recurrent cracked skin near vagina

[sleepseeker.livejournal.com]

sorry this is so long, but i would really appreciate it if you could take the time to read this and give me any opinions or advice you have!



i have been in a monogamous relationship with a guy for a little less than a year. before that i had been fooling around with a few people who i believe to have been STI free. he hadn't had any sexual partners for at least a year before me. we both have always used condoms with other partners and have never had an STI that we know of. both of us tested negatively for STIs when we started dating. we have both been tested again since then and still came up with negative results. when we were first together, we had some marathon sex sessions, and i never noticed any soreness even if we had sex like five times in a day. after we had been dating for a while i started to notice some intermittent rawness and cracking of the skin of my perineum near my vagina. just in a tiny area, but it stung a little. sometimes it would happen after having lots of sex, and sometimes it would happen even if we hadn't been particularly sexually active. i asked my doctor about it, and she said it was probably just from rough sex, wiping too hard, or from a chemical sensitivity to soap or shampoo or something, so i didn't worry about it too much. she didn't actually look at it, and i wasn't really happy with the way she handled my health in general, so i eventually switched doctors.

after a particularly bad "outbreak" of cracked skin, i asked my new doctor what she thought. she asked to take a look, and figured it looked like herpes. however, she took a swab of the area and it came back negative. she then gave me an antibacterial cream that seemed to clear it up rather quickly.

a couple of weeks ago my bf started taking antibiotics, and about a week later he noticed some redness/rawness around the head of his penis as well as some pain during urination. he went to his doctor and was diagnosed with a yeast infection, and has been using an antifungal cream since then. it seems to have helped and his symptoms cleared up pretty quickly. we have not had sex since he first noticed the redness. just recently i have noticed some redness/rawness myself and decided to go back to my doctor and see what she thought about it. she took a look, and again believes it to be a herpes outbreak, so she took another swab and has sent it in for testing. she also has me taking an antiviral drug (valtrex) but i have been on it for three days now and it doesn't seem to be helping so far. after a follow-up appointment, my bf's doctor agrees that if my doctor thinks i have herpes then that's probably what he has too.

i have been reading up about possible causes of these symptoms. it seems like the rawness/cracking is a symptom of both herpes and YI, and it can be hard to distinguish between the two. i have had a YI in the past which came with a lot of itching and chunky white discharge. this time there is no discharge, no smell, and minimal itching. i have also read that hormonal birth control can cause recurrent yeast infections, and i DID start on marvelon about a month after we started dating. i know that herpes can be transmitted asymptomatically, and it can stay dormant for a long period of time, but i don't know how common that is.

what do you guys think? have you had experiences with yeast infections or herpes outbreaks that seemed to have these symptoms? do you find that your YI symptoms vary from being really obvious (chunky discharge, smell, etc) to more subtle rawness? do you find that hormonal birth control causes more frequent YIs for you? do you ever get sore, cracked skin from sex, wiping too hard, sensitivity to chemicals, or for no reason that you know of? have any of you been diagnosed with herpes after never having had sex with anyone with obvious symptoms?

Comments

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

I think you're on the right track. It could be a YI, an HSV outbreak, or even a bacterial infection. I'd recommend seeing a health care provider for evaluation (including genital culture and blood work for HSV) and recommendation for treatment -- and treating your partner as well, because it does seem like whatever it is affects both of you, so treating both of you seems a solid plan.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

I'll add a PS that most people who contract HSV report that they've never had sexual contact with someone with obvious symptoms -- most transmission is during asymptomatic shedding.

[sleepseeker.livejournal.com]

i have read that too, about asymptomatic shedding, however i think that most of my past partners were trustworthy enough that they would tell me if they knew they had HSV. i wonder how many people have it and never know, and pass it on to people?

from everything i've read, i think that YI or HSV are the two most likely culprits. i should have asked my dr. to test for yeast as well as HSV when i was there. i think i will go back sometime this week, the symptoms still aren't going away.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

25% of the sexually active population in the US currently has a sexually transmitted infection; 80% of them don't know about it. Most infections have no symptoms (or ambiguous symptoms). Going back seems a good plan, I hope you feel better soon!

[lizs18.livejournal.com]

I've had these symptoms before as well and they were either due to a yeast infection or jock itch - which is a fungal infection that I didn't know can affect women too, but it can! I would see your doctor again and ask about the possibility that it might be one of those, because if it is, the anit-bacterial cream won't do anything and, you can pass yeast infections and jock itch to your partner, or you can develop them on their own and either way they are very uncomfortable! Best of luck figuring it out :)

[sleepseeker.livejournal.com]

thank you! i should have asked my dr. to test for yeast when i was there! i will go back sometime this week, because it seems to be getting itchier, so YI is seeming more and more likely.

[in-a-safety-net.livejournal.com]

I think that it wouldn't be unfair of you to also ask your doctor to treat you for a YI, just to rule that out as a possible cause.

[sleepseeker.livejournal.com]

thanks, i think that is a good idea too.

[-tbs.livejournal.com]

i'm having the exact same problem, i'm leaning more towards a yeast infection because i've read that the first herpes outbreak tends to be very large, painful..too painful to be having sex, and is accompanied by bumps, oozing, crusting and all that. and if the valtrex isn't helping at all..it'd be strange for it to be hsv. i'm going to treat myself for yeast and see how it goes, maybe you can try that. good luck :]

[sleepseeker.livejournal.com]

i am glad i am not alone! yes, i am leaning more towards yeast as well, as it seems to be getting more and more itchy-ish. although it IS possible to have a very mild first herpes outbreak, especially if you already have oral herpes (which i do). from a search, i came across this page (http://www.medhelp.org/forums/WomensHealth/messages/188.html), and it seems like there are a lot of women who have these symptoms but haven't been able to get a concrete diagnosis for what is wrong! i don't feel quite as abnormal now, haha.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

Well, kind of. A primary HSV-2 outbreak is notoriously terrible - lots and lots of pain. However, HSV-1 can and does affect the genitals, and a primary HSV-1 outbreak is often not detected at all -- it can be attributed to shaving irritation, too much rigorous intercourse, etc.

[-tbs.livejournal.com]

true, but if it is hsv1, why would it keep coming back? most people with genital hsv1 only have a couple outbreaks. or just one, or even none at all. meh who knows.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

Not at all necessarily true. Many people with HSV1 have recurrent outbreaks.