Hi. I am hoping I could describe my situation and symptoms and hopefully get some help as to whether or not I have herpes. I realize this is long, if you could bear with me I would appreciate it.

To start, I am a 24 year old male. This is somewhat embarrassing, but here goes.

I lost my virginity in September of 2008. I had vaginal sex (with a condom) but did not engage in oral sex (neither gave nor received). In fact, I have never had oral sex (giving or receiving) in my life, not just not during this particular encounter. I only had sex this one time and have not had sex since. The next few days after this, my genitals felt warm, were extra sensitive, and I felt an itching sensation almost on the INSIDE of my penis, essentially almost like the inside of my urethra was itching. It also hurt a little to ejaculate when masturbating, like my urethra was sore. The symptoms lasted for about a week. Some of these, I think, however, this may have been from the condom I used as it was the Trojan "Extended Pleasure" climax control kind, that have a numbing agent on the inside to delay ejaculation. I think some of this lube may have entered my urethra an irritated it. To test this, I masturbated with another one of these condoms on a few months later to see if the same thing happened and it did (although I believe the warmth/itchiness only lasted the rest of that day and maybe the next, not a full week.) There were no visible symptoms of any outbreak (bumps, blisters, etc) after the sexual encounter and I kept a very close eye on it for a few weeks afterwards. After no visible symptoms appeared in the following weeks, I figured I was in the clear and did not think about it for a long while.

Then, in May of 2009 (about 8 months after the potential exposure) I developed a small pink bump around my pubic bone. There were no blisters or anything, just a bump (felt like a pea underneath my skin) but it did get me thinking, "what if I DO have herpes after all?" Probably because I was fixated on possibly having herpes (and as such, was constantly paying attention to how my groin felt) I noticed my genitals seemed more itchy and sensitive (I could feel my penis rubbing against my pants when I walked whereas I normally did not). I went to my doctor who told me the bump was not herpes and did not know what the itching/sensitivity was from but thought maybe it was all in my head. Once my doctor told me I didn't have herpes (or any other STD) and my mind was at ease I no longer noticed any symptoms.

This lasted until November of 2009 when again I got a red bump in the same area, which again made me nervous and I started paying close attention to how my genitals were feeling and I had the same itching, sensitivity, and almost an aching feeling in my penis. I went and got tested for all STDs, all of which came back negative except HSV1 (IgG level was 4.46). This put my mind at ease for the most most part and of course the symptoms went away and I realized they must have been in my head, or my penis was always that sensitive/itchy or whatever and I just never really paid attention to it until I had a reason to.

The only thing that makes me nervous is that I don't believe I've ever had a cold sore, meaning that I fear my HSV1 could be on my genitals. I would think that if I had oral HSV1, having never had an outbreak, I must have a mild case, but that would that not imply a lower IgG level, say, 1.15 or something, not 4.46?

I recently have noticed a little itching on my genitals, some extra sensitivity, and some pain (not excruciating and not constant) in my penis but no pink bump. I would describe it as a general soreness with an occasional aching and every now and again almost like a sharp pain lasting less than a second. There was also 1 day where I had to urinate a lot more than normal despite not drinking any more water than normal. So far this has lasted for about a week and a half but it is starting to go away.

Does this sound like I could have HSV1 on my genitals? I would have had to have contracted it from genital to genital contact (I've heard this is rare) and my partner did not have any visible symptoms that I saw (it was dark but I didn't notice anything unusual when I briefly saw her nude in the light when she was getting dressed the next day.

It is also worth noting that I have also had sensitivity, itchiness and some pain in my genitals before I was sexually active but those times it always lasted maybe a day, not a week. I remember actually thinking, "man, it feels like I have an STD, but that's impossible..." Basically it was the same type of thing that I have now (as far as I remember.)

I also think I have an enlarged prostate as I have all the symptoms but I have never brought this up to my doctor so I have not been officially diagnosed or given any medication for it. I'm not sure if this has any relevance.

If anyone can help or give an opinion I would appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

CLIFF NOTES:
-never had oral sex, only had protected vaginal sex once
-no visible symptoms on genitals (redness, blisters, etc.)
-tested negative for HSV2 but positive for HSV1 but never had cold sore
-itching/sensitivity/pain in genitals lasting for 1-2 weeks once every 3-6 months
-already had symptoms like this in past prior to sex but only lasting a day or 2 at a time

No you don't have hsv1 genitally. Sounds more like either you are just paying far , far too much attention to your genital area since you had sex or you have a fungal infection aka jock itch going on.

Most folks who h ave hsv1 orally, don't get obvious cold sores to know it. You have no reason to think your hsv1 isn't oral.

betsy

_________________
ASHA Moderator

Thanks Betsy. I figured I might be a little too paranoid (I'm a bit of a hypochondriac as is). Thanks for the help.