antifragile

Had casual sex a couple weeks ago. I told when things were heating up and clothes started flying. She asked a couple of questions and was ok with it. Then we did the wild monkey dance.

Yeah they should make a home-kit, I'd pay pretty well for that.

My visible symptoms of genital HSV-1 are minimal, I've had a cut in the skin maybe once every 1,5 years since I contracted Herpes in 2013. Haven't been able to confirm with a swab because it dries up so fast but blood test and many other factors point to genital HSV-1. Even though I don't have that much visible symptoms I have very annoying daily tingling and prickly feeling in the nerves on my penis which has actually just got worse over the years. As I have these symptoms daily I've been pondering if it means that I'm also shedding daily. So my question is that is there a way to test this somehow? I've heard that they have used PCR test in studies to find out how much asymptomatic shedding is happening on average. Is there a way to do this without finding a scientific study to join...? Thanks! antifragile

Thank you for posting this! I've had very similar symptoms in my genital region for many years (I'm a guy), I've gone to countless doctors and no one has been able to help. I've tried steroid cream but it did not helpk, but I'll go back to a doctor and ask about lichen schlerosis. When you have no visible symptoms it seems that doctors don't take you seriously which really makes me mad. Did the steroid cream help? Do you still have itching and irritation?

Are you sure it's not aphthous ulcer? I get those sometimes with herpes.

Hi, I'm not on antivirals but the reason why condoms seem to work very well for me is that it covers the place where I had my initial outbreak. I don't get a lot of visible symptoms (except for a weird cut that I had this week) but I do get nerve tingling an such on almost daily basis. But it's all quite close to the tip of the penis so it's covered by the condom quite well.

For me it didn't ger better until I adressed the feelings of shame and fears beneath it. Talk openly to a friend or psychologist.

HPV and HSV-1 positive here. Your story sounds a lot like mine 6 years ago. I was loving the casual dating life and very happy with many aspects of my life. After I contracted these I took it really hard and thought I could never tell anyone. The shame was just too overwhelming. It took me a year and a half before I told a girl I started seeing. She didn't accept it but I did tell her which made it easier to tell the next girl I started seeing. Casual dating does become more difficult with this situation but suprisingly few care if it's a more serious thing. I'm in a longterm relationship nowadays. I've noticed that hsv isn' really the biggest problem here. It's the shame that you feel about it. I went through a long depressive period from which I'm still recovering. HSV will not destroy your happiness but shame can. When you feel deep shame for a long period of time it will start to affect your mental well being. Feeling shame is also one of the most stressfull things to your body as it keeps up your cortisol levels. This will start slowly eating away your physical health. That's what happened to me and I was really burnt out a year ago. I'm better now but I didn't get better until I started really dealing with the shame I felt. I know it's difficult, almost impossible, to open up about this in the beginning. But you really should. You need to deal with shame head on otherwise it will eat you up and it can really destroy your life. It almost did for me. If you can't talk about this to a friend, talk to a psychologist. I know this wasn't the most uplifting post but it's something I wish I was told years ago. I lost five years of my life to shame because I was too afraid to deal with it. I hope you can learn from my mistakes. Time doesn't heal all wounds. Sometimes you need face your fears and grow to go forward. That's how it was for me. I hope it's easier for you. af

I've had the same issue for years, itching and prickly feeling. I just started using Valavir and it seems to have helped for the prickly sensation.

Well that's what I'm saying that I have HSV-1 but it might be only on my lips even though I've convinced myself that I have it also genitally. I just haven't found anything else that could explain the symptoms.

I had visible genital warts, I got them burned off at three separate times over a year and they haven not come back since.

@blurneworder some of your symptoms sound very similar to mine: fever, cuts on penis, daily itching and prickly feeling, constant fatigue and brain fog. All started after unprotected oral. I've tested HPV & HSV-1 positivite. I've always had cold sores so HSV-1 doesn't tell me anything new. This might be some other virus that we are dealing with. Unfortunately it is obviously contagious and the symptoms don't seem to go away even after years.

I take B1, B3, B6 complex daily but I havent seen any effects. But I've been drinking apple cider vinegar and honey for the past 5 days mainly to see if it makes me sleep better and I think the itching has been less severe since I started taking it. Just a coincidence?

bump

I'm in the same situation. I've had daily itching (comes and goes several times a day) for atleast 4 years now. I contracted something which is most likely HSV-1 about 6 years ago. Since then I've had itchy scrotum and penis and it just get worse every year. Nothing I've tried has helped.

I've been with my girlfriend for 2,5 years now and have not passed it to her. We always use condoms. I did, however, give her HSV-1 on the lips because I get cold sores every few years..luckily it doesn't bother her physically or mentally that much.

Have antivirals worked for anyone for itching and tingling?

I've had this for almost six years now. I thought that time would heal me emotionally but it has not. I've understood that, atleast for me, time does not heal if I first don't truly accept myself and herpes. So that's the path that I'm taking now, I'm learning to accept myself and life with herpes. I'm starting therapy and I'm going to be more open about this with my friends and family. I don't see any other way out of this depression that I've had for the past years.

Hi, I'm back to this topic after 3+ years. Hope you all are doing well 🙂 I'm still itching and have pins and needles kinda feeling daily and the intensity has increased in the last year so I'm trying to get new ideas how to overcome this issue. I kinda learned to live with the daily symptoms but I feel that I can never be ok with this issue psychologically if I don't get it under control. It works a trigger for bad mood and depressive feelings so coping with herpes would be much easier without a daily reminder. I did eventually take the blood test which showed that I'm HSV-1 positive & HSV-2 negative but as I've had cold sores as long as I can remember it does not really confirm if I have genital herpes or not. I've diagnosed myself to have HSV-1 genitally because the initial symptoms with high fever and cut/broken blister on my penis doesn't really point to anything else either. Also a girl who I was with developed similar type of symptoms (fever and one blister/cut) but doctors were not able to tell with 100% certainty if it was herpes or not. She hasn't had any symptoms or itching problems after the initial "outbreak". I actually might be dealing with two different issues here. The skin on my testicles and the base of my penis is itchy, and I can feel it on the skin, but the upper part of the shaft of my penis has these pins and needles feeling that feels more to be under the skin layer. And it's always in the same 3-4 spots. That makes me think that it is a nerve damage issue. A dermatologist suspected that the itching is chronic inflammation in the skin and gave me cream for that which did not help. Now I'm using a stronger cream to see if that helps. So my questions are: Has anyone experienced anything similar regarding daily itching or tingling? If it's nerve damage/post herpetic neuraglia, any tips how to get it under control? Here's what I've tried with no noticable effects: - Moisturizer - Fungal cream - hydrocortisone - Antibiotics (urologist suspected that it could be prostatitis) - Inflammation reducing cream - Acyclovir, for a couple of weeks only though I appreciate all comments, thoughts and advice, thank you! AF

No I haven't got an official diagnosis because it's hard to get the doctors to take blood test because they say that it won't tell you anything and they are not reliable. That's the opinion of doctors where I live. I've had two cuts on my penis which were probably from herpes but they both went away in a day before I could go to have them tested. I'm going to the clinic tomorrow and demanding a blood test and if they don't give it I'll just go to private clinic which is much more expensive but maybe worth it. I don't experience any redness or any other visible symptoms. It just itches and I do have tingling kind of sensations sometimes but mostly it's just itchy. I'm wondering, if it's herpes that is causing this does it mean that I'm shedding every day?

Hi, I'm wondering if HPV or herpes can cause my symptoms. I'm male and I'm itching quite badly in the entire genital region several times every day. This has been going on more than a year now. I thought it could also be yeast infection also but I tried one treatment and it had no effect. Doctor also gave me strong hydrocortisone lotion but it did not help either. Could herpes cause this? I exercise and live quite healthy but I don't take any herpes medication. AF

Well where I'm from we usually call genital warts condyloma and I did have 3 visible warts. I feel that I need to disclose it even though many doctors disagree after having no symptoms for 2,5 years now. So far I've only disclosed HPV and it has been enough for the girls to run for the hills. I'm just disclosing hpv and if that is something they can live with I bring up the real test which is herpes. Somehow I feel like I can live with people knowing I had hpv but not hpv and herpes.

@2legit2quit Thanks for your encouraging words. My dates were not that open but I guess none of them had that much future potential to begin with. I'll keep playing the long play and hopefully find something worthwhile. I had really active, fulfilling and good sex life before herpes so it is just soul crushing to not have sex at all anymore. I hope something real comes along soon...

Thank you for your answers! I'm actually a guy which I forgot to mention in the first message :) I agree with you both. I think I can usually sense from someone if she would be accepting of genital warts/herpes but then again probing can be misleading with some people. It's a tough situation because I'm really anxious that word gets around if I tell too early and too many people. I'm not one that wants this to be public knowledge because it would affect my social life quite negatively :( I've already told 3 women about genital warts and all those relationships have ended there. If GW is a deal breaker to many, having herpes to go with that won't improve my odds. Yeah, I'm feeling frustrated and losing hope but that wasn't really the topic... I guess I have to keep doing what I've done. Take it slowly and tell them when I feel like I can trust them not to gossip. Eventually though someone will so that's why I was thinking probing could be a better option. Nothing seems to be easy with these stds. Ugh. AF

Hi, Thank you all writing success stories and advice, this forums has been really helpful. I don't know if this is weird but I'd like to ask for strategies to find out if your potential partner is accepting of you having herpes. I mean, how to find out if they would go out with someone with incurable std without letting them know that you have one. I really don't want to tell everyone right away that I have hpv and herpes but I'd like to know if it is deal breaker for them so I won't be wasting my or my date's time. Any better strategies than just asking "Would you date someone with herpes"? That's how rumors get started... Thanks, AF