10 yrs ago I got back w ex. I had very badsore throat that got better with cefdinir, but tonsillitis remained. Given  zpack but taken to hospital because tonsils touched. Misdiagnosed w/ mono due to false pos monospot. Confirmed neg w labcorp, cmv neg igm, and ebv acute neg, pos for latent. Was given Iv steroids and had a bad palm rash after that looked like popped blisters + burning mouth. CBC in hospital: wbc 15, neutrophils 76, lymphs low 16, Later had flat bumps on scrotum, scrotal rashes, + plaques I thought were eczema or jock itch. Now I see pics on pubmed and JAMA that look just like syph. Did fta abs, tppa, 2 cascades, 2 labcorp cia trep antibodies, 3 rpr. Scared of false negatives due to having so many symptoms, testing 10 years later, the prev antibiotics given messing w test reliability, and heavy drinking inbetween tests due to anxiety. I also have a multinodular goiter w nine nodules at 32 Worried about syph thyroditis. 

Welcome to the Forum.  Thanks for your questions although they are a bit hard to follow.  As I understand it, you have had a number of symptoms including severe sore throat, rash on the palms of your hands and subsequently rashes involving your scrotum,. These symptoms, perhaps because you have been looking for answers on the internet,  have made you concerned that you might have syphilis however you have had numerous negative tests using a variety of tests, including the Labcorp treponemal CIA, RPR tests, TPPA tests, ad FTA tests, all of which were negative.  Despite this you remain concerned about having had falsely negative tests.---

Hey and thank you for replying. I wasn’t sure how much room I had to type. Basically I had a weird infection that I believe was misdiagnosed and I had a bunch of symptoms that matched up with syph but didn’t realize it, and my ex gf lied to me about being checked in our relationship. The wbc, neutrophils, and low lymphs were from before the steroids I had the palm rash after they gave me the steroids and the. Burning  mouth. Not too long after that is when the weird scrotum rash started. It would change and come and go. It looks like a lot of the pictures on pubmed. I read about discordant results, false negatives, waning antibodies and immunosuppression affecting the tests (I’m worried drinking a lot may have suppressed my immune system) other symptoms I had are white tongue, two painless mouth sores (in 2020 that I thought was just my hsv but it was INSIDE my lip) eye floaters, heavy muscle twitches, cloudy urine, eye pain, and a peeling rash around the base of my penis. I also did an ANA, RA, all negative. My calcium is slightly over range by .2 and my thyroid is all messed up but no thyroid autoimmune antibodies. I’m worried it’s tertiary syphilis. I went to two ID doctors who wouldn’t treat me based on my symptoms because of the negative tests. Can I really take confidence in them even though I’ve had so many symptoms? The palm rash and scrotal plaques are what scares me the most. Can I have done anything to make them false negative? Like bad drinking habits or just from taking too long to test (ten years) I remember she also had a “cut” from shaving I’m worried may have been a chancre. 

I understood the gist of your concerns from your original post.  I agree with the other doctors you have consulted.  Although syphilis is called the "great imitator" and can cause a variety of manifestations including rashes, if you had syphilis your tests would have been positive.  The internet is full of mis-information about syphilis.  Bottom line however is that a syphilis diagnosis requires positive tests.  When persons have syphilis tests such as the FTA, the TPPA, and the CIA tests will remain positive for life, no matter how long you take to test.  ---

Thank you again for the timely replies and patience/understanding. 

Final responses:---

Thank you again for the reassuring words and expert advice. If it truly isn’t that and there’s nothing else you recommend doing to rule it out, is there anything else I should be testing for? All other std tests negative including mycoplasma and ureaplasma, HIVx2 and gonn, chly, and trich. What infectious diseases can affect the thyroid? Or have similar symptoms to syph? Should I test for TB? and there are no other tests you think I should get to completely rule syph out or redo? 

The thread is over.  You DO NOT have syphilis. You need to put your fears of STIs aside and work with your doctors.---