Question:
First off, I apologize for the length of this post. I'm overseas, and consequently completely alone. I've been very, very ill, and would appreciate any and all help in getting to the bottom of this--so here's the whole (long) history:

Perhaps 6 weeks ago, my boyfriend gave me oral sex. (We also had sexual intercourse only once, but with a condom.) I left not too long thereafter to study abroad in Italy, and about 1.5 weeks later ended up at a gynecologist for what seemed to be a yeast infection. I'd never had one before, and his English was terrible. He took a quick look, ran no tests whatsoever, and gave me some suppositories and pills. Things seemed to be more or less better, although there was still some very, very mild (nearly unnoticeable) discomfort in my vaginal area.

About 2/2.5 weeks ago, the vaginal discomfort increased somewhat--just sort of mildly burning. I started running a low-grade fever, especially at night and had some slight abdominal pain. I saw an Italian GP, who ran some tests for mono and rheumatism and checked my blood cell counts--everything came back fine. I was starting to feel a little better, and then about 1 weeks ago the fever started to return, and the vaginal burning really increased. In a frantic online search for whatever I might have I stumbled herpes, and sort of freaked to realize that I had experienced pretty much all of the symptoms, although as of yet had seen no blisters or sores within my vagina: it was just red and very raw. Monday I thought I saw some blister-y sores right in my vagina, but they have since disappeared. (Now it's just sort of red, raw, and rather swollen.) This prompted the panicked contact of said-boyfriend (only guy I've gotten intimate with--what a way to start out . . .) and (being poor students) resulted in a very awkward online conversation. Ends up he had cold sores as a kid, and claims he hasn't had them in over 20 years. My stomach plummeted a little at that.

These last few days my symptoms have included a rather high fever (last night it crawled up to 102*F), swollen lymph nodes (but I think limited entirely in my neck), this burning and rawness of my vagina, aches and pains (especially in my back and buttocks/legs), lower abdominal pain, and some mild headaches. Just in case things weren't bad enough, earlier today I also broke out in hives, a problem I have never had before.

I saw the gynecologist again yesterday. He listened to me for about 30 seconds before telling me that I cannot possibly have anything wrong with my vagina that would give me a fever, gave me a very cursory look over, and passed me back off to the GP I had been seeing. The GP's English is better, but still not great. He sort of dismissed all talk of herpes as well, being more worried about the fever and swollen glands. I went in for some blood work today, and decided that I would also get the serum tests for herpes. Tonight I am seeing both the GP and his OB-GYN friend--hopefully they are a little more receptive this evening.

I am hoping that it is all in my head (perhaps I've made it all up?), but the symptoms combined do make an awful lot of sense for a first OB. Whatever this is, I need to get to the bottom of it--I've got chronic kidney disease as well, and one of my latest medications is a very slight immunosuppressant, which I haven't been taking regularly these last few days in case it is contributing to whatever these symptoms are that I've been experiencing.

In short, I'm overseas and I'm feeling very, very ill. I'm frustrated both at my inability to get to the root of this problem, and at my inability to discuss freely with my physicians what I fear that I have.

Any feedback would be very much appreciated--comments on symptoms, or advice as to how I ought to proceed. I feel very much alone (naturally, I'm hesitant to even raise the possibility with my parents . . .) and very scared. I'm completely panicked, and do not know what I can do. I feel that this could be easily resolved at home, but somehow things seem to be getting lost in translation here.

Thanks a lot for your help . . .

Answer:
I'm so sorry you feel this way. I can't imagine going through this in a place where i couldn't fully communicate with my doctors!

What you're describing does sound like a classic HSV combination, but nothing is certain.

I don't really have much advice, just sympathy. I hope you can get it all sorted out!!!!