Please help!!
Last year having been in two consecutive long-term relationships I split up with my boyfriend and started sleeping with someone new. About two weeks later I was on holiday and had a very thick, cottage-cheese like discharge which lasted a day or so. Within a few days my new boyfriend and I had sex again and it hurt like hell, my vulva was really itchy and the inside of my vagina had 3 tiny red lines inside. One of the lymph glands in my groin was sore, it was sore to pee and I had some what I thought were spots near the entrance of my vagina.
I went to my local GUM clinic and they thought it was herpes. I didn't tell them about the discharge because I didn't think it was relevant. The herpes test result came back negative.
Since then I have assumed I have had herpes, but having looked at the internet again properly I realise that the discharge I had sounds like candida/thrush. I have looked at pictures of herpes and I've never had anything like that.
Does anyone have an opinion??
Thank you so much
Claire.
Genital Herpes or candida?
Hi Clairesmith75,
I don't think you have Herpes. In fact, you're not he first to write on this forum about candida (thrush) being misdiagnosed as Herpes. I used to suffer quite bad from it, so I know. The discharge you describe sounds like candida.
Normally you can treat thrush with stuff from the pharmacy, but if its' bad, you need to get a prescription from the doctor.
Do you still have symptoms? Go see a doctor, just to confirm.
Kind regards,
iv
Herpes or candida
Thanks for your post IV. This happened last September so I've spent the last year assuming I had herpes. I was seen by a GUM clinic so I assumed they knew what they were talking about.
The only things I can't find connected to Thrush are the "fissures" I had just on the inside of my vagina (like 3 thin red vertical lines) plus the swollen lymph gland in my groin. Mind you I can't find any reference to the fissures (if that's what they're called) in descriptions of herpes either. It happened after a very rough bout of sex (I got the discharge, a few days later we had sex, then I got the fissures).
Needless to say I'm not with him anymore! I haven't had anything like it since.
Thanks for your advice, you would not believe how helpful it is to get someone's opinion as I have been beside myself with worry about it all.
Thanks again
Claire.
SECOND OPINION!!!
It's been several months since you made your post, but I just joined. You only got one person's opinion, and all I have to give you is a second opinion. What you really need is a blood test by a doctor to let you know for sure if you have herpes or not. What you probably got the first time was a swab test, which are notorious for coming back negative; even a blood test at that time would have come back negative as it can take many weeks after your first outbreak for your body to produce enough antibodies to register in the blood test.
My first herpes outbreak had a LOT of discharge, burning and itching - like a yeast (candida) infection. Why? Because in women the sores are often inside the vagina, not on the outside, and it irritates your system, which responds by giving off alot of vaginal discharge - similar to a yeast infection. The difficulty peeing is also very common with a first outbreak (I don't remember if it's because you have herpes lesions inside the urethra or just irritation from the surrounding tissues - either way, I had it, too); and your clinic gave that diagnosis, too, upon examination. So my opinion, based on your description? You probably do have herpes - it sounds EXACTLY like my first outbreak... Sorry.
Hello
You cant be more right.