[Question #8738] Help working out if my symptoms have a STI origin

40 months ago

Hey Doctors,

I’m hoping you can help me, this is driving me absolutely crazy.

I’m male. 30. Married. Happy marriage or it was, Regular sex healthy relationship.

Approx 4 months ago (3) I had three episodes of oral sex with another male of unknown status.

I didn’t test, continued to have sex with my wife during this time. No anxiety (maybe I should have been more careful)

Approx a week after my last encounter with this male I got increased urination. Passing lots of urine often. (Read this site and I noticed you say it’s not ever a STI sign) so again didn’t panic. Went to doctor , he did a dip test on urine and this was “clear” he prescribed doxycycline (I think) for a week as a precaution and moved on.

After doxycycline and because I read a few different things on here (and the web) I took a test and was negative for the main STI.

My symptoms cleared after a week.

Continued sex with wife

Month after this I got the urination frequency back this time it was different I was not going much more but I felt like I needed to wee all the time this feeling was in the tip of my penis.

I did another dip test at the doctors and this was also sent for full urinalysis. All clear. I self test for STI again an negative, no treatment and this clears in just over a week

A month after this I get a twitching feeling in my penis. Again not concerned too much but out of caution I did another STI test at GuM negative and again no treatment it went.

That was two weeks ago. Now for the past two days I have a pain at the tip of my penis. This is the worst it’s ever been. Urination dosnt make it better (or worse)

I’m leaning on the fact that it’s unlikely to be an STI due to my three tests over three months. But I don’t know if I should test again for STI or try to look for other reasons.

I’m guessing there is a chance that I infected my wife and I have now just caught it back. This makes sense to me? You?

I have a GP app but it’s Wednesday next week. Hoping for some help before.

I don’t want to k

Edward W. Hook M.D.

40 months ago

Welcome to the Forum and thanks for your questions. Thanks as well for looking at earlier posts to help assess your risk. You've done just as we hope clients would and agree with your assessment that it is most unlikely that you acquired an STI from the low risk encounters you describe above. Your tests validate this as well. Like you, many visitors to the site worry that they might have infected their regular partner, cleared the infection and then become re-infected by that partner, all without visible discharge. In fact however, this scenario is quite uncommon and likely to not be the source of your current symptoms. Discomfort at the tip of the penis can occur with infections of the prostates' or kidney stones and are in no way suggestive of an STI. While I would understand it if your GP chose to repeat your tests for STIs, I am confident such testing would not reveal an infection.

I hope this information is helpful. Please don't worry. EWH

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40 months ago

Thank you Doctor, please don’t take my jumping straight back with a follow up as anxiety. Just I had an email.

Thanks for your response. I’ll try and take solice in it.

Risk wise here considering my symptoms, my exposure and my tests what are we taking? Would you even bother testing again. My GP in past just referred me to GUM as soon as I mentioned my exposure my GUM then tested but referred me back to Gp as they are not convinced it’s STI related. I’m other ways I’m hoping to get my GP to examine me without mentioning STIs so he don’t palm me off.

My quick follow ups if you can

1) I have only tested after my meds but prior to meds I did a dip test on first void urine, is this any good to go towards discounting STI?

2) the symptoms I have you said they appear in other illnesses is that AS WELL as STI or are the simply not STI symptoms.

3) I guess three months is fairly good time to reinfect from my wife it this was even ever a possibility so how safe is it to take my test 3 month after exposure as conclusive?

4) the penile pain seems to be clearing up a little today. If it clears up before Wednesday would this be expected if it was an STI or do symptoms of STI hang around a while without treatment.

Thanks doctor. I know there is little you can do from a distance but obviously it’s hard to move on when I keep getting these symptoms.

Edward W. Hook M.D.

40 months ago

I would encourage you to ask your GP to examine you and to consider non-STI diagnoses. STIs are no a likely cause of your symptoms and you have tested negative. While there is a small chance tht the antibiotics you took would have cured an infection, this is far less likely than that your symptoms are due to another cause. As for your follow-up questions:

1. See my comment above

2. Please re-read my original response. As I said, the symptoms you describe are most strongly associated with non-STI diseases of the prostate or perhaps kidney stones.

3. I would consider your tests conclusive.

4. If your symptoms were due to an STI, I would not expect them to come and go in the way you describe.

EWH

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40 months ago

And you know what more I think of it I did have discomfort in my penile tip in February. I can’t quite remember if it was the same or not but this could easy be a variation of that. And I did test.

So I’m guessing I’d be very unlucky to have two bouts of similar symptoms one caused by a none STI and the other that is.

Dosnt make sense to me.

40 months ago

You don’t have to reply to my last comment I was speaking out loud to be fair. Before I read your follow up

40 months ago

I’ll go to the GP app and ask him to look for other causes rather than just a retest for an STI I think that makes the most sense.

1) am I right in saying IF this is an STI it’s likely to be chlamydia because of my onset on symptoms first time been over a week (I didn’t have sex with wife in between the last enounter and my negative test) so if I did catch an STI to give to my wife I caught it a month prior to the onset of frequent urination and treatment .That am not having discharge means it’s not Ghonnaria right? Also doxycycline didn’t work for Gon so my tests would be positive.

2) with that in mind Chlymidia been rare from oral sex further quantifies your assessment that I have had conclusively not been infected to infect my wife.

3) how long are STI symptoms likely to last without treatment?

I know this is the last response I won’t be back after you close. I’ll work with my doctor to move forward.

Edward W. Hook M.D.

40 months ago

Straight to your follow-up questions:

1. You are correct about that the onset of symptoms for chlamydial infections is typically longer than the onset of symptoms for gonorrhea and that symptoms of Gonorrhea are typically more prominent than those of chlamydial infections. Doxycycline would be expected to only cure about half of infections due to Gonorrhea

2. Correct. Chlamydial infections are both rear in the pharynx and rarely transmitted from the pharynx and those occasions when they do occur.

3. The symptoms of STIs, when they occur is that they typically persist for at least several weeks before they gradually resolve. The pattern of your symptoms really does not suggest and STI.

As I prepare to close this thread I will repeat one last time. The exposures you describe were low risk, your symptoms were not typical for an STI, and your tests provide further strong evidence that you were not infected. I hope this information will help you to move forward. EWH

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