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Very worried I may have Syphilis after False-Positive!!
Dear Doctors,
Back in December of 2013 I had unprotected sex and of course the next day, instantly went and got myself STD tested because I became very paranoid, mainly because the guy who had sex with me wasn't from the best of places. I received a call from the Health Department about a month later and they confirmed with me that I had no known STDs/HIV, except that I did have a false-positive on my test for Syphilis. They reassured me that after doing another test that I had tested negative for Syphilis. Now, as of recent ( about the middle of Feb. 2014 ) I noticed a very itchy, small, painful bump right on the side of my vagina(outer labia) - of course, I instantly went to the bathroom to look at it. I thought it might have either been an ingrown hair (because I shave), possibly a pimple, or my worst nightmare - the primary stage of Syphilis. I noticed the next day after I had picked at it a lot, it seemed to decrease in size and pretty much disappear within a day or two. I also had noticed almost exactly during that time the skin on my hands were peeling very badly, but I didn't take much of a note of that, considering I have very sensitive skin and sometimes my skin peels off on my hands and feet. I just applied lotion and it pretty much disappeared, until my hands got dry again. I didn't think anything else of it until today - I have worried myself too death about the possibility that I may or may not have Syphilis. None of my lymph nodes are swollen, I'm not running a fever, sore throat, headaches, joint aches.. or anything like that. & I keep checking my hands, feet, and every other body part to see if I see any signs of a rash & there's nothing that looks like the pictures I've seen or information I've read. Except for, my skin is dry and if you look under a light you can see that my legs & arms are very slightly red/bumpy.. but as far as I can remember, it's always seemed to appear that way. I'm just curious if I am just being too paranoid because of receiving a false-positive and if I should go and have another test done? (They stated the reason that I may have had a false-positive is because I was a heavy drug user during that time.)
Thank you for your time and help! I hope to find some sort of peace of mind.
Back in December of 2013 I had unprotected sex and of course the next day, instantly went and got myself STD tested because I became very paranoid, mainly because the guy who had sex with me wasn't from the best of places. I received a call from the Health Department about a month later and they confirmed with me that I had no known STDs/HIV, except that I did have a false-positive on my test for Syphilis. They reassured me that after doing another test that I had tested negative for Syphilis. Now, as of recent ( about the middle of Feb. 2014 ) I noticed a very itchy, small, painful bump right on the side of my vagina(outer labia) - of course, I instantly went to the bathroom to look at it. I thought it might have either been an ingrown hair (because I shave), possibly a pimple, or my worst nightmare - the primary stage of Syphilis. I noticed the next day after I had picked at it a lot, it seemed to decrease in size and pretty much disappear within a day or two. I also had noticed almost exactly during that time the skin on my hands were peeling very badly, but I didn't take much of a note of that, considering I have very sensitive skin and sometimes my skin peels off on my hands and feet. I just applied lotion and it pretty much disappeared, until my hands got dry again. I didn't think anything else of it until today - I have worried myself too death about the possibility that I may or may not have Syphilis. None of my lymph nodes are swollen, I'm not running a fever, sore throat, headaches, joint aches.. or anything like that. & I keep checking my hands, feet, and every other body part to see if I see any signs of a rash & there's nothing that looks like the pictures I've seen or information I've read. Except for, my skin is dry and if you look under a light you can see that my legs & arms are very slightly red/bumpy.. but as far as I can remember, it's always seemed to appear that way. I'm just curious if I am just being too paranoid because of receiving a false-positive and if I should go and have another test done? (They stated the reason that I may have had a false-positive is because I was a heavy drug user during that time.)
Thank you for your time and help! I hope to find some sort of peace of mind.
No - you need to go and be retested. Most of the tests look for antibodies created by the body . After a day your body would not have produced these antibodies. A six week test for syphilis is considered conclusive.
Thank you for the reply! I guess I am just tad confused about the test results, then. They made me wait a month to get any results back.. So, does that mean that they gave my blood time to let any infections show up?
Ok... first off, stop with the worrying.
Second, testing one day after having unprotected sex won't do you any good because its too soon for any reliable test results.
Since you also don't appear to have any symptoms indicative of STD's (what you described is not really connected to STD's), I think it can be unlikely that you are infected with anything... however, women were noted to be asymptomatic for many STD's.. so here's what I would suggest you do:
Go back and do another series of tests for:
Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, UreaPlasma, MycoPlasma, Trichomoniasis and Syphilis.
You can also do the HPV and Herpes tests... plus if you really want to Hepatitis and HIV.
I would imagine that bacterial STD's would be your top priority however.
Its been well over 6 weeks since potential exposure, so you can do the Syphilis test in addition to others.
Also, I think a lot of the symptoms you described are psychosomatic.
Essentially, your brain is running amok with worry.
The only way to be certain is to go get re-tested and see whether you have something or not.
That's the only way to know.
But also understand this: even if your sexual partner may have had something, there is no guarantee you would have gotten actually infected with anything.
We can be exposed to numerous bacterial and viral infections, but whether you actually get infected or not depends on your immune system.
Second, testing one day after having unprotected sex won't do you any good because its too soon for any reliable test results.
Since you also don't appear to have any symptoms indicative of STD's (what you described is not really connected to STD's), I think it can be unlikely that you are infected with anything... however, women were noted to be asymptomatic for many STD's.. so here's what I would suggest you do:
Go back and do another series of tests for:
Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, UreaPlasma, MycoPlasma, Trichomoniasis and Syphilis.
You can also do the HPV and Herpes tests... plus if you really want to Hepatitis and HIV.
I would imagine that bacterial STD's would be your top priority however.
Its been well over 6 weeks since potential exposure, so you can do the Syphilis test in addition to others.
Also, I think a lot of the symptoms you described are psychosomatic.
Essentially, your brain is running amok with worry.
The only way to be certain is to go get re-tested and see whether you have something or not.
That's the only way to know.
But also understand this: even if your sexual partner may have had something, there is no guarantee you would have gotten actually infected with anything.
We can be exposed to numerous bacterial and viral infections, but whether you actually get infected or not depends on your immune system.
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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.
