Aside from the initial abnormal pap she had, my girlfriend has not had an abnormal pap since then.

Granted I have been diagnosed with Lichen Planus but my feelings are that the symptoms I originally had with the cuts and bursting pimple are not attributes of Lichen Planus. The fact about Lichen Planus is that it is still unknown today how someone can get Lichen Planus. One thing is for sure, it is NOT contagious and is NOT an STD so therefore my girlfriend would not be at risk. One theory is that Lichen Planus may come from certain exposure to chemicals but outside of that, no one really knows.

Within the last 4 years, my girlfriend and I have had protected sex ONLY but definetely no where near the frequency we used to have before this episode started.

My feelings today lean towards that this so called "Mystery Virus" may have manifested itself to Lichen Planus. Kind of like the final ending phase of the virus. I come to this conclusion because I have not found any evidence in my research that indicate that my original symptoms that I've described are linked to or are a result from Lichen Planus. It simply does not add up for me and I cant seem to come to terms with it. I feel like I have not found closure to what I originally had. I wish someone can definitively tell me what I originally had.

As far as my feelings towards my girlfriend, if I take the illness out of the equation, I would be a lot more relaxed with my decision to continue a life into marriage with her. It is this uncertainty that has been holding me back for quite some time now. With all fairness to her, she knows how I feel and wants to and has been supporting me all the way through. This alone shows her character of being a good person.

So based on what I've described to you, do you think I am at risk of exposing myself to an unhealthy relationship if I decide to have unprotected sex with her again? I just wish someone can reassure me that if I do have unprotected sex with her again nothing of that nature will happen again. It was truly a painful 10 months experience that to a certain degree has changed my views towards sex in a negative way. I am more fearful. I am traumatized by what happened. I just want to feel normal and lead a normal life. I just want to know if I can with her.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thank you C.

LP doesn't come from another infection. There is no known pathogen involved, so I don't think that whatever you had first morphed into this.

However, she needs to get checked out, too. If she hasn't been tested since all that happened, she should be. If she doesn't have anything you can get, then there will be no more mystery symptoms.

Aj

"In those times you seem to forget, I don't mind reminding you that you are a beautiful soul." ~ Cindy Campo

Paragraphs are beautiful things.

I still don't think HPV has anything to do with it, but even when someone has HPV it often clears within several months to...um...a year or two (sorry, can't remember). At any rate, if either of you had HPV 5 years ago, it would have cleared by now and neither of you should be infectious.

I agree with Jess--if she hasn't been tested for STDs, just have her do that and then you'll know if she's got anything you can potentially get or not.

C.

If not, it's possible that what you had was actually caused by hsv2. It can take up to 16 weeks to develop antibodies so the test that showed you you had hsv1 would most likely just give you an idea of a preexisting condition (most likely oral hsv1 in your case which most people have even if they don't remember ever having a cold sore)

You might want to get retested with an IgG type specific blood test but I would think that if you were diagnosed with Lichen Planus, that's probably what it was. I don't know anything about it and how one gets it so I would suggest you ask a doctor these questions or just do a google search.

I had been tested for STD's regularly from the first sign of infection until the final 10th month when LP was eradicated. The blood tests continued to only show HSV-1 in my blood, not HSV-2.

Within the last 6 months, my girlfriend has been tested for STD's on two separate occasions and each by a different doctor, and each time the results were negative for STD's for her.

Even though the doctors indicate that it is safe for us to have unprotected sex again, I am petrified that there may be a slight chance that the virus might be in submission and may not have been detected. Am I crazy for being so overly cautious and worried that I might still be at a risk?

What else can I do to be absolutely certain that I am at no risk to have unprotected sex again with my girlfriend?

Thanks in advance!

I guess I see how you're worrying given what you went through, but if Lichen Planus isn't an STD and not transmitted by sex, then I think you just had some horrible coincidence that's affecting your sex life unnecessarily. I still haven't spent the time looking up Lichen Planus, but if it's just one of those things they don't really know the cause of, I'd just chalk it up to a fluke. Go for it. Have unprotected sex. You'll probably be just fine. I do think you're being too overly cautious here. Besides, just to play devil's advocate here--you really want a future with this girl, right? The only thing holding you back is this fear which is likely irrational. So take the plunge, what's the worst thing that can happen? Even if you somehow mysteriously got Lichen Planus again, at least you'd know immediately what it is and obviously there is a treatment for it, which you could take advantage of right away, and it would go away again, right? Seriously, I don't think that's gonna happen at all, but I'm just saying--isn't that essentially the worst case scenario here? Just biting the bullet and having unprotected sex will almost certainly be wonderful and nothing bad will happen and then you will be past all this hesitation and fear. Then you can move forward with your relationship. Doesn't that sound good?

Maybe y'all can plan a little romantic weekend away somewhere. Schedule a couple of fun activities, so between the amazing unprotected sex and the non-sex distractions, hopefully you won't be making yourself crazy expecting something bad to happen.

C.

I don't know if hpv could cause symptoms like you are describing in men but even if it could, it's been years since you had it. Your body most likely cleared it up and your girlfriend's body cleared hers up if she's been having normal paps since. Plus I believe you can't really get reinfected with the same strain again. Almost everyone whose ever had sex has had an HPV at some point. If you dump this girl and start a relationship with another, chances are pretty good you might get another strain of HPV even if you were using condoms since they really don't protect fully against HPV.

You can safely have sex with this girl if you both have been tested for all STDs with all the appropriate tests (including the type specific IgG test for herpes). By this point you already got whatever HPV she might have had and she got what you had and both of you most likely cleared it. (the vast majority of people clear HPV by two years at the most).

So at this point if you both have been monogamous, it's safe to have sex w/out condoms.

Please decide if you want to stay with this girl or not based on other factors in the relationship, not some distant possibility of an STD such as HPV or herpes.

Good luck.

I do have one of her STD test results in front of me as a matter of fact. She gave it to me after she got it from her doctor. It's 3 pages. But quite honestly I don't understand anything on it except for the last page that has a negative mark next to STD's which I presumed indicates negative for STD's.

I'll describe to you what I see on the each page as it is extremely hard to make out the doctors handwriting so I'll try my best to decipher it. It says the following:

PAGE 1
contraceptive's: YASMIN
Reason for Visit: HPV Testing
Cervix: AVLUS NORMASCES (SP?)
Uterus: AVLUS NORMASCES
Adnexa: AVLUS NORMASCES
Pap (Wet Mount): POSTIVE MONILEA (SP?)
Notes from Hx and PE: P2P=HPV

2nd Page (a bunch of women anatomy diagrams) the best I can come up with is this:
URINE: Negative

3rd page:
ETOH: Negative
DRUGS: Negative
RISK FOR HIV: Negative
Hx of ABUSE: Negative
FAMILY HX CA: Negative
HTN: Negative
DM: Negative
ASHD: Negative
PAP Hx: Negative
STD'S: Negative

One thing I'd like to mention is this: When we do have our occasional engagement of safe sex, there is an awful lot of white discharge coming out of her vagina. According to her doctor that tests her regularly, he says this is normal because it is a side effect of taking birth control pills. The white discharge doesnt smell but looks like a thick white cream. Is that safe to get on my genital area if we had unsafe sex?

Also, I have gone to see her doctor and talk to her doctor so I know for sure that what she is telling me is the truth as I heard it from the doctors mouth as far as it being ok to have safe sex.

Much thanks in advance!

I don't know what the monilea is. I googled it and can't find it.

When a woman is aroused, her vaginal secretions increase. That's normal. If she doesn't have an std, then being exposed to her secretions won't infect you with anything.

Aj

"In those times you seem to forget, I don't mind reminding you that you are a beautiful soul." ~ Cindy Campo

Paragraphs are beautiful things.

There would be two numbers next to HSV1 and HSV2.

This result that you posted does show STDs as negative but we have no clue which STDs she was tested for. Common ones to be tested for are chlamydia and gonorrhea and perhaps HIV.

However it looks like they just assessed her risk for HIV as low (probably b/c she said that she doesn't inject drugs or have sex with men who have sex with men). It doesn't seem that she was actually tested for it.

Is there quest diagnostic close to you? You can google it and find locations. They offer a comprehensive STD testing that includes herpes, hepatitis and everything else. You could try that. Or you could tell her to ask the doctor for the list of all STDs he/she actually tested for.

Monilia is yeast. The report doesn't say whether it's a little or a lot, but if it's a lot, it could cause a thick, white discharge. It could be transmitted during sex, and it's possible to pass it back and forth to each other, so sometimes the male partner needs to be treated, too. And it could cause symptoms like the early ones you described - the cut and pimple, although I think LP could cause those, too, based on the description on this page, under Physical.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1123213-overview

Aj

"In those times you seem to forget, I don't mind reminding you that you are a beautiful soul." ~ Cindy Campo

Paragraphs are beautiful things.

Since the last time I've replied to this forum, I decided to take your advice and be pro-active and go to a urologist and get STD tested. I also had my girlfriend get the lab results for her STD tests she had last month. Here are the results:

My results:
The only item out of range was HSV-1.
HSV-2: Negative
Chlamydia Amplified Aptima: Negative
Gonorrhea Amplified Aptima: Negative
Syphilis Serology: Negative
HIV-1 Ab Screen by ELISA: Negative
------------------------------------------
My girlfriends results.
Under diagnosis, it says the following:
NEGATIVE FOR INTRAEPITHELIAL LESION AND MALIGNANCY.
FUNGAL ORGANISMS MORPHOLOGICALLY CONSISTENT WITH
"CANDIDA" SPECIES ARE PRESENT.
SPECIMEN ADEQUACY: SATISFACTORY FOR EVALUATION: ENDOCERVICAL AND/OR SQUAMOUS METAPLASTIC CELLS (ENDOCERVICAL COMPONENT) PRESENT.

Chlamydia trachomatis: Negative
Neisseria Gonorrhoeae: Negative
Trich vag by NAA: Negative
Genital culture routine:
Result 1: Yeast Isolated. Heavy growth
Result 2: Routine genital flora. Heavy growth.

What I would like to know is what does NEGATIVE FOR INTRAEPITHELIAL LESION AND MALIGNANCY.
FUNGAL ORGANISMS MORPHOLOGICALLY CONSISTENT WITH
"CANDIDA" SPECIES ARE PRESENT.
SPECIMEN ADEQUACY: SATISFACTORY FOR EVALUATION: ENDOCERVICAL AND/OR SQUAMOUS METAPLASTIC CELLS (ENDOCERVICAL COMPONENT) PRESENT mean in English?

Am I in danger of sleeping with someone who has this diagnosis. Every time my girlfriend goes to get her pap smear, it always comes back with some form of yeast build-up. The doctor gave her Diflucan a couple of years ago to rid her from yeast but again this past month, the pap smear came back with yeast? Am I in danger of experiencing a similar episode I had when I first met her (after 4 months)?

PLEASE HELP!

Thank you!

Yeast infections are pretty common and some women get them all the time, even with treatment. It's possible that you got a yeast infection too and it caused your symptoms. If you have symptoms again, ask to be tested for yeast and treated if it's positive.

She might want to look into femdopolis. You can get it at a health food store and it restores the normal bacterial flora in your vagina so you aren't as prone to yeast and bacterial infections.

If you are alive, you run the risk of running into all sorts of micro organisms.