Chlamydia treatment

I found out on the 20th that I have chlamydia. I know who gave it to me, exactly one month prior.

The doctor prescribed 10 days of doxycycline twice a day. After 4 doses, I couldn't stand it anymore, it made me throw up. So I went back and they gave me the 1 gram dose of azithromycin, which I took on the 23rd.

I noticed improvement in my symptoms within days (I had some itching, redness, odor and excess discharge that was different than usual), but then got my period so I couldn't tell anymore. It's now the 30th and my period is gone, and I still have symptoms, though they're less than before. I still don't smell the same as usual, and the discharge looks the same except just less.

I'm wondering how long it usually takes for the azithromycin to clear it out? Is it possible that even with 4 doses of the doxy and the 1 gram of azithromycin, I still have it? Is it easy to reinfect yourself (without sex) through things like underwear or sex toys? Or is the chlamydia gone and my body is just working on returning to normal?

I will be going to get retested, the doctor said to wait a few weeks. But until, I won't really know, so I wanted to know if anyone knew.

Thank you.

[mogwai0]

Oh and also, my eyes have been fairly itchy lately. I get pretty bad seasonal allergies but I'm wondering if it could be from the chlamydia? If it's from that, would it develop and get really bad so it'd be obvious it isn't from allergies? Would the antibiotics treat it or do I need special drops or something?

[2terrified]

No, the only way you could have infected yourself in the eyes would have been to get your infected vaginal fluid in them somehow.  So, don't worry about that.  The chances of medication failure is less than 5%.  It could take a while for your body to get back to normal.  You could also now have a change in the natural flora of your body.  Most likely you have been cured.  Just wait it out and get a test for cure in about 4 weeks.

[mogwai0]

Thank you. I've taken some of the left over doxy and my symptoms are improving.

I'll wait it out and get retested in about a month.

[PinPinPatrick]

Just so you know, I caught Chlamydia myself, and I DID have eye symptoms as well, I'm not a Doctor, and I even got my eyes checked, nothing was wrong from what they tested for, but I did sense something wrong with my eyes.  I got tested for everything else and only caught Chlamydia.

I was told by the Doctor it takes 1 week after your antibiotic treatment to clear up the Chlamydia infection.  I think this is a conservative estimate to be safe and prevent you from spreading it sexually during treatment.

[2terrified]

Did you stop taking the doxy?  No, you should never stop it.  You need to continuously take the medication until it is gone.  I hope you still got cured even though you may not have taken the medication properly, but if not, it is possible you may need treatment again.

[2terrified]

If you get any bacterial std, it does not spread  to the eye or mouth just because you have it.  It would need to be transmitted in that area.

[PinPinPatrick]

That's not necessarily true... Syphills can spread to the whole body, and is an exception to that.

I believe my Chlamydia infection spread to my eye because I touched myself and accidently poked myself in the eye after... i had an itch on my nose, and went to scratch it but accidently poked myself i the eye.  It sounds strange... I had eye symptoms up until antibiotic treatment.

[2terrified]

There are always exceptions.  But you just said yourself that you touched yourself, then touched your eye... Had you not poked your eye, you would not have had any chlamydia in your eye.  

And untreated, all bacterial have the potential to spread.  

[mogwai0]

Well, even if I stopped the doxy I did take a full dose of azithromycin already so I've been taking the doxy just in case. I took 4 doses before the 1 gram of azithromycin, and then about a week after that is when I started the rest of the doxy, I think it's been 4 days today.

[2terrified]

The failure rate for azithromycin is less than 5%, so that should have been sufficient.  I personally don't understand why you would go back to taking a medication that made you sick in the first place.  That was why you got the azithromycin instead.