[Question #10520] Follow up DGI

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22 months ago

Hi Drs,Would Dr Handsfield be able to review my case. 

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22 months ago

I have read that strains that disseminate can result in negative tests at the sight of infection.

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22 months ago

My q therefore are 

1.Is there a definitive test for DGI when tests at the site (urethra) are negative. Blood culture?

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22 months ago

2.I did receive a shot of Ceftriaxone and 1 weeks worth of Doxy 2 weeks ago.If this is DGI I assume it was too late/not a high enough dose to have an affect on the infection. 


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22 months ago

3.would the above effect any future treatment if required by Ceftriaxone IV for DGI

4.Would Drs treat on an assumptive diagnosis of DGI based on my symptoms.

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22 months ago

5.if this is DGI and remains untreated is this likely to resolve itself over a certain amount of time or would it tend to get worse/become chronic and too late for treatment?

Lastly does this sound more like ReA or DGI ?

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22 months ago
Apologies for the way the q was submitted the site would just not let me enter more than a paragraph. Even though the word count was within the limit mentioned. I have raised this with the site 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
22 months ago
Welcome back -- but I'm sorry you found it necessary. FYI, that I am responding is unrelated to your request; I just happened to be on tap for this question. Users do not have the option of selecting the moderator who replies, and there is no material difference between Dr. Hook's and my expertise and never a significant difference in our evaluations or advice.

I have reviewed your previous threads. Your anxieties are leading you down a rabbit hole. There is no chance whatsoever that you have disseminated gonococcal infection. It's something I know a lot about -- I have personal experience in the diagnosis and management of over 100 DGI patients (mostly from back when DGI was far more common than it is currently -- even though there has been a modest resurgence in the US in the past 2-3 years). See the links below. Trust me on this:  your symptoms and don't even come close. There is no possibility you have it. DGI is never a chronic, ongoing infection. Even without treatment, it usually clears up within 2-3 weeks and always within a couple of months. In the later case, there would have been excruciating joint pain, basically with destruction of the involved joint.

1. No, there is no single test. Diagnosis is based on a combination of clinical manifestations, but one requirement is that there must be a positive gonorrhea test.
2. There is no possibility of DGI persisting or developing after these antibiotics.
3. If you were to acquire gonorrhea in the future, conceivably it could cause DGI. But you are not infected now and would have to acquire a new infection.
4. No knowledgeable physician would treat you for DGI at this time.
5. See my comment above ("Even without treatment...."). There is nothing in your story that suggest reactive arthritis either.


HHH, MD
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22 months ago
Thank you for your detailed response Dr. 

I should be able to trust my results as I have had 3 tests since the exposure, however my main doubt regarding the negative test results is a previous thread #3546 where you mentioned up to 20% of DGI infections have negative tests at all sites. 

My regular partner also has similar symptoms bar any genitourinary symptoms which started within 2 weeks of intercourse. Which really raises concern I could have passed an infection on.In addition she also experienced a number of itchy inflamed spots on one leg which she put down to mosquito bites which healed within a week. 







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22 months ago

1 The antibiotics were taken around 8 weeks after the exposure would this still have cleared DGI if I had it , I understand DGI would normally be treated with higher doses? 

2. Is there any other infection that could cause my symptoms or I could have passed on. I just find it very strange that we both have similar symptoms her joint pain is a lot worse than mine, following my exposure.I’m still experiencing pain in around the penis head although this is not constant.

3 To be honest my joint pain isn’t excruciating it’s slightly painful but has moved between fingers, wrists and knees along with numbness in hands esp during the night.  Does DGI not really follow this pattern? 




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22 months ago
4 I have recently developed pain in my right testicle , this is not continuous and is worse when I am sitting or laying on my side. Does this sound like epididymitis? Or would any of the antibiotics I took have cleared it if caused by an infection . 

5 lf I did have DGI would you have expected it to have cleared by now 10 weeks since exposure or got a lot worse.
And lastly can you advise or make any recommendations as to how to proceed either . I did receive a diagnosis of prostatitis from a urologist and prescribed Trimethoprim 200mg twice a day for four weeks but this had made little difference and tbh I am sceptical about the diagnosis as it was made pretty much before any real examination. 

Many thanks again 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
22 months ago
You're being argumentative. This isn't a debate. The 20% figure on negative testing is based on cases 40-50 years ago, when only culture was available, which misses many cases that today would be detected with the standard nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). And DGI generally starts within 1-2 weeks of acquiring gonorrhea. And you had a very low risk exposure, and absence of pus dripping from your penis and painful urination is strong evidence itself that you never had gonorrhea. 

1) That DGI requires more intensive treatment has nothing to do with the doses needed to treat initial infection, or to prevent it if taken soon after exposure.

2-4) All your symptoms -- rather vague joint pain, penile discomfort, your previous "prostatitis" symptoms, and your testicular discomfort and everything else -- are most consistent with a psychological origin. I could use your story to teach medical students about the physical symptoms of genitally focused anxiety. Shame, guilt, anxiety and stress don't generally create symptoms, but they commonly magnify trivial symptoms or even normal body sensations that otherwise would be ignored or perhaps not even noticed. If your wife has more serious joint pains, it does not mean you and she are sharing an infection that is causing them. If she has actual joint tenderness, redness, swelling, etc -- or if the pain truly limits her activity -- she should see a doctor for evaluation. But this has nothing to do with the oral sex event that triggered all this. 

5) Finally, a rational self assessment! You are right to be skeptical about prostatitis. Urologists routinely treat such symptoms as possible prostatitis, in the hope an antibiotic will help. When it does not, is supports the likelihood of the chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), which often (usually?) has the same psychological origins just discussed. As you already seem to understand, that your symptoms did not resolve with an antibiotic is evidence against an infection as the cause. Your symptoms never came close to suggesting DGI, so I have no comment about whether it might have cleared up or gotten worse.

Really. Do your best to accept the straightforward, reasoned, science based assessments you have had from both me and Dr. Hook, and perhaps from your own doctors as well. You have no infection of any kind that has anything to do with the oral sex event that started your mind racing, and neither does your wife. If such concerns continue, I would advise professional counseling. I suggest it from compassion, not criticism.
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