20 years of marriage, and got diagnosed with herpes hsv2

Sexual health
1

Can you have no symptoms of.herpes.for 20 years and then have an initial outbreak?

My husband and I have been struggling with sex the past couple of years. I am very dry and sensitive in my vaginal area, and sex can be painful. 3 weeks ago, I felt a little less.dry than normal, so my husband and I tried to have intercourse. Our marriage has been less.thn normal and little rocky, so I thought, we need to reconnect intimately. When we started the intercourse though, we discovered I was really dry after all and the sex was painful. I asked, do we still have any ky. Well, my husband had purchased something other than ky and my vagina felt like

Thousands of needles had enfered my vagina. I had also just come off a round of anti-biotic, so we.chalked up this event to dryness due to yeast infection and soreness due to an alergic reaction to this trogan lubricant rather than the normal ky jelly.

2 days after this explosion and painful episode, my symptoms got worse... so I tried an ointment for the YI... my vagina was so much more sore after that... and I continied the treatment for 5 more days.

Well, after 7 dys total of imense burning itching, pain, and torture, I decided to go see my doctor. She could not see me for 2 more days... so I went to the internet for help.and learned about sitz baths.... this is the only thing that seemed to help.

I finally got in to see the doctor. She found one sore and sid she would like to check for HSV or herpes. She stafed that because I only had one sore, kt.was likely to be a "reccurence". I'm like, reccurence, I've never even had an "occurence". She said, lets just send this off and we will see what comes back. It will probably take a week. I freaked out, but said I would wait to find out the results. She also did 2 swabs to check for BV and a YI.

Okay, 2 days later, the results came back with a strong positive. Apparently that means this is an intial outbreak...well I have been faithful for 20 years....can my husband have had this all these years and just given it too me? I cant use condoms becuase of my sensitivity, so we never have. Please help me understand this. I tested positive for HSV 2 and I have never had chicken pox, shingles, a cold sore, or mono. The doctor would not tell me if my husband could go 20 years without symptoms. All I got was... it is hard to say, but it can lay dormant for years, but because your outbreak was so severe (such a high positive) that it is likey that I was only recently exposed.

2

Actually, a high positive for HSV IgG antibodies means this is not a very new infection for you, as in that you've had it for at least 3 months, possibly much longer, even years. Perhaps your sensitivities down below are herpes-related? Herpes can have obvious, classic symptoms to mild symptoms that can be confused with other issues. Either you and/or your husband could be carriers. Has he also been tested by IgG?

3

Sorry for your pain but I'm going through almost exact same thing. Just got dx last week with h2. Have been with same guy for 24 years did not cheat. Funny after I started with symptoms and realized this could be herpes my husband admitted to cheating. We went got tested he was negative I was positive. I'm asking same question could I have had this prior to him 24 plus years and not know and never gave it to my husband. He has been only man I've been with in 24 years and we have had a lot of sex so how is it that he is negative. My levels also was high 13.6. Guess this is a mystery that will never be solved. Good luck to you. I'm apart of this group called Honeycomb Herpes Forum and people in there is very knowledgeable you may was to join I have learned so much about this thing.

4

According to the CDC, the opposite is true, lower numbers in the blood mean the infection has been there a while... the higher numbers occer with an initial outbreak. The sores... recent... two days after exposure. I have never had an outbreak until now... trust me... this was horrible, I would have noticed.

5

My Doc said in an initial outbreak, the numbers can be higher.... with 13 you may have had a false positive too. Your spouse may have a false negative too. Did yjey test blood or a sore? With me, they found a sore so the test is apparently more acurate than a blood test.

6

I had a sore... blood work negative. My infection was too new.

7

The test they gave me was on a sore, and if the numbers are higjer on the sore, it means initial contact especially if the blood work comes back with a negative. I had no antibodies to protect myself. Never had been exposed.

8

A brand new infection will have no detectable IgG antibodies until around 2-3 months post-infection, during which time IgG volume will have progressed from zero to low to high, hence the recommended 3+ month window period for IgG testing. Once established, IgG typically remains on the high side.

You describe your result as being a "strong positive", yet your bloodwork as negative just now, so did you mean your swab test came back strongly negative? I'm confused. If so, that is not how swab results are usually reported. They're just positive or negative. IgG test results can be low or high (strong), however, so I assumed you were talking about IgG.

9

A score of 13 by IgG is a definite positive. Only low positives of around 3.5 or less may be false in certain cases.

10

Strongly *positive*, I mean. Autocorrect!

11

My sore came back with a high indicatuon of hsv2 and the blood work was negative. My husband has not been tested.

12

I had a sore removed and they did a culture. The culture came back as hsv2. The blood work was negative.

13

I am confused too.... I guess the culture was a very dtrong positive to my Doctor. The results were positive after 2 days and it normally takes around 7 to detect. My bloodwork has no antivodies, so thats why they said initial outbreak. My husband hasnt been tested. He claims he has not had an extra marital affair, and also claims he never had symptoms. I have neber cheated. So I am wondering if he is lying to me or if this is truly a possibility.

14

Okay..

Sorry for the confusion. I had a sore when I went to the doctor, she scraped it and sent it to the lab. The lab normally takes a week to run the culture test, but it only took 2 days. My doctor stated this is likely a new infection because the blood work I had done was a negative for antibodies, but the culture was a strong positive. I asked her if she had heard of anyone, my husband or myself carrying the virus for 20 years without knowing. She said she has heard of the virus being latent for years but doesnt think I carried it that long because I had an initial outbreak. So, my husband says he did not cheat on me. I want to believe him, but I wanted to know if anyone else has had this happen to them.

15

The initail outbreak was three weeks ago.... I am still miserable.

16

Ah, now I get it! Okay, so that means this is indeed a brand new infection for you. Unrelated to the speed or "strength" of your viral culture results, and due to the simple fact that your lesion was positive while your IgG was still negative. Your husband could have had it all this time and not passed it to you until now (although usually herpes becomes less active over time...), but it could also be a new or recent infection in him. He should get tested for IgG.

17

Hi I just read this and I'm not sure but I feel like this is happening to me. 

I'm going to the doctors today and I'm so puzzled but I have blisters and been married 25 years same partner but going through menopause and very dry also. Sex is painfully but anyways a few days ago I broke out with a few blisters. I'm going to doctor today to see what the heck is happening. Never had herpes nor my husband but something is wrong.  Thank you for sharing your story 

18

Hi I'm dealing with the same thing right now. I've been with my husband for 20 years and never cheated.  He did about 4 years ago, but neither of us have ever had signs of a herpes infection.  Well I broke out with a massive infection about 10 days ago.  It's still really sore - lots of little blisters everywhere, inside and out.  I sent my husband to his family doc to get checked and all the guy did was look for the sores on him, found none, and refused to run the blood test.  I'm so angry and devastated all at the same time.  I really want the blood test to find out if this is something new or if it could have been latent in me for 22 years 

19

You're the one who needs the blood test. If your swab is positive and your IgG (not IgM) antibody still negative, then you have confirmed infection that is new in you. IgG will start to go positive after a month, however, so you need to test asap. Even if new, that doesn't necessarily mean anyone cheated, as people can be long-term carriers and not pass it in for years.

20

I just found out that Herpes 2 can be dormant for years. After  30 years of  a close monogamous marriage, I am having a first outbreak (and really badly!). Neither my husband nor I cheated and I am sure! My doctor said that it might have been triggered by dry sex (it happens as we get older) and that I was run down after 2 rounds of anti-biotics for infections. I am in shock and living proof that many people are in long term relationships and don't know they have herpes. Have you had anymore outbreaks? I hope I can stay healthy now as this really knocked me sideways!