First Outbreak, Complications

Hi everyone.  I had/am still in the midst of my first outbreak, and it has been hell. I’ve spent the past 2 days in the ER.  Forgive me, because I am going to provide a somewhat detailed run-down of everything because I have a couple of questions, and it has not been easy to schedule a follow-up appointment with a regular ob/gyn, or general physician due to my emplpyer not offering insurance, and everyone has a really long wait time to get in to be seen.  Some of this may seem irrelevant/not connected, but Im trying to paint a full picture.  Please keep in mind I’m OCD, and maintain far above-average personal hygiene. Everything Im about to explain makes me feel like I sound disgusting!

First, I want to relay that toward the end of January, I developed a bit of a staph infection on my right ankle after a nasty razor cut while shaving. I immediately went to the doctor and got prescriptions for both cephalexin and clindamycin.  They said if the k-flex didnt work, then go fill the clindamycin because it meant it was MRSA/resistant. They were trying to give me everything I might need at once given I dont have insurance. The k-flex cleared it up almost immediately, and I discontinued it when I was almost done with it (I know...probably not the best idea in the wolrd). 

Last week around this time, I developed a very large boil-type thing next to my left eye. It didnt have a head or anything, was just a very large bump that caused a lot of swelling, and I could feel that there was stuff in it. I admittedly tried briefly to see if I could get anything out of it (I have cystic acne, and acne in general, so im used to this). Nothing happened so I left it alone, put my usual rx zit cream on it, and went about life looking like Quasimoto. I also went ahead and took the remainder of the k-flex, which made it almost non-existent within two days.  I noticed that I had teo other larger spots on my face - one on my chin, one near my other eye), but they weren’t nearly as big as the other one. 

Either the same day, or the day after the eye thing appeared, I started to notice that the very tip of my clitoris (hate using these words LOL this is all so embarrassing) was EXTREMELY sensitive, even to just wipe.  Not good sensitive, but very painful. I left it alone, washed well as usual, but also didn’t inspect it any closer, as I figured it would pass, and wasnt causing any kind of painful urination. While I was bathing a couple days later, I noticed what I thought to be either a regular ole pimple or ingrown hair on the outside of my “lip,” which I get somewhat regularly because I shave often. Not thinking anything of it, I popped it, and it popped like a normal pimple always does. Of course, I rewashed the area, my hands, etc, as I was still in the tub.  

A day or so later, another one came up right by the original one, which I DID think was a little odd, but went through the same routine. Neither of these “pimples” hurt/burned/itched in any way, before or after popping. I wouldn’t have even known they were there had I not looked/felt them.  I finally busted out my mirror and looked at the whole area since the sensitivity of the other area had not subsided/improved in any way.   I noticed that there was, indeed, some redness and puffiness around the tip, and that in the inside folds of my lips, up toward the very top of the crease above my lady bean, there were what looked like the beginnings of blisters/sores. I barely touched it to see if it was painful, which it wasn’t. I didnt touch anywhere else, and immediately washed my hands and began to freak out. Over the course of the next couple of days, the sores got worse, and a LOT more cropped up, both on the outside like the original two, and on the inside of everything.  I did a lot of googling, and determined it to be herpes since it all started to insanely burn and hurt as the days went on. Everything got really swollen, and from what I could see with my mirror, on the INSIDE-inside, it appeared to be very irritated, red, and swollen, but it was hard to detect whether there were actual sore IN there.  It was, and still is, a very big, very painful mess.  

So this was all last Monday-Wednesday. The worsening of the spreading and pain really didnt take place until maybe Thursday/Friday.  While it hurt enough to cause some major discomfort, I didnt feel bad otherwise, and was able to go to work and what not. I took it easy Saturday and Sunday. 

Sunday night/Monday morning I woke up around midnight with a raging fever, chills, sweats, and some of the worst body aches I’ve ever experienced (and I’ve had flu, strep, and even scarlet fever countless times).  After all the reading I had done, I figured it was just all related to herpes. I thought it was a little odd that the fever didn’t hit until well after the sores developed since everything I found online sounded like it all starts at once, but I know everyone is different, so didn’t think much about it.  I took some advil and tossed and turned until it was time to get up for work, and powered through it. The fever seemed to subside a little bit for most of the day, but I still had the sever body aches and of course the pain and throbbing down there. I felt really out of it, had a hard time concentrating and keeping my eyes focused.  I noticed my throat felt a little funny, too.  Around 4PM, the fever came back full force, and I had severe chills, so I left and went to an independent ER because at that one, they’ll give you a courtesy consult before charging you or treating you. I figured if it was all just herpes, and there wasn’t anything they could do for me, they could at least tell me that and I wouldn’t have to pay 9 buttholes to be seen. 

Lucky me, I was a true emergency because my vitals were ALL over the place, and my temp was 102.  So they proceded eith treatment, and I didn’t have to oay anything right then and there.  I told them everything that had gone on, including the face stuff, the previous staph infection, etc. the doctor took a look down there, but not very thoroughly at all. Jut kind of stood next to me, about parallel with my stomach, looked down, peeled one side back and said “yes, I see what are definitely herpes lesions.”  And had me cover back up.  

The fever and my throat and everything else going on concerned her greatly, and she said it seemed like I one or more infections going on, on top of herpes. so she immediately hooked me up to fluids, and did a bunch of blood test, a urinalysis, amd a chest xray to rule out pneumonia.  Also did flu and strep swabs.  They gave me a ton of advil and tylenol at once, but the fever didnt go down. ALL of the tests came back normal. My white blood cell count was off of course, since my body was fighting something. But other than that, she said everything appeared normal and healthy, and the flu and strep tests were negative.  They were initially like 99% sure I had strep because I had the usual pus on my tonsils, and they were big and angry looking.  I was there a total of probably 4 or more hours. She finally came in and said she really wanted to transfer me to a hospital for overnight observance, and so they could continually pump me full of antibiotics overnight. She thought I was going to continue to get worse over night. My other option was for them to give me one dose of antibiotics via IV, plus scripts for augmentin and acyclovir, and I could go home, but I would need to either go back there, or straight to a hospital, if the fever didnt get better/worsened, or if I felt anything wasn’t right.  She really wanted me to be transferred, but Im a stubborn idiot so I took the second choice. I didnt feel so bad about it when my fever went down to 98.7 after the antibiotics. 

So I came home, and while I still had the body aches and everything as though I DID have a fever, the actual fever stayed down. For a little while. By 1AM yesterday it was back, I was miserable, and I couldn’t even stand up straight because my body hurt so bad. I took advil and tylenol and just prayed for it to go away. By 7AM it hadnt budged so I took 4 more advil, my coworker dropped off some gatorade for me on her way to work. She took one look at me and told me to get back to the ER asap. 

So back to the ER i went. On the way there, I felt the fever start to break, and by the time i got there and in to a room, it was down to 98.6 and I was drenched in sweat. It was a different doctor this time (I wish he had been there the night before), and after reading the notes, he still wanted to run blood tests again to make sure. He hooked me up with fluids as well, and also gave me tramadol and toradol.  Blood tests came back the exact same as the previous night.  He looked at my throat and agreed that it looks like strep, but also said that herpes can sometimes do the same thing.  They had me drink a small thing of lidocaine (nasty stuff if youve never had to drink it), snd gave me some kind of IV drug that lasts for 4 days to help with my throat as well.  By the time the fluids finished, and all the meds kicked in, I felt better than I had in a long time, and I came home and finally SLEPT.  After that I did more googling, and found some various info that has me wondering a few things. 

The first night at the ER, after a while they had asked if I had any discharge. I had answered that I honestly wasnt very sure because my underwear have been messy in general after working all day and them being stuck to what’s going on down there and what not (sorry guys not trying to be gross). When I got home and felt well enough to actually look, I noticed that I actually DO have kind of a watery white-ish/grey discharge, and a fair amount of it. Could this be due to sores/blisters bursting and drainging out?  Is this cause for further concern?  I haven’t been able to find much out about it online, other than discharge is also caused by gonorrhea, chlamydia (and an array of other things). And gonorrhea can also effect your throat, which the first ER doctor had also mentioned was a possibility.  My other concern with this is that there was no full-blown pelvic exam done, so no one got a really good look at everything. She also didnt do any actual STD tests, which I’m not 100% sure ERs really even do that anyway. I’m not trying to say they were necessarily neglegent or ANYTHING like that in any way, I just now have a plethora of questions and additional concerns that I can’t get answers to until I’m able to get in to an appointment.  

I guess I’m just worried that, between the recent staph infection and me not fully finishing the round of meds as I should have, and then the stuff on my face, is there any possible way that any of this is staph-related?  I mean, I myself feel 99.999% positive that herpes is the accurate diagnosis, but my brain is hung up on these other things as well.  The sores down there are nowhere near being abcesses/boils, which is what staph generally causes as opposed to blisters. 

But is there ANYTHING else that this sounds like it might be???  

I’ve never tested positive for either strain of herpes (I always ask for it to be added on panels), though I know its common to have it and test negative.  I am ridiculously selective and careful sexually, and I know THAT doesn’t necessarily matter either when it comes to contracting herpes.  I don’t want it to sound like I think I’m “above” getting it or anything along those lines.  Hell, I caught HPV (with full blown warts) from the very first person I ever slept with. And I we used condoms. And I’ve used condoms with EVERYONE I’ve slept with ever. Only person i didnt was my ex-husband, which honestly I wouldnt be surprised if he gave it to me. And AGAIN I know condoms don’t really matter either when it comes to herpes.  Ive only slept with one person recently. 

Maybe I dont even know what all I’m trying to ask LOL!  But any advice or input, on any of this, is more than welcome and greatly appreciated.  I’m still very painful down there, and have been doing epsom salt baths for 3 days now. They make a difference initially, and then it just seems to wear off.  I went back to work for a few hours today, but I’m exhausted and in pain, and not really good for anything right now, so I came home.  If it were just like 2-4 sorrs I think I could managec but they’re literally everywhere, inside and out I started the acyclovir yesterday, I’m praying it helps and speeds things along, because I really don’t feel like they’re healing at ALL, and it’ll have been a full week of this already by Friday. 

Ok I’ll stop rambling now. Im so sorry this is so long, I just don’t know what to do or think. Thanks in advance!!

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