K_man

I am no psychologist, but it sounds like you have deep regret. No one can change the past, 2020 hindsight is really a thing. If we all had it, wed all be billionaires. But that's not how the real world works. I struggle with regret everyday over many things, and it's much easier to talk about from the point of view of giving advice than receiving advice, but these are simply hard truths.

Hey I had something similar happen to me in the summer. Unprotected sex, a sore appear a week and a half later. It looked similar to your pictures. I had it swabbed. The swab came back negative but I worried and still continue to worry because I used some zovirax on it thinking it was herpes for a day prior to the test (I had the zovirax for cold sores). Basically what it came down to was A. Was there a blister? From what I could tell, no, a sore just "appeared" B. After talking to a few different doctors and literally having a mental breakdown (another story) the best they could tell me is I would just need to see if it comes back. So in your case, having no swab done on the sore, you really wont know for sure. Do you get cold sores? Because to my understanding, if you dont, and had a positive (or negative) blood test in the near future for herpes, that could kind of give you an answer. I hope for the best for you.

Thank you.

Yes I literally started seeing a psychologist today. Sometimes I think this sounds so stupid when I say it, but its had a serious impact on my life. I left my ex roughly two years ago (emphasis on I left) and to feel like I had some short lived encounters and acquired genital herpes makes me question leaving her. I understand it's not a big deal. Mentally I've prepared myself for it. It just leaves one in limbo when you're not sure. It just seems like an odd coincidence to have unprotected sex, and two weeks-ish later experience something like that, which I've never experienced before.

I suppose the reason I cant accept the negative result of the test is that I used Zovirax on the sore in the days before the test. The doctors (yes I've spoken to multiple doctors about this) say that this shouldn't have mattered and the test was valid. If I have herpes on my genitals, I'm willing and ready to accept and deal with it as needed. I've had cold sores for years so it isnt a big deal. It just bothers me that I'm having trouble accepting the result.

Thank you. I've been trying. I've learned a lot through all this.

Yes I know I should just chill. It just seems quite the coincidence to develop something like this a week and a half after being with this girl, when I've never experienced anything like this before.

Back in July I was with a woman. We had protected vaginal sex, but briefly unprotected vaginal (yeah I know, bad, but that's what happened), and oral sex. 11 days later, I showered, washed my penis like usually and noticed NOTHING, and went on another date. The date and I had protected sex, as well as a bunch of making out/humping around with clothes on. On that day, before the date, I showered, after not showering for 4-5 days (yeah I know, but I was on holidays and just going from one thing to another) it was hot and I was sweating constantly every day. Went on a long bike ride in tight shorts two days before the date. I remember hitting myself in the penis through old thin material workout shorts, with angle grinder sparks the day before the date. So we had sex on the date, Thursday it was. And when I got home, boom, noticed a single, irritated, somewhat painful herpes looking sore on my penis! No warning at all, just 0-100. Didnt even feel it during the sex, or after taking off the condom and cleaning myself. I freaked out, as I had just had a cold sore about a month before and was still in herpes paranoia mode. I put some zovirax on the sore. Three days later I ended up going to the hospital to get it looked at. By then the sore had kinda turned into a red irritated looking dot. The doc looked at it and said "well it doesn't look like herpes, it might be, this swab test will tell for sure". So I got it swabbed, then proceeded to worry and mentally break down for two weeks awaiting the result. During this time, this "spot" was painful, but turned into a little red puffyish looking thing, no crust, no falling off scab, but definitely nothing like I've ever experienced. When I got the results of the herpes swab, along with blood tests for a bunch of other STDs, it all was negative. No herpes. But here's the problem. I do not understand what it was, it played out a bit like herpes. Did I hit myself with angle grinder sparks through my shorts? Did I rub it raw on the bike ride and get a sweat infection? I talked to my doctor and he said the swab test was reliable, talked to him again and he INSISTED it is reliable even given the fact that it was a 3 days after I first noticed it. Even went back to the hospital and talked to another doctor and he said it totally doesn't sound like herpes, and the swab should have found that genetic material. I know I've had hsv 1, cold sores, a few times over the years on my lips and I am careful not to touch my penis without cleaning my hands when I get a cold sore. So that's my herpes story. Maybe it's not even a herpes story. But its played on my mind so much that I wish it would come back and "confirm" that I had herpes so that I can just be a guy with genital herpes instead of a guy that doesn't understand what happened and thinks he probably has it. Comments, questions, suggestions welcome.