Jump to content
  • Want to be a part of a supportive community? Join the H Opp community for free.

    Welcome to the Herpes Opportunity Support Forum! We are a supportive and positive group to help you discover and live your Opportunity. Together, we can shed the shame and embrace vulnerability and true connection. Because who you are is more important than what you have. Get your free e-book and handouts here: https://www.herpesopportunity.com/lp/ebook

blood test reliability


Recommended Posts

So I went to my gyno yesterday and had my pap test done so since it was my first time there he ask the routine questions what diseases what medicines are you taking? So I said I have herpes and i take the anti virals he seemed suprised so he asked me how i was diagnosed. I went on to explain that when i went in for my general check up i also requested to be tested for stds and that the test came back positive so she(my primary doctor) gave me a prescription for antivirals. He asked if I ever had an outbreak and if she had perform a pap smear I said to to both. He told me i had been misdiagnosed and that i didnt have herpes. That if he were to test everyone in his office everyone would be positive but that didnt mean we had the virus. That only a pap smear could tell me wether or not i had the virus and i should have never been prescripved any antivirals without further testing. He said all the test saw was wether or not we had antibodies in our system against the virus but didnt mean we could infect. This is the same gynecologist who gave birth to both my younger brother and my nephew he has had his practice for 40 years. He told me that everything checked out with him and that i should stop taking the antivirals but im scared i dont know who to believe anymore and im afraid that if i stop taking the antivirals ill have an outbreak and show symtoms. Ive never had so much as a rash or anything in my genitals and i just took the test as routine, i went online but i show 50% towards blood test being effective and 50% as not effective so now im extremely confused. So I need help I dont know who to believe and i want anyone with experience in this to give me advice towards what your experiences have been. Take into consideration i have had bad experiences with my primary doctor over misdiagnostics and so has my mother she ordered and unnecessary biaopsy and gave her some medicine that sent her to the hospital and it was all just to charge the insurance she even suggested that my mother remove her ovaries and could give her no solid medical reason.

Link to comment

He told me i had been misdiagnosed and that i didnt have herpes. That if he were to test everyone in his office everyone would be positive but that didnt mean we had the virus. That only a pap smear could tell me wether or not i had the virus and i should have never been prescripved any antivirals without further testing.

 

Are you sure he wasn't talking about HPV??? not HSV???? HPV is diagnosed through Pap smears .... HSV swabbing is only done on open sores/

 

Do you know what numbers were on your HSV+ test? Many interpret "positive" as being over 1.1 ... but there are many false positives between that and 3.5. Over 3.5 is considered conclusive.

 

And it is ENTIRELY possible to not have an OB and to pass it on unwittingly ... as per the CDC's info: (You may want to print this out, highlight it where I have it underlined, and tell him to get up to date on his info)

 

http://www.cdc.gov/std/Herpes/STDFact-Herpes-detailed.htm

 

How do people get genital herpes?

 

Infections are transmitted through contact with lesions, mucosal surfaces, genital secretions, or oral secretions. HSV-1 and HSV-2 can also be shed from skin that looks normal. In persons with asymptomatic HSV-2 infections, genital HSV shedding occurs on 10% of days, and on most of those days the person has no signs or symptoms. [4] Generally, a person can only get HSV-2 infection during sexual contact with someone who has a genital HSV-2 infection. Transmission most commonly occurs from an infected partner who does not have a visible sore and may not know that he or she is infected. [5]

 

What I would suggest would be to go to a STD clinic/Planned parenthood and get re-tested if you don't have your original results. If your result is over 3.5, it's pretty conclusive. You also should know if you have HSV1 or 2. If you tested positive for HSV1 the test doesn't tell you WHERE you have it so it would be entirely possible that you have it orally like 80% of the population (tho it's still possible that you could have it genitally)

 

Just because a Doctor is in practice for over 40 years doesn't mean he's up to date with his information :/

 

(((HUGS)))

 

Also, check the handouts/video/e-book out for more facts and stats

 

Handouts + disclosure e-book:

http://eepurl.com/b4IPP

 

Herpes facts video

 

 

Link to comment

what dancer said. some doctors, esp GPs tend to get dated in their info. only specialists are suppose to continue education as information changes. remember ( stereotype ahead) doctors tend to be egotistical at the least so THEY always know whats best. It took decades for some to accept that germs are real and cause disease. im not a doctor, never even plated one on TV yet I see so much bad info in what he said.

 

the loose thread here is the original test, if its a blood test and it wasn't in the possible false positive range then maybe the first got it wrong but w/o a follow up test there would be no way to know. and while it may be that, yes his whole office could test positive for H1 ( given the number of people who have that type), his idea of it only tests for general antibodies shows he is thinking of the original non type specific blood test. which is what? 10 years old? the new blood test tells the type because they can tell the different antibodies, go get the western blot and its even more specific. it sounds like he is so outdated he is thinking of the one which could give a false positive for having had mono recently (or any of the over 100 viruses in the herpes family). And like every virus in the herpes family, its in us for life! jesh everyone knows that. mono, chicken pox, shingles, all lifers and all transmittable without symptoms.

next he will tell you that you have "the vapors" and recommend leeches.

Link to comment

"Just because a Doctor is in practice for over 40 years doesn't mean he's up to date with his information"

@WCSDancer2010, u nailed it there!

 

@avita2590, sometimes doctors dont know what they are talking about.

My mom took me to 5 or 7 doctors when i was a baby befor someone finally diagnosed me with celiac disease at 14 months old. My previous gp last year told me to stay away from potatoes and brocolli if im celiac (for the record i cant have wheat gluten) i told her to take off, as she didnt know jack about my condition. I had to see 9 different dictors befor i finally found one that was willing to do a blood test type specific for me, and he has a bit of knowledge on it, and made me feel better about h too.

 

Deffinatly get another opinion. You need to do what is right for u and your health!

 

Link to comment

Just to help people understand - doctors nowadays are bombarded with TONS of new information about the latest discoveries in every single disease out there ... so many will focus on the "important" ones (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimers, etc) and don't keep up with the latest info. Now, your OBGYN *should* be more up to date, but as @seeker said, some are very egotistical and don't think they need to keep up with things and likely he just doesn't think there's been a big enough shift in this non-life-threatening disease for him to worry about reading up on it :(

Link to comment

This is my humble opinion.... For a condition that may impact your life, you should always get second opinion. Even if u had a positive blood test, and blood test is Not perfect at all so for something like herpes ( if you have no confirmation of positive swab) then if I were you, I would get the result of your last blood test on paper so u know ur test result #. Like dancer said if it falls below 3.5 , you may have been tested as false positive (especially you have no symptoms). But since you are on meds it will impact ur next blood test thou. If you are comfortable... Get off the meds for 3 months and get tested again ( this duration was said by Terri warren - a herpes specialist at west over height clinic). I would recommend taking the western blot test as a confirmatory test. I have read in cases people tested over 3.5 that have negative WB test too. I just think something as important as this .... You have to be persistent to really know your status before accepting the diagnosis. I mean for people with positive HIV test, the doctor would always go for a WB HIV test to confirm.... So why not HSV ( unless you had outbreak and was swabbed positive with a type) . I don't agree with doctors giving medication to patients based on a single test on HSV. All diagnosis should be based on set of tests and also circumstances ( like your partner is positive of HSV ) to be conclusive. I believe that is a responsible way of treating patients and not just give them mends and lead them to believe they have something when maybe they don't. We also have to be responsible of our own diagnosis. We are intelligent people who have access to more knowledge than some of the doctors do. To them we may be a # but this diagnose can simply turn our world upside down and inside out! So be sure you do your part to confirm your status before just accepting as is.

Like I said, this is just my humble opinion and wishing you much luck! God bless, S

Link to comment

The HerpeSelect ELISA is reasonably accurate, with about 99.7% sensitivity and specificity. But values between 1.1 and 3.5 have a notoriously high false-positive rate, roughly around 50%. So it is worthwhile to be tested again, preferably with the Western Blot, whose sensitivity and specificity are well over 99% each.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...