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untreattable gonorrhea worries
Hey, dr. H. I ve unprotected sex with 2 women this year, both oral and vaginal sex.8 weeks after sex with one woman and 4 weeks after sex with the other i noticed frequent trips to the restroom, week later slight discharge.So went to a dr. who gave me a shot and 10 days of doxcicyclin.Never did a culture test.Two days after finishing treatment i felt better and masturbated, that same day i began feeling the need to urinate and a dripple out my ureathea again.I went to an urgent care dr two days later and he gave me a 250mg shot and put me on fagyl and doxy.Its been 3 days since my second go round, still same feeling of needing to pee, slight clear discharge when i squeeze my penis...yellowish stain in underwear .One of the woman was from the navy n had been to se asia.Question 1.Have there been any reports of drug resisant gonno. reported in the states yet.2.Is there a possibility that my own immune system will eventually put and end to my misery.n clear this infection up.3.If this turns out to be untreatable gonno. will i have to deal with symptoms rest of my life.4 If i dont respond to teatment what are my next steps im too embrassed to go to my reg. g.p.is a uriolgist my next step..or should i go back to the last dr. and ask to be swabbed in ask for a last antibiotic available to treat this crap.5.what would you do if you were treating me.Heres a list of my ongoing symptoms : slight discharge , frequnent need to urinate, dribble after i pee,sore, slights stinging feeling on ureathe,slight dull aches in bladder area.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
This information doens't change my opinion or advice. I am absolutely sure you don't have gonorrhea, antibiotic resistant or otherewise. Also, I'm equally sure you have nothing dangerous. NGU or prostatitis, or anything else causing intermittent discharge like yours, almost never are serious and cause no known long term health problems either for affected men or their sex partners.
So just stay mellow while you await the new test result; I'm sure it will be negative for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Keep working with your doctor and/or a urologist, but try not to worry so much. When all is said and done, this is an inconvenience but not an important health threat.
By the way, you'll probably hear from the web administrator about having 2 usernames. They'll ask you to delete one or the other account.
So just stay mellow while you await the new test result; I'm sure it will be negative for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Keep working with your doctor and/or a urologist, but try not to worry so much. When all is said and done, this is an inconvenience but not an important health threat.
By the way, you'll probably hear from the web administrator about having 2 usernames. They'll ask you to delete one or the other account.
Well, im back with the same issues.My discharge is now white.Both treatments failed so i went back to the original dr. and he took a genital culture.Waiting three days for the results.Im getting worried agian that ive got a drug resisant strain of gonno.This has been going on for two months my las sexual encounter was in late jan. or early feb.It was almost a month before i noticed anything.I waiting on the results of my culture,he didnt want to use any drugs until we c what we re dealing with.Im so frustrated i could just cut my penis off.If theres no treatment how long before it clears up i think i was exposed in early jan.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum.
Reacting first to the title of your question: There is no such thing as untreatable gonorrhea. There has been a trend toward needing higher doses of antibiotic, and some previously effective antibiotics are no longer reliable. And there is a slight chance that gonorrhea resistant to all antibiotics could evolve in the future. But not yet; if this happens it years or decades away.
Now to your questions: It sounds like you initially had chlamydia or nongonococcal urethritis (NGU), not gonorrhea. Gonorrhea symptoms start within 3-5 days of exposure and the discharge usually is very prominent -- pus, basically. It's too bad you weren't properly tested, but you were treated appropriately for all three of these STDs. I think we can be confident you didn't have gonorrhea.
Persistent or recurrent NGU (but not gonorrhea or chlamydia) is a very common problem -- it happens in up to 15% of all men treated for NGU. When your symptoms recurred, you were partly treated appropriately with metronidazole (Flagyl) to cover possible trichomonas. Ideally you would have been given azithromycin rather than doxycycline, but it seems your symptoms are improving and it takes up to 10 days for them to clear completely. So sit tight for the moment. If you still have discharge after another week or so, yet another round of antibiotics might be necessary (e.g. azithromycin plus moxilactam) -- but probably not.
In the meantime, don't be seriously worried. No complications of recurrent/persistent NGU are known -- no infertility, urethral stricture, epididymitis (testicle infection), nor known problems in affected men's sex partners. So don't be overly worried. Eventually symptoms will stop recurring and no long term harm will be likely.
To your specific questions:
1) See my opening comments. There have been no untreatable gonorrhea cases in Japan or anywhere else, and certainly not in the US. Anyway, I'm pretty confident you didn't have gonorrhea and don't have it now.
2,3) Your immune system indeed will contribute to eventual resolution of this problem -- along with the antibiotics. Even in the extremely unlikely chance this is gonorrhea, there are plenty of other treatments that would be effective. There is no such thing as lifelong gonorrhea. Even with no antibiotics, gonorrhea in men is cleared by the immune system over several weeks to a few months.
4) An STD specialist is the best bet if you're not confident in your GP's expertise. It sounds like your current doctor -- whoever has prescribed the antibiotics to date -- is pretty knowledgeable about STDs. Urologists, as a group, are all over the map in expertise in STDs and recurrent NGU; somre are great and others are disasters.
5) My personal treatment advice is above.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
Reacting first to the title of your question: There is no such thing as untreatable gonorrhea. There has been a trend toward needing higher doses of antibiotic, and some previously effective antibiotics are no longer reliable. And there is a slight chance that gonorrhea resistant to all antibiotics could evolve in the future. But not yet; if this happens it years or decades away.
Now to your questions: It sounds like you initially had chlamydia or nongonococcal urethritis (NGU), not gonorrhea. Gonorrhea symptoms start within 3-5 days of exposure and the discharge usually is very prominent -- pus, basically. It's too bad you weren't properly tested, but you were treated appropriately for all three of these STDs. I think we can be confident you didn't have gonorrhea.
Persistent or recurrent NGU (but not gonorrhea or chlamydia) is a very common problem -- it happens in up to 15% of all men treated for NGU. When your symptoms recurred, you were partly treated appropriately with metronidazole (Flagyl) to cover possible trichomonas. Ideally you would have been given azithromycin rather than doxycycline, but it seems your symptoms are improving and it takes up to 10 days for them to clear completely. So sit tight for the moment. If you still have discharge after another week or so, yet another round of antibiotics might be necessary (e.g. azithromycin plus moxilactam) -- but probably not.
In the meantime, don't be seriously worried. No complications of recurrent/persistent NGU are known -- no infertility, urethral stricture, epididymitis (testicle infection), nor known problems in affected men's sex partners. So don't be overly worried. Eventually symptoms will stop recurring and no long term harm will be likely.
To your specific questions:
1) See my opening comments. There have been no untreatable gonorrhea cases in Japan or anywhere else, and certainly not in the US. Anyway, I'm pretty confident you didn't have gonorrhea and don't have it now.
2,3) Your immune system indeed will contribute to eventual resolution of this problem -- along with the antibiotics. Even in the extremely unlikely chance this is gonorrhea, there are plenty of other treatments that would be effective. There is no such thing as lifelong gonorrhea. Even with no antibiotics, gonorrhea in men is cleared by the immune system over several weeks to a few months.
4) An STD specialist is the best bet if you're not confident in your GP's expertise. It sounds like your current doctor -- whoever has prescribed the antibiotics to date -- is pretty knowledgeable about STDs. Urologists, as a group, are all over the map in expertise in STDs and recurrent NGU; somre are great and others are disasters.
5) My personal treatment advice is above.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
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