I'm going to the OBGYN tomorrow to see what's going on down there and I'm so incredibly terrified. I've spent my entire life trying to be perfect and have suffered through depression and an eating disorder because of the perfectionism and some other things, and if I get diagnosed with HSV I don't know how I'm going to take it. I'm 20 years old and a student at preppy Catholic university, and STDs are nothing more than a joke or completely taboo with the people I'm around (including the health center). I decided to lose my virginity to a close friend this February who was also a virgin (I've never been in a serious relationship and for the most part avoided anything other than kissing with hookups) and we only had sex twice (with a condom of course). Since I got back from college, I started seeing a guy that I really liked, and we ended up having protected sex (I'm on the pill for my periods and we used a condom) last Saturday night. On Tuesday, something felt wrong, but at first I thought it was just irritation, so we had sex again on Thursday. The next morning I took a look and realized that I was getting bumps around my clitoris and labia area, so I quickly made an appointment and took to the Internet. He feels terrible and couldn't stop apologizing if he gave something to me because he regularly gets his blood screened for STDs and the majority of his sex partners were girls he was in monogamous relationships with, but these screens don't include a herpes check for who knows what reason(?!) I'm just so frustrated because I feel like we did "everything right," especially because whatever this is happened after the 3rd time I had sex in my entire life. I feel so cheated since I spent so much time holding back and never even dreaming of having sex without protection. Now I'm just trying to prepare for the worst but also holding on to an inkling of hope that it's something bacterial and curable, like chancroid or something from the environment.
I am sorry for how you are feeling. A lot of people don't understand u can get herp from a "virgin". Type one oral herpes on your partner's mouth was often transmitted non-sexually to him. It can be transferred to your genitals in oral sex. There is actually a big increase in the young populations of this happening now. It could happen to someone with 0, 1, or 50 sex partners. You aren't alone. I am so sorry it is a scary place to be in. Such unfamiliar territory.
That's awful and I really do hope it's something reversable and you get it all sorted soon! I have sent you a support request so I can message you, don't worry whatever happens you will be okay! everyone here will be with you every step regardless of the outcome.
Well, the doctor looked for about 5 seconds and said that it was herpes. He took a culture so I don't know if/when I should expect a confirmation, but strangely enough I feel ok. I think I've already mentally prepared myself earlier, so now I'm just trying to make the outbreak go away and accept it. My immune system has always been pretty strong, so I'm hoping that I won't have recurrent outbreaks (or at least not too many), especially since my partner never even had an outbreak (that he noticed). The thing is that I am currently abroad in Europe from the States, so I'm not exactly expecting us to last. He's been nothing by sorry and supportive (and so angry at himself), but it is what it is and we can't change anything now. He's going to get a blood test next week too. Which makes me think that I have no idea what my dating life will look like in the future, but I didn't have much of a love life beforehand either, so who knows. I'm very into natural medicine so I'm going to see if I can find anything that could help with the suppression of the virus.
I am glad you feel ok. If the doctor got live virus he should be able to from the test tell you whether it is type 1 or 2. That will help you know a little bit better what to expect. I have to admit I wish I could have gone abroad when I was your age and met someone:) even if it didn't last.