Positive culture, negative blood work

[Sportygirl1123]

Hi All,

 

I was so happy to find this group online. I was given the news of a positive culture last Thursday. My blood results are showing negative.

 

I am your typical suburban soccer mom and coach. I've been divorced 2 years. I've had "contact" with 2 two guys since my divorce. (3 sexual partners in my life) One on a regular basis and monogamous (both oral and intercourse), and the other was a friend while on vacation in Vegas on April 11th, 2014. This was just oral sex, but I think this is where it occurred. (Getting an STD in Vegas...so cliche). I got a Brazilian wax 2 days before he gave me oral sex which makes me think it was easier for the virus to enter. I have inquired if he ever had any symptoms and he said he had a cold sore 2 years ago...so it is affirmative that he carries the virus.

 

I went into doc with symptoms of swollen groin lymph node, followed by urine that burned all the way down the urethra and when it would come out. My OBGYN looked and asked if I could have been exposed to herpes. She said I had 2 "matching" infected areas on both sides of my vagina...basically where my underwear would hit. UTI quick test (and subsequent UTI test results) all were negative. She put me on Valtrex that day. I then had issues with my legs that started the next 2-3 days. Pain that started in my feet and moved up my legs. I can only describe this as my feet and legs were hyper sensitive to any pressure put on them and would tire easily. Initially, we only had blood test results back so they put me on antibiotics, thinking that it was a UTI. This helped right away with the urinating issue. Then we got the positive HSV culture tests back.

 

Ok- so that is my story...now to the questions:

 

1. The culture she took from the spots came back positive for "HSV Culture Without Typing". (She did not order the test to see what type of HSV it is). The blood test is showing negative. I know that this could be because I was "recently" infected. When does the clock start ticking on making antibodies? When you are first exposed or when you have your first outbreak?

 

2. I feel like a walking infection that is a threat to everyone around me. As I said before, I am a mom and coach and worried that I have somehow infected my children/players before knowing. So the question here is: If I have genital HSV, can it pass through my saliva when I kiss my children? Or when I give a high five to one of my players if I somehow have saliva on my hand?

 

3. Could this be something else? If I had shingles, for instance, would that show a positive HSV culture on the tests? Especially because they did not differentiate what kind it is?

 

I know I most likely have it. I know this is probably just a case of denial. But I feel like I'd like to ask the questions nonetheless.

 

Thank you in advance for reading this very long post. :(

[willow]

Hey @Sportygirl1123

 

So ive ur recent partner has had cold sores, my assumption would be u have gennital hsv1 via oral sex. (ALLLOOTTT of people dont know that they can still pass the virus via oral sex even without an o.b...... a.k.a. asymptonmatic shedding)

 

I may be wrong, but im pretty sure your bodies starts building antibodies for the virus right away. Now its not always enough to fight he virus on its own (thank god for meds) which also means u may not have enought to show up in a blood test. (I was swab pos. Jan., neg blood april. Pos. Blood june)

 

2- u cant infect your kids. It is only skin to skin contact. Kiss em, hold em, hug em, live them as much as u want. Altho just to be on safe side, just double check u all have different towels after shower time. Just in case. (This is what ive learned so far)

 

3- so basically herpes has different strains. Theres chicken pox and shingles and hese are known as herpes zoster virus. Then there is cold sores which is herpes symplex virus type 1. Then gennital herpes is known as herpes symplex virus type 2. And some how mono is related, but i cant remember how.

 

So if the doc tests u for herpes, its the herpes SYMPLEX, not the ZOSTER.

 

Herpes plays by its own rules. ie: hsv1 can be oral or gennital. Wheras hsv2 is usually gennital, there are some cases of it being oral.

not all o.b. are hell with blisters. Some o.b. are minor, maybe a bit of itching or pain, sometimes tingking and eveyone is different.

 

Hope this helps, also might want to check out @Adrial's video http://herpeslife.com/video-herpes-facts/

[Sportygirl1123]

Thank you so much, Willow! I really appreciate you taking the time to read all that and give detailed answers. I think I need to move into the acceptance period and out of denial. I'm just in disbelief.

[willow]

I was in disbeliefe too, its hard to come to terms with, but u can use the search bar, or even read into the f.a.q. section, lots of suggestions and success stories through out the site!

xox

[WCSDancer2010]

@Willow hit all the main points -

 

You will want to wait 4-6 months for blood typing ... tho odds are very very high you will be HSV1+ ...

 

Ans yes, your kids are fine - H is not blood/fluid borne (tho it loves warm moist places) ... it lives in the nerves that are associated with the area where you were initially exposed. The big precaution will be for the first 4 months or so, be very careful about washing hands after touching the area because you can transfer it to other areas on your body ... normal cleanliness habits should be fine ;)

 

I have 2 daughters in their 20's - and I've had H since I was 17 ... and they are fine and H- to this day and I didn't know to think about worrying about passing it on to them back in the 80's ... there was ZERO info back then ;)

 

 

(((HUGS)))