. Without treatment they can cause severe abdominal pain, and any infection in your body is bound to make your temperature rise, or what we know as "fever". My other guess would be PID (pelvic inflammatory syndrome) or another STD like chlamydia or gonnorhea. But you said your doctor examined you "down there" and didn't find anything wrong, so those two STDs would probably be out of the question. As for the blisters on your husband's penis, if they are not painful there is a possibility that they may be fever blisters - we can break out in fever blisters in many strange places on our skin, even inside our mouth! I had a friend that broke out in fever blisters all over his tongue and insides of his cheeks after performing oral sex on a girl - you'd think he had the herpes scare of his lifetime. Turns out it wasn't herpes at all. You are definately on the right track getting a test done (your husband), all you can really do is wait for test results. I would prompt you to maybe get a second opinion with another doctor - there may be something there the first doctor missed. Good luck :wink:
Black-Orchid: Thanks for responding. The appearance of herpes you described does not resemble the sores I had. There was no tiny bubbles or blistering, just firm red bumps that got red and raw looking on top. A couple looked like smaller pimples. And within a week, they just seemed to "dissolve" back into my skin because I don't remember any scabbing or flaking off, like a healing wound. Very weird. When I searched "herpes" online many websites described the sores as looking like everything! - bumps, blisters, small scratches, pimples, tiny cuts - you name it - I thought "great!" But I prefer to listen to you since you've been there and know much about it. I appreciate all your advice :)

Answer:
With herpes if you press it to feel it it would feel soft and fluidy, sting and spread. Herpes does comes back. I am trying to read as much of the board as possible so I don't ask redundant questions, but would you say that is typical of the bumps? The non-hardness? Or have you come across those who have had hard (or at least not soft) bumps? I've been scouring webpage after webpage and they list such diverse symptoms. Any comments are of course appreciated.

Answer:
Yeah, Somegirl. It sounds more like something else. When I read herpes stories I literally feel a tingling sensation run through my nerves as if I just got reinfected from reading. I'm just that sensitive to it :)
This is how I would describe the excrutiating pain of the herpes virus. You would feel an extremely piercing, stinging sensation in that one spot like a thousand needles piercing you just in that little spot and never feeling any relief by keeping those needles there for at least a few days. :oops:
If that was not the pain it was something else. Still if you want the ultimate knowledge a test is best because I am only one story and I don't want to be wrong for you. I would never wish anyone to contact this virus. One reason it feels like this stinging sensation is that the h-virus lives in the nerves. When it surfaces it comes out thru nerve endings and now and then it can come out on a nerve ending that ties into other nerves that run the pain down another part of the body that doesn't even have lessions. Eg. having a painful ob on the buttocks with more pain running down the leg from the hamstring thru the calves down to toes because that particular ob landed on a nerve that ties into the nerve running down leg. I think it is called the syatic nerve (not sure of spelling) :oops: :cry:
Typically scabbing and flaking occur if the lessions have been pierced and drained to heal otherwise if no draining has been done than it will just crust over, if that makes sense to you, someone who hasn't had the difference to compare :wink: I hope you never do.
I would go most with the description of it being like a blister, soft and fluidy and stinging. Again to me it still sounds like not the h-virus. Still, clinics who can do cultures are more certain to diagnose. Other sufferers' stories do claim different kinds of symptoms that I know nothing of. I don't know if that is because it is a different strand or type of herpes. I couldn't tell you. I only know my experiences. I do have Herpes 1 & 2.
Wishing the best to you. :P
Black Orchid
I hope this was even more informative :)