Herpes Or Balanitis :: How To Differentiate?
Sep 4, 2014
I am looking for some information to (hopefully) calm my nerves. I had unprotected oral and protected vaginal sex with an escort 16 days ago. After about 12 days I started to develop Balanitis symptoms on the head of my peniswhich was preceeded by a slight burning sensation in the genital area for about a day.
The symptoms have now almost cleared up but I am stressed about herpes potentially being the cause of the symptoms.
There has been no pain and no blisters of any sort but there was a slight itchy feeling from time to time in the genital area although that may well have been because of my imagination running wild.
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I'm sexually active. Circumcised. Always wear condoms, but occasionally one breaks. Last breakage was about 6 weeks ago. About 8-9 days ago the left side of my foreskin just below the glans itched like crazy. Within a few hours it swelled up and started overlapping the glans (as if I'm uncircumcised). The next day (probably 12-16 hours later), a couple oblong pus-filled blisters about 1/2 CM appeared on the foreskin. Part of the glans turned bright red in the area the foreskin swelled over. I assumed it was HSV 2 as I have HSV1 and the itchy sensation and related pain was similar. I'm already on 1,000 MG Valtrex so I didn't see a need to go to the doctor. The blisters survived a few days and merged into a large oblong pus sack about 1.5 CM. Shortly after it burst, the swollen foreskin turned bright red and began to shed. And there's quite a bit of yellow slime between the foreskin and glans. I wipe it clean 7-10x per day or it gets all over my inner thigh. I can't find any HSV2 pictures that look quite like this or match the blisters. My blisters seemed much larger than the HSV 2 pics. I've seen a few syphilis pics that look somewhat similar, but the description of symptoms doesn't seem to fit well. Plenty of balanitis pics match, but the sources say it's quite rare in circumcised men. Any ideas? I can't get to a doctor for at least a week (work assignment out of town).
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my daughter started this crazy autoimmune journey about 4 years ago at the age of 16. (at least that's when we realized her years of "weirdness" were actually SOMETHING)After some strange knots and rashes and being hospitalized and put on rocephin and bactrim only to spike a temp of 105 and develop a bright red rash from head to toe she was referred to a rheumatologist. She had a positive ANA (no numbers listed on labs, only positive) dsDNA and SSA. She was started on plaquenil and Mobic then added topamax and maxalt due to severe migraines. The initial diagnosis was undifferentiated. Her rheumy said he was leading more to Lupus because she has the distinct butterfly rash. She stopped taking her meds after she got married and has since had two kids (ages 3 and soon to be 1) She just reestablished herself with a new rheumy. They reran her bloodwork and said her ANA is quite high (didn't elaborate with numbers) and her vitamin D is extremely low. She is now back on plaquenil, Mobic, a prescription to help with the Vitamin D and calcium supplements. She has been to the hospital several times in the past few months with chest pain and high heart rate and sometimes high BP. She always tells them she has undifferentiated connective tissue disease but all they ever do is check her SED rate which is NEVER high..... are there specific things she should ask to be tested or should she always go through her rheumy for any unusual symptoms? The whole chest pain thing leaves this mama feeling uneasy and she is one who gets frustrated and says well I went and obviously I'm fine because they said I was fine.......
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I have had quite a few ECG's and blood tests but doctors say it is just anxiety but when you're experiencing symptoms without a panic attack how do you really know it's anxiety and not an underlying heart problem ?
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I found out 6 months ago I had diverticular disease after a flair up of diverticulitis. I have recently had another flair up - a few days ago. Although it seems mild it is still fairly debilitating but doesn't seem as bad as first time. I don't know if I am experiencing day to day diverticular disease symptoms or diverticulitis? First attack had fever with it and feeling sick but this one is just pain and diarrhea and feeling really down. Can't eat except for liquids. Is this diverticulitis or diverticular disease and how do you know the difference? Is it to do with the fever being present or not? I am so worried as no real information has been given to me and I feel scared I won't be able to live a normal life with this. Can someone tell me the difference and should I be heading to the doctors as soon as i get a flair up or just put up with it until it gets worse? I have read so many scary things about it I don't know if I can cope.
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So for about a year now I have been struggling with what two doctors have told me is balanitis. I have tried a countless number of treatments many of which have helped significantly however I can never quite get it to completely go away. I am going to be quite specific so there will be a lot of details, first off it all started about one year ago, roughly a month or two after having sex for the first time. About a month after my first time having sex I started developing some symptoms such as a white discharge and an inflamed foreskin, I went to the doctor and had a full STD check. I came back negative for everything except for Streptococcus which was causing my symptoms, within a few days of taking some antibiotics I was fully cured (I should note that the doctor said he did not think the streptococcus was sexually transmitted, I should also mention that at this time I had reasonably bad phimosis). Anyway I’d say about a month passed after this and one day in the shower I noticed that some of the skin which was visible under my foreskin had a whitish discolouration, immediately I went up to my doctors and they told me this was balanitis. I was prescribed ‘pimafucort’, a mix of hydrocortisone and anti-fungal. I used this cream for a week or so and it took away all the whitened skin, it was difficult to apply due to my phimosis however I made do. I kept using this cream for a while after the whiteness had gone as I was told it would help get rid of my phimosis which it almost fully did. However, what I observed as my foreskin became more and more stretchable was a lesion/inflammation on the top side of my penis head (pictures below). I kept applying the cream to this and found that while it helped it never fully got rid of it, during this time I had did repeatedly visited my doctor to get his opinion however he said just to keep trying as sometimes this can be a difficult area to treat. He also gave me another option of cream ‘miconazole’ however this never fully worked either. A few months down the track of using these different creams things were getting better and then worse again however I finally stopped completely as I felt as though the creams were damaging my skin. Something I would like to note here is that during the time between curing the streptococcus and diagnosing the balanitis I had started taking 100mg of minocycline for my skin, I have found some research online which suggest this drug causes lesions on the penis and thus causes balanitis (Just something to think about). Desperate for another treatment I turned to coconut oil, within a matter of hours of using some my balanitis had almost reduced to nothing however as usual it got to a point where it was really good but wouldn’t quite fully heal and eventually my maintenance for it would slip and it would get worse again. That pretty much sums up the cycle I have dealt with for the past year, finding new ways to make it better but never enough for it to fully go. Below are some pictures of the balanitis at different stages, some you can see where it was almost cured and some where it was quite bad. I should note that it never gets uncomfortable/painful or worsens beyond its current lesion size, only on one occasion has it started producing a discharge but that was when I had not cleaned for a few days due to a camping trip. I cured this by cleaning and applying a mix of pimafucort and miconazole. If anyone has some advice for me you have no idea how much I would appreciate it I am desperate to get this cured as it really starting to affect my life.
Attempted Cures –
Hydrogen Peroxide
Coconut Oil
Pimafucort
Miconazole
Garlic
Sugar Free Diet (This may have been working however it is very hard to use this diet given my lifestyle)
Probiotic pills
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I’ve had a red/inflamed penis head for a couple of years now. My foreskin is tight when erect, which I think means I have mild phimosis (of which balanitis is often connected to).
Symptoms include - slight odour, red/inflamed, sore to touch, a bit of white/cream smegma build up around the head. Because I am not sexually active, it cannot be an STI and it is for that reason I have never thought much of it - I often rinse it in the shower, but have never really thought of going to the doctor, because it doesn’t really hurt that much.
From what I’ve researched it looks like fungal Balanitis. Can this be fixed with over the counter 1% Clotrimazole Canesten Cream? If so, I would like to try this first and then go to the doctor, if it doesn’t.
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I'm a 26yo uncircumcised male. I've noticed a couple of times I have some red spots in my glans and the inside of the foreskin. This are not painful and they disappear quickly (a night, a day or so) and I've had a few recurrences. I notice sometimes white mucus, which it think it's smegma.
Apparently I got a negative test a few weeks ago, which the laboratory told me it was normal to get 0.00. However this was done before 8 weeks of my last contact.
Questions are:
1. Does this sound like Balanitis?
2. In which cases is balanitis a sign of herpes? Only during initial infection? Or recurrences too?
3. If it is caused by herpes, could it be painless? Could it be accompanied with smegma?
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Recently found out that I have genital herpes. It's scaring me because I'm a lesbian and I feel like I will never be able to have sex again. I have a couple of questions.
I'm in a relationship with a woman, would she contract herpes by giving me oral sex when I don't have an "outbreak"? Can she contract the virus orally?
What's are the risks and probabilities?
Can you have herpes 1 in your genitals or is it only herpes 2 in your genitals. What does this really mean?
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Just been in a little pain down below and was telling me dad about the symptoms like notice that underneath my penis round on the foreskin its all white and stinks when i itch. Now i have notice like red cut or red sore and its very agony for me just need to know if its balanitis i am using Dakota Cream last few days the itching has stopped but tonight i masturbated and the agony sensation i got it felt like my penis had come apart and was yelping in agony.
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I think I have been suffering from mild, untreated Balanitis for a few years now. I have read that the most common way to clear it is to use Clotrimazole cream. Is this correct? I believe it is over the counter from a Chemist. If so, how long should I apply the creme for to completely rid of the fungus?
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I'm a 20 year old male. A little over a week ago, the top of my penis reddened, became painful to touch and swelled up. A few days later the pain dissipated and there isn't as much redness, however the swelling remained. After some research, I came to the conclusion that this was caused by balanitis. The following day, I noticed pinkish spots/rashes on the inside of my thighs. I did some more research and discovered that this was a yeast infection, particularly candida. I read that it's not unusual as both were caused by the yeast.
I'm going to purchase Canesten. I was just wondering if this would work for both the yeast infection and the balanitis? If so, how would I apply it to my penis? It's very swollen therefore very tight, and it physically pains me to retract - I can't even expose the head fully. Would it have to be applied to the penis itself, or will I find a solution if I were to apply it to the foreskin?
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Ever since I could remember the tip of my penis has been very sensitive to touch, even if I realize that uncircumcised mens' penises are somewhat sensitive to the touch, mine is like borderline impossible to feel without getting extreme discomfort. It's also quite reddish almost all the time. For quite a few years I know I wasn't cleaning it properly, and up until a couple years ago I know I had some smegma under the foreskin that I was too hesitant to peel off due to the pain. A couple years ago I finally decided to do it and got all of it off, and now I can pull the foreskin all the way back, but the discomfort is still there. I started using a balanitis cream thinking it would help, but it hasn't really done much. Do you have any idea as to what may be going on?
I'm 21 years old right now, if that matters.
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I'm 28 years old, and I was recently on vacation and during the span of a week I did not masturbate for that whole time. Upon returning home I may have masturbated a bit too aggressively over the span of two or three days. After this I started to experience a slight burning and itching sensation and when retracting my foreskin I noticed some red blotches on the bottom of my glans and a bit on the surrounding foreskin. When I touch these areas they itch. After doing some research and looking at some images for comparison I believe I may have balanitis. I am not sexually active at all to rule out stds. During the period which I was on vacation, when showering, I never noticed any such redness. It was only after returning home and probably over-masturbating that I noticed this. I don't see any abnormal redness on the tip of the glans, only near the base and a bit around the foreskin. I don't seem to have any discomfort urinating or walking around, except for the occasional itch.I have not masturbated for a day now and plan on avoiding doing so for a week to see if it goes away. Is it normal for this to happen and can it go away on its own? I am washing the area once a day and trying to keep it dry as I've seen suggested for those with this condition. I've never had anything like this before so naturally it has me a bit concerned.
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I have been suffering from chronic Epididymitis and Balanitis for the last 6 months after unprotected intercourse. I was tested negative for all STDs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, hiv, syphilis, and many more) and autoimmune disorders. Initially tested positive for Candida Albicans after noticing some red spots on the penis glans. Went through a series of antifungal creams (because it kept coming back) until it finally disappeared without recurrence. However, I still still a red/inflamed meatus and mushy scrotum and foreskin (I am uncircumsized). In all of this, my scrotum sags after every urination and my spermatic cord/epididymis starts to hurt (this is also amplified when I have an erection or ejaculate). Usually when I wake up, everything is fine (meatus is less inflamed, and scrotum is normal and firm).
I went through a series of medications with multiple primary care physicians and urologists. Antibiotics (10 days of Doxycycline, 1 month of Clarithromycin/Amoxicillin). 2 weeks of Fluconazole, 1 month of Lamisil Antifungal cream on penis glans. 1 week of Nystatin. On and off with anti-inflammatories.
Diagnosis done:
Ultrasounds (small bilateral 4mm spermatoceles),
CT scan (nothing found),
4 urine analysis (nothing found),
STDs (nothing found),
They thought it was either yeast infection, prostatitis, urethritis, dysuria, or STDs but none of the medication helped
What is currently persistent and the most bothersome is the testicular/epididymal pain (right testicle). I have to ice it every night (been doing for past two months) to reduce inflammation and pain which also spreads to the base of penis, pelvic bone, and groin area.
Anybody have a clue on what this is? Could all this be candida? This has become a very big problem in my life and is constantly stressing me out. One of my doctors almost even started me on anti-anxiety but I am not the type to have ever been in depression or stress. I am always eating healthy and keeping fitness. Was usually an active and sporty person before all of this but I can't even do strenuous activity anymore otherwise it starts to hurt.
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Recently had balanitis and have just finished my antibiotics i've found myself peeing alot. Maybe twice an hour, and then when i sit down i feel like there is pee about to Come out. Is it just my body getting rid of the antibiotics
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I am wondering if anyone can help for a while i have been really itching downstairs sometimes i have itched till there has been specks of blood on my fingers. I am worried about damaging myself then i look at mirror see nasty like cute underneath the head of the penis. And across on the skin i am worried that the penis head will eventually come out through itching it can be like really stingy and sore agony at times i wash daily with water as soaps makes it worse. i have been using canesten cream 2 weeks before i was using Daktacort they only work for so long. I have also notice when getting erection it can be a nightmare it can be really agony sensitive and sore just wondering if these symptoms are Balanitis. Is there any stronger Medication or ornaments i can use that will get rid of it's getting me down i have been going back to the doctors about 100 times but he just keeps giving me Daktacort.
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I recently had a episode of Balanitis. Doctors prescribed Canesten cream which was extremely effective within the first 2 days, after which my symptoms had slowly returned. I've had this on-going for some time to the point where I can't determine what is normal and what isn't however I do know that I'm still having the itching sensation and soreness. The redness is there occasionally but this is hard to identify sometimes as it looks perfectly normal sometimes and other times it does not..
I have also noticed a few other things too whether its related or not I don't know but I have noticed that my foreskin (even after getting out the shower) will have this "clinging to the penis head" issue. It's not "stuck" it simply peels back...like it was moist even though it's dry. This isn't there permanently but is there more often than not.
The only other issue i've noticed since having this balanitis is that my foreskin seems to cover the entire penis head (it never used to) it would normally sit around the top half of of the penis head with the tip visible. Now the foreskin will cover it completely and either need to be peeled back (as described above) or will simply be extending outwards of about 1 cm. Again i don't know how abnormal this is as i've seen picture on google and it is apparently normal but its just not how mine used to be so for me its abnormal.
I have been to the doctors and they seem to think im perfectly fine but will consider referring me but is there anyone here that has experienced this or knows how to treat it?
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I went to the doctors 3 weeks ago with red patches under me foreskin and a single spot on the head. Doctor diagnosed a fungal infection and prescribed canesten 2%. 3 weeks later, it's not getting better. If anything, it's getting worse and I'm starting to worry now. I've never had unprotected sex and I haven't had any sex in a few years.
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