I’ve had cold sores appear on the edge of my mouth every now-and-then since I was a kid. Recently I’ve been sexually active with someone who had gotten HSV-1 by receiving oral sex with her last partner while he had an outbreak on his mouth. I thought a condom would safe-guard me from getting outbreaks on my genitals.
Well, last week the tip of my penis started to itch. It’s always been sensitive, and I don’t believe this is the first time it has itched. I thought it was the new soap or laundry detergent I was using. When I would jump in a pool, the tip would often hurt due to chlorine. I even thought that perhaps it was a yeast infection. There was no visible redness or blister. Now it doesn’t itch anymore, but there’s a red mark that I *BELEIVE *had to do with me being too rough with myself while masturbating. It wouldn’t be the first time, and I was pretty rough.
Yesterday, we both went to get tested for STD’s. I had never had vaginal sex with anyone but this current partner of mine. To my surprise, condoms aren’t as effective as I had thought against herpes. I talked to the doctor who said that since the red mark on my penis was in it’s healing stage, they couldn’t test to see if the itching was HSV-1 on my penis. Since I already had it, there wouldn’t be no way to know by the blood test that was taken to see if I had an outbreak on my penis.
This concerns me. One; if it wasn’t herpes, I could still easily get it from my partner. Two; if I DO have it, I can spread it if I have another partner… (it’s not that the itching was that bad, I just heard women often have worse sores than men, I can deal with it).
I need to know, **is it likely what I got was a result of HSV-1? ** I searched for that as a symptom but didn’t come up with anything. Is there any way I can protect myself other than a condom if I didn’t get it, without ditching my partner? If I stay with her, am I pretty much doomed to get it as some point? I don’t cum as it is, and the whole point of getting tested was to see if we could ditch the condom, so maybe I might actually FEEL SOMETHING, and I now I guess there’s no way I’ll be able to see what sex is like without one.
Arg, I guess this is a medical question. I’m trying to read up on it though, and it’s tough to find info on some of the specific things I’m wondering about.
Planned Parenthood is a good resource to educate yourself, get tested, or find a good doctor who can deal with sexual health. Here’s their page on herpes.
Prior infection with oral HSV-1 is at least moderately protective from acquiring HSV-1 genitally and even from acquiring HSV-2 to some degree. Given that fact and condom use (assuming latex and not lambs skin) it seems improbable that you acquired HSV-1 genitally from vaginal intercourse.
It may be possible to have auto-innoculated yourself if you used saliva during your “rough” masturbatory session that had the virus in it. Certainly auto-innoculation is reported in other locations - to the eye and to the hangnail area both commonly (the latter called “herpetic whitlow”)
If you abstain from sex during periods in which she either has active lesions or is having some prorome of infection (tingle, etc.) then the odds are tremendously in your favor that you will not get HSV-1 genitally from her. Again, you may already have it from yourself however.
HSV-1 (often called oral herpes) and HSV-2 (called genital herpes) are similar enough as it is. You can get HSV-1 on your mouth or on your genitals. You can get HSV-2 on your genitals or on your mouth.
In the United States by age 18 about 90% of the population has been infected with HSV-1. This is commonly called a “cold sore” or “fever blister”
Oral herpes can only be transmitted in it’s active state. Genital herpes can be transmitted at any time, but is especially infectious when active.
For genital herpes males run a higher risk of getting it from females than vice versa. It’s often suggested that men not only where a condom but where undewear (such as boxers) when having intercourse with infected females. This will prevent any skin-skin contact.
I’m not sure what is troubling the OP. HSV-1 is very common. Perhaps he is confusing it with HSV-2? And since either virus can be gotten anywhere testing for HSV-2 is needed.
I wouldn’t bother testing for HSV-1 as you probably got it already.
I got fever blisters (HSV-1) as young as age five. They’re common and easy to spread. I found for myself, if I spend a long time in the direct sun (say over an hour or so) it reactivates my fever blister. A simple chapstick with sunscreen eliminates the problem for me, though everyone is different.
Thanks for the advice. I just needed a few questions directly answered. I don’t think what I had was due to HSV-1 because there was no sign of it, other that the itching itself, which has happened before. It wasn’t painful, and there wasn’t even redness. As I said before, I was using a different soap and laundry detergent. If it starts to itch again I’ll see a doctor. I was only worried that it had spread to my nether region, and that I would have to tell other potential partners about it.
I’m very sensitive down there, so I’m hoping that it’s just an allergic reaction. Once again, thanks. I just needed to talk about it further so I was confident that the information I’ve been reading on it was right, and if it applied to me or not.
This sucks, The whole reason we got tested was because I was unable to reach orgasm, and we wanted to have sex without the condom. I have a script for Viagra, but I didn’t want to take any more meds, and I wanted to see what sex was like without a prophylactic. She told me that I couldn’t get it without her having an outbreak… I knew that to be suspicious. It was my idea to go get tested and learn about such things.
If I don’t have it, are the chances great I would get it if she did NOT have an outbreak and we didn’t use a condom? I have kissed her many times, (without a cold sore outbreak – I rarely get them myself), and she never got a sore on her lips. Is it as unlikely that I might get it during sex if she doesn’t have an outbreak, or is seeing signs of getting one?
I don’t think I infected myself, as I don’t use bare skin on bare skin when I masturbate. I think it’s the soap I was using to be honest.
It’s ok, that site you provided helped. The questions I have are somewhat covered on there. I just had more specific things I wanted answered. I tend to go to a lot of places to get information.
Like the sex without a condom question I had; (If it was as unlikely that I would get outbreaks ‘down there’ (without protection) while she has no sores, as it would be for her to get outbreaks on her mouth if I were to kiss her with no sores?)
Are you on any antidepressents? Those are very well known for making it hard to orgasm. You can get an erection but the orgams still takes forever. This is why they are often used to treat premature ejaculation.
My general understanding: Yes, she can still pass the virus to you, though it’s less likely when she doesn’t have an outbreak. HSV-1 doesn’t usually cause genital infections, though it can. Condoms help prevent the spread. Also, she can take drugs that suppress the virus. The drugs won’t clear her infection completely, but they will reduce the amount of virus shed and thus your risk for infection.
But you’ve already got an oral HSV-1 infection like 60% of Americans. This means your immune system has antibodies against the virus, which will all but stop a genital infection unless you’ve got a suppressed immune system. Since you didn’t have a new (putative) sore, your doctor might have only given you an antibody test, which won’t distinguish between oral and genital HSV-1 infections. Here’s a good page that explains the different sorts of tests that are available.
If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about it, as long as you understand the relatively small risks. The only advice I would give you is to quickly get an appointment if you ever have something that looks like a genital outbreak. That way the doctor can test to see if you’ve got sores that are shedding the virus.
There’s a recent podcast on the topic from Dan Savage (everybody’s favorite gay perv sex advice columnist!) It has VERY NSFW LANGUAGE, obviously, and the following link has plenty of NSFW text and slightly risque ads:
[noparse]http://podcasts.thestranger.com/savagelove/[/noparse]
Yes I am, Lexapro’s the one that might have an effect. Talked to my shrink about that, he said he would put me on Wellbutrin, but I already tried that and I didn’t get as good results. Besides, I JUST started having sex, and wanted to know what it felt like without a condom, even if it didn’t help, I’m curious to see what it’s like.
Didn’t get a chance to read, but wanted to edit the post I sent to Markxxx to thank you for the reply so I didn’t have to write two posts. Thanks both of you.
