Re: PLEASE read "herpes"....am I crazy?

Herpes is transmitted from skin to skin contact, and in very RARE cases from something like a moist towel. The likelihood of you getting herpes from a shady hotel bedspread/sheets really doesn't compute. Likely if what you are experiencing is from the hotel... it's not herpes. It could be bed bugs, it could be an allergic reaction, who knows. However, I read your other posting, and the fact that you both had boxers doesn't necessarily put you in the clear. Genital herpes can occur anywhere in that region, so it's possible, but probably highly unlikely if that was your only contact, and she didn't have any visible herpes lesions on the areas of skin that you were touching. There is asymptomatic shedding, but--it's nearly impossible to know. Possibilities: you contracted herpes at some earlier time and you're now having your first (or your first noticeable) outbreak; you contracted some other STD at some point (I'm not too well versed in all their symptoms); it's something innocuous like a pimple; etc etc etc. The BEST thing to do is go to the doctor ASAP. If you don't have a doctor, look in the phonebook or on the internet for a health clinic, or something like Planned Parenthood (not just for women...). In the meantime, there's a wealth of information out on the web. I would start with http://www.westoverheights.com/freebooktext.html But--keep in mind this is just information. No one can diagnose you, or tell you definitively that you do or do not have herpes, over the internet. You MUST go to the doctor. Your girlfriend should go too. You said she "doesn't have herpes" but how do you know that? Most people who have herpes don't know it... either they don't have outbreaks but carry the virus, or their outbreaks are thought to be something else, etc. Standard STD screening that you get at the doctor, etc. DOES NOT test for herpes. You have to specifically ask for the test. Good luck.