On my last messages you had kindly confirmed that you felt the 9week results I had were 100% conclusive which was a huge relief but what added to my relief was that you advised the Doxycycline I had taken for a week 72hours after the exposure would of 100% prevented Syphilis in that dose.I wondered if you are able to see my name/gender before answering.I am female and on the other forum I read that Doxycycline is not reccomended for hetrosexuals and more specifically not for females? 

I am still experiencing a lot of throbbing in my lymph nodes one sided groin,forearm and neck/ear. I have a scan scheduled for my pelvis and some more bloods to review my inflammatory markers but I wondered if you could iron the question around Doxy out for me please? Also would inflammatory markers be higher with Syphilis? 

Thank you in advance again. 

It is wrong that doxycycline is not recommended for heterosexual or for women. In fact, for chlamydia, doxycycline is now the recommended treatment in all cases in women and most infections in men (both gay and straight). And because there is now a national shortage of the long-acting form of injectable penicillin (benzathine penicillin G, trade name Bicillin®), doxycycline is now the recommend treatment for syphilis if BPG is not readily available. The only precaution for women is that doxycycline is not safe for an embryo or fetus and therefore is avoided in pregnant women.

Whatever the the cause of your groin pain, you cannot know it comes from lymph nodes based only on the pain; and there is no possibility you have syphilis.

I hope this helps. Please do your best to move on and stop over-thinking your syphilis risks, which were low to begin and then became zero with your treatment with both doxycycline and oral penicillin. No matter what symptoms you have now or develop in the future, and no matter what additional information you find on line, you can entirely disregard syphilis as a problem for you (assuming you do not have an entirely new sexual exposure to it). 

HHH, MD

Since the groin pain my GP found a small pea sized lymph on the left side which is going to be looked at and I have found two on either side of my neck but the burning sensation I feel is down just the left side of my body,neck, in my ear, around my temple, crease of arm and of course groin. My skin has become incredibly itchy too and my ears have been popping and a slightly tender throat again! As you know from dealing with many people like myself it's easy to feel unwell and tie symptoms to something you are also worrying about. My fear is around not ever having these type of symptoms until this one time unprotected incident. My new partner (M)who I have been with almost 4 months now hasn't developed any symptoms which I am guessing is a good sign? 

Based on my new symptoms do is there any other STI you think I should be testing for? I really do have confidence in what you and Dr Hook have told me but I wanted to make sure I had made my gender etc clear when it came to the Doxy and I will not read any more forums! Thanks again 

I'm sorry you have symptoms that concern you, but they are not possibly due to syphilis and they are not suggestive of any other STD either. 

I would reinforce your intent to stop searching the web on these issues. If you remain so compelled, at least restrict your searching to professional (or professionally moderated) website.

It is not normal to remain so concerned in the face of the repeated, science based information you have had, probably from your own doctor's as well as this forum. You can't go through life attributing every twitch and tingle that comes up now or in the future on a single sexual exposure that you apparently regret! If you continue to be so obsessed, you might benefit from professional counseling. I suggest it from compassion, not criticism.

In order to avoid any more confusion on my part and to make sure everything is clear in my head I hope I can end our thread with a few questions:

1. Am I perhaps correct in thinking the post I read on Doxypep was referring to the short dose taken for a couple of days for MSM and that what you are saying is that in the dose I took for that period of time regardless of my sex it would of cured Syphilis before it started?

2. The penicilin I took was 3 months or so after and is infact when the lymph pains started. From your messages I am gathering this would of had no impact anyway on Syphilis as the Doxy would of wiped it out 3 months earlier and the reactions to the penicilin are none STI related.

3. You are still confident that my 9week result is 100% conclusive and the new symptoms I have described are not a concern for Syphilis or typical for that infection?

Thank you for your patience and compassion. We could really do with a service like this here in the UK. We have a line we can call to discuss our worries but the advisers tend to have conflicting views on Syphilis window periods some are confident 9weeks is fine and 12 is just gold standard and others push the 3 weeks differnence could be risky which in all honesty is confusing and terrifying!

Thank you again for answering my numerous questions!!

2. Also correct.

3. Yes, your 9 week test result is conclusive and any symptoms you have now or anytime in the future cannot be caused by syphilis from the exposure described.

There have actually never been precise studies on time to positive blood tests for syphilis, so there is room for varied advice. However, in Dr. Hook's and my 40-50 years in the STD business, we have never seen anyone in whom it took more than 6 weeks.

That  concludes this thread. Please note the forum does not permit repeated questions on the same topic or exposure. This being your third about your syphilis concerns, it will have to be your last one; future new questions about this exposure, testing, and your fears about syphilis may receive no reply and the posting fee will not be refunded. This policy is based on compassion, not criticism, and to reduce temptations to keep paying for questions with obvious answers. In addition, experience shows that continued answers tend to prolong users' anxieties rather than reducing them. Finally, such questions have little educational value for other users, one of the forum's main purposes. Thanks for your understanding.