I don't want to go into the details of the assault. It was four days ago and I'm spiraling into depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, hopelessness, etc -- an absolute storm of worry. I went to the clinic and got on antibiotics for common bacterial STDs and pep in case of HIV exposure. I feel slightly less afraid because of that, but now I'm beside myself with worry about whether I caught genital herpes.
This has already been hard enough for my wife and I -- doubly so because we are sexually involved with another couple who are good friends of ours and are now afraid this will have to be the end of that wonderful relationship too if I got herpes since you can't ever get rid of that one. I ask you to spare your judgment on our lifestyle -- it wasn't our friends who put me in this position.
So, I'm sitting here agonizing over every little itch, tingle, and sting wondering what's just anxiety and what might be a real sign of infection. Could you describe in as much detail as you can spare what the warning signs of your first outbreak were? I hear itching, burning, pins and needles, but what's that mean exactly? How intense is it? Is it easily mistaken le for, say, the kind of itching and tingling you'd get just from being hyper aware of your genital region? Of random normal itching from dry skin or stress? Is there any doubt at all about whether the symptoms could be anything other than "something is actually wrong," or could they be mistaken for just, like, itchy dry skin and stuff like that?