I've had a skin irritation for a few months now. It all started in September. I had just moved into a new apartment and my boyfriend of three months has just moved to Boston for grad school. We had decided to end it for the time but keep contact.
Maybe two weeks after moving, I noticed an itchy spot on my left hip. It resembled a bug bite. I assumed it was and expected it to go away. I soon after found one on my other hip. The bites lasted several weeks, not going away, but occasionally fading, but then returning. When itching them, the itchiness seems to spread in the general vicinity of the bite. Eventually another one appeared on my inner thigh.
I ruled out bed bugs.
People suggested dry skin and getting a humidifier. However, my apartment is in a basement and at the time was sometimes musty and humid.
I sprayed for bugs throughout my apartment, and haven't seen anything but a couple small spiders since.
I've applied a variety of cremes and lotions for various conditions, the marks sometimes fade but never disappear.
Although they don't look at all like herpes, I considered the possibility of HSV spreading from a cold sore outbreak I had in July. Although, it does not look at all like a form of herpes.
Two to three months ago, an identical mark appeared on my inner left foot. It is larger, itchier, and redder than the others, but generally looks and feels the same as the other marks.
This week, one day after sexual activity, one appeared on my penis. This pretty much freaked me out. Today, after months of putting off something I probably shouldn't have, I went to the doctor. I don't have a primary care physician, and just recently acquired insurance for the first time in my adult life, so I visited the university's Quick Care facility. Through my own research, the closest I could find to my symptoms was something similar to eczema. There is no blistering, no puss or any other sort of liquid or substance coming out of it. The itchier one on my foot has a scabby part due to scratching it, but that's it. The only thing making these things particularly strange or not immediately identifiable is regarding how long I've had them, and how I find one ore more every few weeks.
After looking at them and leaving, she comes back in and says, "We just had a long discussion about you... There's nothing I can do. I'm not a dermatologist. I can test you for STD's but I do know that is not gonorrhea or chlamydia or herpes. It isn't eczema... What are the chances of you contacting HIV?"
I explained my sexual history, briefly. I have had one partner I've had sexual intercourse with in the past year. I had another a month ago, but this all started before him.
Despite her saying "I don't want to scare you", she really really has. I was sick for two days in December with no apparent cause. I woke up and vomited twice in one day and had diarrhea for two. It didn't seem like the flu, so I just thought of it as food poisoning or a brief stomach flu. Aside form that, I haven't been sick at all in the past year and have no other symptoms. My ex-boyfriend had mono last summer. He also had scabies several months before I met him... so who knows what I could have caught from him. He seems to be sick alot, so now that I think of it, maybe there is something I could have contracted from him. He always told me I was the first guy he had sex with, but I think he fooled around more before me.
So the doctor gave me a number for a primary care physician to call and they might refer to me to visit a dermatologist, but she said she had never seen this before and I might require other tests and/or bloodwork. So hopefully I can get in to have it checked out next week. I did call the dermatologists office back in October, but at the time they said I couldn't get in until December. I thought it would likely go away by then, so I never made the appointment, plus I wanted another opinion on the extremity of it before going to a dermatologist, which I feared would be expensive.
It may be nothing, but this doctor scared the shit out of me. Especially with her HIV question. Maybe she really did want to scare me, and maybe I should be scared considering I've had unprotected gay sex and didn't get this checked out sooner.
I want to question my ex some more, but I might wait until I see a doctor who might know something.
Maybe two weeks after moving, I noticed an itchy spot on my left hip. It resembled a bug bite. I assumed it was and expected it to go away. I soon after found one on my other hip. The bites lasted several weeks, not going away, but occasionally fading, but then returning. When itching them, the itchiness seems to spread in the general vicinity of the bite. Eventually another one appeared on my inner thigh.
I ruled out bed bugs.
People suggested dry skin and getting a humidifier. However, my apartment is in a basement and at the time was sometimes musty and humid.
I sprayed for bugs throughout my apartment, and haven't seen anything but a couple small spiders since.
I've applied a variety of cremes and lotions for various conditions, the marks sometimes fade but never disappear.
Although they don't look at all like herpes, I considered the possibility of HSV spreading from a cold sore outbreak I had in July. Although, it does not look at all like a form of herpes.
Two to three months ago, an identical mark appeared on my inner left foot. It is larger, itchier, and redder than the others, but generally looks and feels the same as the other marks.
This week, one day after sexual activity, one appeared on my penis. This pretty much freaked me out. Today, after months of putting off something I probably shouldn't have, I went to the doctor. I don't have a primary care physician, and just recently acquired insurance for the first time in my adult life, so I visited the university's Quick Care facility. Through my own research, the closest I could find to my symptoms was something similar to eczema. There is no blistering, no puss or any other sort of liquid or substance coming out of it. The itchier one on my foot has a scabby part due to scratching it, but that's it. The only thing making these things particularly strange or not immediately identifiable is regarding how long I've had them, and how I find one ore more every few weeks.
After looking at them and leaving, she comes back in and says, "We just had a long discussion about you... There's nothing I can do. I'm not a dermatologist. I can test you for STD's but I do know that is not gonorrhea or chlamydia or herpes. It isn't eczema... What are the chances of you contacting HIV?"
I explained my sexual history, briefly. I have had one partner I've had sexual intercourse with in the past year. I had another a month ago, but this all started before him.
Despite her saying "I don't want to scare you", she really really has. I was sick for two days in December with no apparent cause. I woke up and vomited twice in one day and had diarrhea for two. It didn't seem like the flu, so I just thought of it as food poisoning or a brief stomach flu. Aside form that, I haven't been sick at all in the past year and have no other symptoms. My ex-boyfriend had mono last summer. He also had scabies several months before I met him... so who knows what I could have caught from him. He seems to be sick alot, so now that I think of it, maybe there is something I could have contracted from him. He always told me I was the first guy he had sex with, but I think he fooled around more before me.
So the doctor gave me a number for a primary care physician to call and they might refer to me to visit a dermatologist, but she said she had never seen this before and I might require other tests and/or bloodwork. So hopefully I can get in to have it checked out next week. I did call the dermatologists office back in October, but at the time they said I couldn't get in until December. I thought it would likely go away by then, so I never made the appointment, plus I wanted another opinion on the extremity of it before going to a dermatologist, which I feared would be expensive.
It may be nothing, but this doctor scared the shit out of me. Especially with her HIV question. Maybe she really did want to scare me, and maybe I should be scared considering I've had unprotected gay sex and didn't get this checked out sooner.
I want to question my ex some more, but I might wait until I see a doctor who might know something.
