Can Chlamydia go undiagnosed for 3 years?

I am a married man who had unprotected sex outside my marriage 3 years ago with a married woman.   A couple weeks/months later, I had a few days of clear, slightly milky discharge (usually after peeing in the morning) and a little discomfort when urinating near my penile opening that I wouldn't even describe as "burning", more along the lines of it felt different.   I never got tested because all my symptoms went away and didn't seem like a big deal.    She has no knowledge of my mistake.  We have a wonderful marriage.  Is it possible that we belong to the group of people that never exhibit Chlamydia symptoms?  Could it be that I just had a nongonococcal urethritis (NGU)?  I'm going in for a physical and will request a full STD workup, but in the meantime, can Chlamydia or NGU go undetected for 3 years?  I'm sick to my stomach at the thought of my wife possibly having this and maybe developing PID later?

[kdaily]

You and your wife would have had symptoms before now, in the first year you both would have been experiencing symptoms.

[BNM456]

Sorry to ask again, I feel my life is on the line.  I'm really scared.  When I asked my doctor for a chlamydia test during my physical, he listened to my story and said there was no way we could have gone this long without persistent symptoms.  Then he examined me physically and said that I don't have it.  He also said the urine test would be inaccurate because of the time it takes the specimen to get to the lab. Said that a swab culture was the only way.  I remember having some discharge (clear, maybe milky) some time after sexual contact but it went away I thought it was a prostate discharge. When he examined me and didn't see any discharge he told me that I was paranoid.

Questions:                                                                                                          How persistent would the male symptoms be in the first year?   How persistent would the female symptomoos have been over the first year?
Would either have continued or subsided over time?
I took some Doxycicline for acne about a year later for 30 days, could that have caused my infection to go away?                                                                                           If my wife didn't have any persistent symptoms over the last 3 years except a few brief discharge episodes that were colorless and odorless, could she have still have developed PID?                                                                                                        

Thank you for your response in advance.

[2terrified]

I will explain as best I can.  Please do not read anything more than what is said into it.  Simply put, yes, your wife would be more susceptible to chlamydia because she has had it before.

Both of you would have shown symptoms within a year's time of contracting chlamydia.  Especially your wife.  And they would have been bothersome and noticeable.
I experience this with my second infection of chlamydia after about 10 years.

Chlamydia affects the cervix so her doctor would notice irritation and/or discharge from the infection IF she has it.  Most of them automatically test for chlamydia/gonorrhea with the exam.  And yes, a gyno can tell if PID is present during the exam.

It is also possible that the doxy you took for 30 days could have cured you of infection

BUT (big BUT) you have no symptoms or evidence of having any std.  TAKE YOUR DOCTOR'S ADVICE AND STOP BEING PARANOID.  Please, the answers are not going to change. If anyone has anything else to add or correct, they will.  Relax and just encourage your wife to get her exams yearly.  Oh, and if nothing comes of this which I think will happen, then let it go and never do it again