Aa
Trichomoniasis, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea
I had an unprotected sexual relationship with a man during April and May. I am a woman. I began to develop STD symptoms at the end of May, so I went to the ER one night when I freaked out because I couldn't use the bathroom without it hurting very badly. My symptoms were burning urination, itchy vagina and anus, and runny, white, vaginal discharge. So, I was tested for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Trich. I was positive with Trichomoniasis and negative for the other two. They gave me four pills, and I accidently took them wrong (I took one pill per day for four days, but I was supposed to just take them all at once). They also gave me pills for my partner to take, and he took them wrong too! So, my symptoms got a little better, but I went to Planned Parenthood to retest because I didn't feel all the way better. I told them how I took the pills wrong, and they gave me more pills even though they didn't see any Trich in my fluid samples. It was Flagyl both times, by the way. They also RE-tested me for Trich, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea, which all came back negative. I tested positive for a yeast infection, though, so I got Fluconazole. After taking the second round of pills, I got oral thrush and was prescribed an oral rinse for it by another ER doctor. I don't have any insurance, by the way (thanks, US Government!). My yeast infection was so horrible, the Fluconazole tablets didn't help... it was supposed to be a one-dose, but I took THREE and it still didn't help. So I eventually took a vaginal suppository and it cleared up. I never responded well to the pills before, so maybe that's why. Anyway, after the yeast infection cleared up, I went BACK to Planned Parenthood and had a Pap Smear. It came back normal, but the doctor said it was hard to check me because I still had so much Monistat treatment in my vagina. She prescribed me with Ortho-Cept birth control pills.
So, what is my question? Well, after all of this, I was freaking out about HIV, so naturally, I forced my partner to get tested. He tested for HIV, syphillis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and trich. He was HIV NEGATIVE, Syhillis NEGATIVE, Trich NEGATIVE and Chlamydia and Gonorrhea POSITIVE. How can this be?! I tested negative for chlamydia and gonorrhea three times! But he tested positive for both. I was in the doctor's office with him when he got his results, I heard the doctor say it out loud so I know this is a FACT. I'm still feeling a little itchy too... and we had PROTECTED sex last night and it hurt... not badly, but sex has always felt good to me, so this is not normal. I am not having any bad smells, but I am getting a LOT of discharge, although it is supposed to be a side-effect of my Ortho-Cept, and I didn't get this discharge until I started on Ortho-Cept. I really feel very normal... but my partner came back positive for chlamydia and gonorrhea. I'm concerned that I have both as well and am testing false negatives for whatever reason. I can't be walking around out here with two dangerous infections. I plan on having kids one day, I know all of the dangers of this set of STIs. I'm wondering if Planned Parenthood will give me treatment for these infections even if I test negative again. I feel like I have them but maybe the double dose of Flagyl made the symptoms and infection decrease. Aside from my health risks, which are my main concern, I have a relationship - this sexual relationship I'm involved in is outside of my normally monogamous relationship that I've been in for almost 10 years! I do NOT want to pass these infections on to my long term partner who doesn't deserve this irritation.
I need help! Why did I test negative and he test positive? Can I receive treatment even if I test negative again? What do I tell the Planned Parenthood doctors? Is it likely that I actually have chlamydia and gonorrhea? I am starting to stress out and I can't afford that because it makes all of my symptoms worse. Which, by the way, I have had a sore throat on and off for a while... is it possible that I have gonorrhea in my throat from having oral sex? Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated...!!!!
So, what is my question? Well, after all of this, I was freaking out about HIV, so naturally, I forced my partner to get tested. He tested for HIV, syphillis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and trich. He was HIV NEGATIVE, Syhillis NEGATIVE, Trich NEGATIVE and Chlamydia and Gonorrhea POSITIVE. How can this be?! I tested negative for chlamydia and gonorrhea three times! But he tested positive for both. I was in the doctor's office with him when he got his results, I heard the doctor say it out loud so I know this is a FACT. I'm still feeling a little itchy too... and we had PROTECTED sex last night and it hurt... not badly, but sex has always felt good to me, so this is not normal. I am not having any bad smells, but I am getting a LOT of discharge, although it is supposed to be a side-effect of my Ortho-Cept, and I didn't get this discharge until I started on Ortho-Cept. I really feel very normal... but my partner came back positive for chlamydia and gonorrhea. I'm concerned that I have both as well and am testing false negatives for whatever reason. I can't be walking around out here with two dangerous infections. I plan on having kids one day, I know all of the dangers of this set of STIs. I'm wondering if Planned Parenthood will give me treatment for these infections even if I test negative again. I feel like I have them but maybe the double dose of Flagyl made the symptoms and infection decrease. Aside from my health risks, which are my main concern, I have a relationship - this sexual relationship I'm involved in is outside of my normally monogamous relationship that I've been in for almost 10 years! I do NOT want to pass these infections on to my long term partner who doesn't deserve this irritation.
I need help! Why did I test negative and he test positive? Can I receive treatment even if I test negative again? What do I tell the Planned Parenthood doctors? Is it likely that I actually have chlamydia and gonorrhea? I am starting to stress out and I can't afford that because it makes all of my symptoms worse. Which, by the way, I have had a sore throat on and off for a while... is it possible that I have gonorrhea in my throat from having oral sex? Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated...!!!!
I am not a doctor, but if it was me I would lay off all of the medication for a week and go see a real doctor. Planned Parenthood is great, but sometimes they get lazy in there. I hear from people close around me all the time who got screwed over by PP.
So, it's been a while since I've been here. Since the last time I wrote, I took a while to get around to re-testing. It turns out, I never contracted chlamydia or gonorrhea, and it still remains a mystery as to why. My partner had trich, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. But I only got trich, and that's FOR SURE now that I've taken the tests. I even asked the doctor, and she said, "Sometimes, that's just how it happens. Sometimes you just get 'lucky'. Or, he could have contracted the chlamydia and gonorrhea in the period where you weren't having sex, and gotten rid of it before you had sex again."
If you read my first post, I explain how I went through the ups and downs of the trich medication. Well, even after all that, I re-tested for trich again, and it came out positive again!!! It is so frustrating, but tonight I took more medication again and have even more pills. I took 1 dose of 4 pills, and I have 10 left that I can take 2 per day. The reason for this is because I ended up getting BV as well. BV is not a STD, but I think trich can cause BV. Anyway, it is pretty uncomfortable, but not when I urinate, as it was the first time around. The first time around, it was too painful to urinate! This time around, I get slight pelvic pain, vaginal itching, and frequent urination, and I'm not sure if the cause of this is the trich or the BV since they are quite similar. Anyway, hopefully it will really go away this time.
I think I re-contracted trich again because I was relying on my test results and my partner's test results, and having sex again. He did test negative for trich. But, he did take the medication wrong, so I assume it only supressed the trich so it didn't show up in the wet mount, but he still had it. Or perhaps I got it from a towel I used while I had trich? That sounds unlikely. Maybe I got it back from my toilet seat?? I'm not really sure, but I think my partner passed it back to me since he didn't take the medication properly and ended up testing negative, so I thought it was safe. But I know that there is no test for trich antibodies or anything, they just look at a slide and see if they can see the parasite. I hear it's harder to detect in men.
Anyway, so I'm praying I can get rid of BV and trich. It's not really painful, but I want to get back to my normal life.
Oh, and I broke it off with the guy who gave me the infections. So reinfection is not a possibility any more and I am going to be absitinent for a while.
Even though I'm just starting to heal again, and I will have to return to the doctor to make sure I am parasite-free (gross, lol), and negative for trichomoniasis, I am pretty sure this chapter is behind me now. I stepped outside of my normal boundaries, I learned a HARD lesson, but a valuable lesson. I will soon be rid of this trich and this BV and back on track with my normal life. What a freaking mistake I made! It put my whole entire health in complete danger, and it honestly ruined my summer. It made me literally sick with worry. I even noticed that I had more than normal hair shedding and coming out than normal - because of the stress. But, all in all, I learned a lesson, and I can never, EVER, forget it.
So that's my story.
If you read my first post, I explain how I went through the ups and downs of the trich medication. Well, even after all that, I re-tested for trich again, and it came out positive again!!! It is so frustrating, but tonight I took more medication again and have even more pills. I took 1 dose of 4 pills, and I have 10 left that I can take 2 per day. The reason for this is because I ended up getting BV as well. BV is not a STD, but I think trich can cause BV. Anyway, it is pretty uncomfortable, but not when I urinate, as it was the first time around. The first time around, it was too painful to urinate! This time around, I get slight pelvic pain, vaginal itching, and frequent urination, and I'm not sure if the cause of this is the trich or the BV since they are quite similar. Anyway, hopefully it will really go away this time.
I think I re-contracted trich again because I was relying on my test results and my partner's test results, and having sex again. He did test negative for trich. But, he did take the medication wrong, so I assume it only supressed the trich so it didn't show up in the wet mount, but he still had it. Or perhaps I got it from a towel I used while I had trich? That sounds unlikely. Maybe I got it back from my toilet seat?? I'm not really sure, but I think my partner passed it back to me since he didn't take the medication properly and ended up testing negative, so I thought it was safe. But I know that there is no test for trich antibodies or anything, they just look at a slide and see if they can see the parasite. I hear it's harder to detect in men.
Anyway, so I'm praying I can get rid of BV and trich. It's not really painful, but I want to get back to my normal life.
Oh, and I broke it off with the guy who gave me the infections. So reinfection is not a possibility any more and I am going to be absitinent for a while.
Even though I'm just starting to heal again, and I will have to return to the doctor to make sure I am parasite-free (gross, lol), and negative for trichomoniasis, I am pretty sure this chapter is behind me now. I stepped outside of my normal boundaries, I learned a HARD lesson, but a valuable lesson. I will soon be rid of this trich and this BV and back on track with my normal life. What a freaking mistake I made! It put my whole entire health in complete danger, and it honestly ruined my summer. It made me literally sick with worry. I even noticed that I had more than normal hair shedding and coming out than normal - because of the stress. But, all in all, I learned a lesson, and I can never, EVER, forget it.
So that's my story.
800 dollars lol.. wow... try $1,300 I spent on testing with a doctor (I know the feeling of being uninsured trust me); though I do have peace of mind now.
Thanks for answer the questions. It seems like your doing all the right things are recieve all the proper treatments from Planned Parenthood. You really need to work on believe you test results, I didn't believe mine, and when I did get negative results a second time around I was fine after that. Please please believe them if/when they come back negative.
You said, "negative could be a false result" please believe your result if its negative, which means you don't have it, and probably never had it, its something else that is cuasing your symptoms... maybe anxiety or guilt (I wouldn't know for sure). Ask them to really work with you on further bacterial infections or what else could be causing your symptoms.
best of luck on your clinic test,
Keep us updated!
-M
Thanks for answer the questions. It seems like your doing all the right things are recieve all the proper treatments from Planned Parenthood. You really need to work on believe you test results, I didn't believe mine, and when I did get negative results a second time around I was fine after that. Please please believe them if/when they come back negative.
You said, "negative could be a false result" please believe your result if its negative, which means you don't have it, and probably never had it, its something else that is cuasing your symptoms... maybe anxiety or guilt (I wouldn't know for sure). Ask them to really work with you on further bacterial infections or what else could be causing your symptoms.
best of luck on your clinic test,
Keep us updated!
-M
nouwi, By the by, I never said burning sensation was an HIV symptom, and I do believe I am reliably HIV negative, because both me and my partners have reliably tested negative. Thank goodness that is not my worry, because I WAS very worried about it until I got our results! Also, although my results were weird, I don't think it's fair to say Planned Parenthood isn't a "respected lab"... STD testing is pretty much the bulk of their work, I'd say they have it down by now. It was my own body and medications that were screwing with my lab results. Although I can say that the ER has a pretty horrid lab that isn't worth the 800 dollars I will eventually have to throw at it. Yikes!
To answer the questions asked of me:
My partner tested positive for chlamydia and gonorrhea and he DID receive medicine for that, which he took properly. That is of little concern to me, because we did not have sex in that time frame at all, and when we did have sex again, it was protected and the condoms were used properly.
Also, I will NEVER be able to see a real doctor because I do not have insurance and can't afford to see a doctor.
Oh, and my partner CLAIMS to never have had any symptoms, but I heard him peeing one day and it sounded like it was coming out in bursts, which was something that I did when I had the trich, because it hurt so bad to pee. But he claims he never had symptoms of anything... I definitely don't believe that, though.
Both times I took medication for Trich, it was Flagyl, but I don't know how many grams. It was four pills, though, both times. After the second dose, the medication definitely worked for sure on my Trich... everything got better as far as that goes, but because I had pain when I had (protected) sex, AND my partner tested positive for chlamydia, that is why I think I still could have it. The mind is a powerful thing, absolutely, this could all be in my head, but unfortunately, I can't bank on that, mostly because Chlamydia is so dangerous to women, but also because I don't want to give my boyfriend any of these infections, and I don't want to pass them back to the other guy I'm sleeping with either.
Hopefully I can test negative again and put this behind me, although, I will probably worry more if I test negative than positive, because positive means I can receive treatment and be okay, and negative could be a false result and then I could end up passing the infections back around, which I don't want.
I have time to go back to Planned Parenthood today, so I will. If they don't believe me, maybe I'll go to another one, but Planned Parenthood really is the best place for me right now, because they have most of my sexual medical history on paper. We'll see.... thanks.
My partner tested positive for chlamydia and gonorrhea and he DID receive medicine for that, which he took properly. That is of little concern to me, because we did not have sex in that time frame at all, and when we did have sex again, it was protected and the condoms were used properly.
Also, I will NEVER be able to see a real doctor because I do not have insurance and can't afford to see a doctor.
Oh, and my partner CLAIMS to never have had any symptoms, but I heard him peeing one day and it sounded like it was coming out in bursts, which was something that I did when I had the trich, because it hurt so bad to pee. But he claims he never had symptoms of anything... I definitely don't believe that, though.
Both times I took medication for Trich, it was Flagyl, but I don't know how many grams. It was four pills, though, both times. After the second dose, the medication definitely worked for sure on my Trich... everything got better as far as that goes, but because I had pain when I had (protected) sex, AND my partner tested positive for chlamydia, that is why I think I still could have it. The mind is a powerful thing, absolutely, this could all be in my head, but unfortunately, I can't bank on that, mostly because Chlamydia is so dangerous to women, but also because I don't want to give my boyfriend any of these infections, and I don't want to pass them back to the other guy I'm sleeping with either.
Hopefully I can test negative again and put this behind me, although, I will probably worry more if I test negative than positive, because positive means I can receive treatment and be okay, and negative could be a false result and then I could end up passing the infections back around, which I don't want.
I have time to go back to Planned Parenthood today, so I will. If they don't believe me, maybe I'll go to another one, but Planned Parenthood really is the best place for me right now, because they have most of my sexual medical history on paper. We'll see.... thanks.
There are many possibilities from which will drive you crazy to find out the true answers. So, with all the medications (antibiotics) taken you probably won't know the truth of who's infected and who isn't etc. and this shouldn't be your concern. Three negative tests for you are reassuring, however If you continue to have symptoms go to another clinic, are you being seen by a doctor? (I don't know how planned parenthood handles their patients you need to be seen by a doctor by now with all those symptoms).
"Why did I test negative and he test positive?" The POSSIBILITIES are: you might have had false negative for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia on the first test, and then the antibiotic affected the other tests, or you never had gon and chlamydia to begin with. Then, he might have had false positive test. Did he have symptoms? Of course you did give him pills and though they were "taken incorrectly" could have just cured him. He needs another round of proper treatment. The bottom line is the tests are inconsistent.
"Can I receive treatment even if I test negative again?" Probably not at the same clinic, go to another one. You'll probably test negative again though, since you took a high doze of antibiotic on your second visit and this would clear them out. I would believe your third negative test. When I tested negative for those a second time and got the results my symptoms went away (the mind is powerful thing).
"I told them how I took the pills wrong, and they gave me more pills even though they didn't see any Trich in my fluid samples" How much was this? 2g? was it flagyl again?
Seems to me like the medication worked (for sure it took care of the trich) it usually takes about 10 days to clear out, it took longer for me (~1 month, I am a guy though and everyone responds differently).
"Is it likely that I actually have chlamydia and gonorrhea?"
Assuming that when you partner tested positive for gon and chlyamida, and was treated, and you abstained from unprotected vaginal sex for about 10 days after treatment then, probably unlikely by now.
"Why did I test negative and he test positive?" The POSSIBILITIES are: you might have had false negative for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia on the first test, and then the antibiotic affected the other tests, or you never had gon and chlamydia to begin with. Then, he might have had false positive test. Did he have symptoms? Of course you did give him pills and though they were "taken incorrectly" could have just cured him. He needs another round of proper treatment. The bottom line is the tests are inconsistent.
"Can I receive treatment even if I test negative again?" Probably not at the same clinic, go to another one. You'll probably test negative again though, since you took a high doze of antibiotic on your second visit and this would clear them out. I would believe your third negative test. When I tested negative for those a second time and got the results my symptoms went away (the mind is powerful thing).
"I told them how I took the pills wrong, and they gave me more pills even though they didn't see any Trich in my fluid samples" How much was this? 2g? was it flagyl again?
Seems to me like the medication worked (for sure it took care of the trich) it usually takes about 10 days to clear out, it took longer for me (~1 month, I am a guy though and everyone responds differently).
"Is it likely that I actually have chlamydia and gonorrhea?"
Assuming that when you partner tested positive for gon and chlyamida, and was treated, and you abstained from unprotected vaginal sex for about 10 days after treatment then, probably unlikely by now.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the STDs / STIs Community
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
