Alex

Hi everyone, my name is Alex & I'm new here. First, I want to say thank you all for being here - I was just diagnosed with HSV-1, and reading posts here really helped me get through the first few days. My doctor is on vacation right now, and I'm hoping someone here could help me with a few questions I have regarding my experiences so far, because they seem to be non-standard for an HSV-1 outbreak. A couple weeks ago a cut on my thumb became infected, and as it became worse I also developed a burning sensation when I urinated. Over the next two weeks I saw my doctor three times. After ruling out all the "standard" STIs and UTIs, she had me try three different courses of antibiotics, none of which seemed to have an effect on my symptoms. Then, suddenly, the urinary pain disappeared a couple days ago. Almost on cue, my doctor called to tell me that a swab from my urethra had cultured positive for HSV-1. My thumb has only improved slightly, and has developed a blister that looks awfully like a herpes sore. This leaves me with a couple of questions... - Could this be a case of herpetic whitlow? - If it is, could I have passed it from my thumb to my genitals (or vice-versa)? - I have a feeling my partner and I are going to have a lot of questions about sex and herpes. Can anyone offer any good resources, especially gay-friendly? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, A