Is there a way to test shedding?

[antifragile]

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

 

[Fmals]

I would love to know the answer to this too...I’d like to know how frequently my shedding occurs...I know there are percentages and what not but I’ve also read that everyone is different...those who don’t have many ob’s may shed less than those who do...too bad there’s not an at home rapid test kit LOL

[mr_hopp]

Lol, that would be convenient wouldn’t it to have an at-home shedding testing kit. 😉 But alas, there isn’t a way to do that at this point, nor can you go the doc and just have them swab since you’d need to go in every day for an extended period of time to get an idea of shedding rates since they don’t always correspond directly to the tingly nerve sensations that can be mistaken for prodrome sensations since they will feel very similar. You certainly aren’t shedding all the time (download the handouts to see the shedding rates per strain & location), but it’s impossible to tell when you are and when you aren’t. 

[Fmals]

Well shit.

[Kacey]

On 1/15/2020 at 9:05 PM, Fmals said:

Well shit.

Lol. Ikr

[antifragile]

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