Sexually Transmitted Diseases Community

Hello Spatula! Welcome to WebMD! I am glad that you came here for some other opinions. Shingles are a form of herpes but not genital herpes. Having had chicken pox in the past would also explain the possibility of shingles. Did your doctor give you a culture swab or a blood test? Or just assume that it was genital herpes then blame your girlfriend? I have said it once and will say it again, what is with these doctors placing blame on the partners??!!! I'm sure your girlfriend was happy to hear that. Geesh.

I am also glad that you didn't come here freaking out and seemed to have educated yourself a bit on the herpes subject. At this point I would get a type specific IgG test just to ease your mind. This test will tell you if you have HSV 1 known as the cold sore herpes or HSV 2 known as genital herpes. Shingles/chicken pox will not show up on this test. Once you have done this you can post the results here so that we can once again help you out as I am sure your dumb doctor isn't very educated on the test results either. If you chose to post the results post them as test results.

Good luck!

thanks alot for the info.

Yeah, the doctor just looked and said "You have genital herpes". No tests or nothing. I'm pretty sure it isn't genital herpes considering that it's so far from my genitals and me and my girlfriend haven't slept with anyone else. But my girlfriend has already made an appointment to get tested, and I'll probably do the same.

The quickest answer is going to be by a lesion culture. Find a clinic today to be seen at to get a lesion culture done on it. They can test it for both herpes simplex and also herpes zoster that way.

Even if you and your gf were both virgins before you met, she could still have hsv1 orally whether she can recall ever having a cold sore or not. You can transmit hsv1 to the genital area and symptoms can occur anywhere in the entire boxer short area in general.

Could it be shingles? It could be but that's unusual to show up in an otherwise healthy young adult.

It also could be something else entirely. A dermatologist would be the best course of follow up but only if you can be seen today or tomorrow.

Healthy for me is a pretty big stretch. I have a weaker immune system than most people, I tend to get sick about once a month. I also have incredible amounts of stress, I see a therapist regularly and at our last appointment he told me that I could be the poster boy for stress. I heard that stress is a common cause for zoster, and I have had ALOT of it lately. Also, the type 1 herpes seems unlikely considering that we make out on a regular basis and she has given me oral sex on multiple occasions, and nothing has happened until now.

shingles is usually older adults.

I was with my husband for 8 years before I contracted gential HSV1, so it is totally possible to contract it after years of being together (with plenty of making out\oral sex\sex)

wow, 8 years? Are there other was to contract it?

You can get it from someone else that has HSV1 gentially, but oral to gential is usually the way it is transmtted.

Well he didnt know he had HSV1 until I got it genially and he got tested. Sucks to be in a comitted relationship for that long and "suddenly" get it.. But im glad its genital and not oral.. no cold sores to deal with.

Hmm... I know she hasn't oral sex with anyone else but me. It's possible she got it from kissing her ex boyfriend about 3 years ago, but even that seems pretty unlikely. she actually got a test for STDs about 3 weeks ago and everything came up negative. Is it still possible?

Wait, I thoguht you were referring to yourself?

Close to 60% of adults have oral HSV1, many with no symtoms, it is commonly aquired as a child from close adults with HSV1 kissing you as a child.

Why did your partner get tested for std's if you are her only partner she's ever had? How was she tested? Did she have a blood test done for herpes or was it just her routine yearly pap visit? She really needs to check to see if she was even tested for herpes. As for hsv1 orally, many of us contract it when we are small children even but yes you could contract it from anyone you have kissed in a lifetime - it's not a std - hsv1 orally is a contact infection and we have the contact it takes to transmit it without sex being involved. And why would it be transmitted now and not some other time? Well it's not active 24/7/365 and conditions have to be "right" for it to happen. You really can't assume anything at this point about either of you.

Even being the poster boy for stress you need better diagnosis for what is going on. A visual diagnosis of herpes never is enough and even the CDC recommends follow up confirmatory testing. Go see a provider who is willing to do the work that should've been done by the first one.

thanks for the info guys. I just have one more question: Is it possible for genital herpes to ever go away and not flare back up? The doctor told me it is...

yes, that is possible.

you still can give it to someone even with no outbreaks.

clearly you have no clue on telling these people if you have shingles it will 100% come up for both types of hsv the results are in the numbers itself 10.3 12.6 ext.clearly goes by the numbers if the numbers are the same it does in fact mean shingles being there is no test for shingles one can only evaluate the body if your numbers are different then its pretty black and white and is also possible to have both then to its not the end of the world one in 5 us americans carry the herpes virus you can also get shingles at anytime my wife had them at age 18 when she was in school women are 60% more common to get them ver. men how ever the best thing to do is find a doctor you can trust going online is just ref if there great doctors they wont be dishing out free info they get payed the big bucks period and shingles you can have on most anypart of the body about the only place it doesnt go is the private part which im sure comes to your benefit when i had come across this post i was stunned by the info they were giving you cause clearly there are hotlines you can call for this herpes 1and2 do not go on your chest or back but shingles is 100% herpe in a tech sense the only thing you can do is poss pass to a child thats never had chickenpox or a long shot in the dark activate someones that has had chickenpoxs but highly unlikely im not any einstien by no means but i clearly know a lot about this there is a vaccine you can take now for shingles but again you may still have another outbreak and its a couple hundred dollars and yes you can have shingles more than ones and unlike most viruses it does target healthier people there are not many facts about herpes cause the types and the way it acts are so diffrent in everybody everyone reacts to it diffrent and unless you are having an outbreak you cannot give it to your partner for a fact 100% get tested know the signs and respect anyone that doesnt feel free to quote me and once again its not the end of the world if my wife or my child had any of it i would not live in a glass bottle i would just get educated on it i would love them no less or treat them diffrant then if they had a cold for two weeks period thanks for reading my post anything i can do to help let me know or if you look online theres a herpes hotline and they no there stuff not idiots they take a test for nursing and come on here yapping about what they think not what is fact

justforyourinfo: Amy didn't say that at all. AmyMarie53 said "This test will tell you if you have HSV 1 known as the cold sore herpes or HSV 2 known as genital herpes. Shingles/chicken pox will not show up on this test. "

Besides why on earth would you drag up a 4 year old post?? I doubt the OP or AmyMarie will see what you've written. Also, it helps when you use paragraphs, commas and periods when writing, it helps the reader understand whta you are trying to say! That is the longest sentence I've seen in my life.