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Multiple symptoms during 2 years
My partner has had several awful symptoms the last 2 years. Started with blisters around the anus and pain while urinating. The Dr. prescribed a cream for the blisters (didn't do any good) and a urine test (don't know what they tested for) that was fine (they found some proteins but they repeated it and it was ok).
After months I noticed white discharge from his penis but he didn't seek advice on this. Pain when urinating and discharge cleared but blisters remained. After 6 months he went to Dr. again who took a swab of blisters and prescribed Zitromax (500mg/3 days). Blisters cleared out and swab was positive for Staphylococcus.
Then had huge rush under armpits. Was given lotions (didn’t help) and after months rash disappeared.
He's had other mild rashes in the back, red spots in the forehead, irritated scalp and he started losing hair in patches.
He always has a sore throat and a couple of times came down sick for a week with temperature and rash in the forehead.
I was so worried that I went to a venereal clinic. Was checked for all STDs and everything was negative. Finally convinced him to go, got tested for syphilis and gono (penis swab): was negative.
Now I notice he sweats a lot at nights and has spasms when sleeping. The hair keeps falling.
I’ve had joint pain for 1/2 year. I’m seeing a rheumatologist, but can't tell me the cause.
On top of that, he had pain in his knee (when playing sports) and had knee operation. Irritated tissue inside knee was vacuumed but they didn't do any analysis.
I thought of syphilis. Now that test is negative I am wondering of DGI. Could he had gonorrhea, cleared away from his penis with antibiotics/time but still in his body causing this? I’ve read in another forum that gono clears away, is it true? Or can it have other awful implications if left untreated? How can we find what he/I have?
I’ve read blood test for gono are not reliable and can be false negative, is that right? If so what can we do?
After months I noticed white discharge from his penis but he didn't seek advice on this. Pain when urinating and discharge cleared but blisters remained. After 6 months he went to Dr. again who took a swab of blisters and prescribed Zitromax (500mg/3 days). Blisters cleared out and swab was positive for Staphylococcus.
Then had huge rush under armpits. Was given lotions (didn’t help) and after months rash disappeared.
He's had other mild rashes in the back, red spots in the forehead, irritated scalp and he started losing hair in patches.
He always has a sore throat and a couple of times came down sick for a week with temperature and rash in the forehead.
I was so worried that I went to a venereal clinic. Was checked for all STDs and everything was negative. Finally convinced him to go, got tested for syphilis and gono (penis swab): was negative.
Now I notice he sweats a lot at nights and has spasms when sleeping. The hair keeps falling.
I’ve had joint pain for 1/2 year. I’m seeing a rheumatologist, but can't tell me the cause.
On top of that, he had pain in his knee (when playing sports) and had knee operation. Irritated tissue inside knee was vacuumed but they didn't do any analysis.
I thought of syphilis. Now that test is negative I am wondering of DGI. Could he had gonorrhea, cleared away from his penis with antibiotics/time but still in his body causing this? I’ve read in another forum that gono clears away, is it true? Or can it have other awful implications if left untreated? How can we find what he/I have?
I’ve read blood test for gono are not reliable and can be false negative, is that right? If so what can we do?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Most infections, especially those caused by bacteria, go away without treatment. Before antibiotics were ever developed, 90% of people with pneumonia survived and the infection cleared up entirely. The other 10% died, so of course pneumonia was still a horrible problem. The same is true for infections due to staph, strep, urinary tract infections, bronchitis, and the large majority of infections--including gonorrhea. A few bacterial infections don't actually clear up but only go dormant and can become active again later. Syphilis and tuberculosis are in this category.
Gonorrhea always clears up completely without treatment, usually in a few weeks and probably always within a year, at any and all sites in the body. If you found health education materials (on the web or anywhere else) that say otherwise, either they are wrong or you misunderstood them. Trust me: your partner has not had gonorrhea all these years; neither gonorrhea nor any other STD explains any of his symptoms.
I didn't say the night sweats or spasms have nothing to do with this. They could be due to any number of other health conditions, but there is no way for me to even guess at the cause. Please follow my advice above about continuing health care and/or referral to an infectious diseases specialist. That's all I can offer.
Gonorrhea always clears up completely without treatment, usually in a few weeks and probably always within a year, at any and all sites in the body. If you found health education materials (on the web or anywhere else) that say otherwise, either they are wrong or you misunderstood them. Trust me: your partner has not had gonorrhea all these years; neither gonorrhea nor any other STD explains any of his symptoms.
I didn't say the night sweats or spasms have nothing to do with this. They could be due to any number of other health conditions, but there is no way for me to even guess at the cause. Please follow my advice above about continuing health care and/or referral to an infectious diseases specialist. That's all I can offer.
A related discussion, Syphilis symptoms - please help was started.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
This is an interesting outcome. However, it does not change my opinion or advice above.
For forum users unfamiliar with the term, reactive arthritis (formerly called Reiter's syndrome) is an autoimmune disease characterized by arthritis, certain kinds of skin rash, and sometimes inflammation of the eyes and genital tract. Typically it is triggered by certain infections, and gonorrhea and chlamydia are among them. However, the most common trigger probably is infectious diarrhea -- things like shigella (bacterial dysentery), salmonella, and campylobacter. I will not try to guess what the trigger might have been in your case, but usually by the time RA starts, the triggering infection is long gone.
Reactive arthritis is a "bread and butter" condition for rheumatologists, and your doctor will be a more reliable source of information than me about what the trigger might have been and whether you need antibiotic treatment at this stage -- but probably not. Although it is true that RA often is transient, the arthritis and skin rash sometimes persist for many years. Fortunately, effective treatments are available and in most cases the symptoms can be well controlled, although sometimes a dermatologist needs to be consulted about best management of the rash. Your rheumatologist undoubtedly will want to see you from time to time to monitor your progress.
That should end this thread. You can trust your rheumatologist to accurately answer any remaining questions.
For forum users unfamiliar with the term, reactive arthritis (formerly called Reiter's syndrome) is an autoimmune disease characterized by arthritis, certain kinds of skin rash, and sometimes inflammation of the eyes and genital tract. Typically it is triggered by certain infections, and gonorrhea and chlamydia are among them. However, the most common trigger probably is infectious diarrhea -- things like shigella (bacterial dysentery), salmonella, and campylobacter. I will not try to guess what the trigger might have been in your case, but usually by the time RA starts, the triggering infection is long gone.
Reactive arthritis is a "bread and butter" condition for rheumatologists, and your doctor will be a more reliable source of information than me about what the trigger might have been and whether you need antibiotic treatment at this stage -- but probably not. Although it is true that RA often is transient, the arthritis and skin rash sometimes persist for many years. Fortunately, effective treatments are available and in most cases the symptoms can be well controlled, although sometimes a dermatologist needs to be consulted about best management of the rash. Your rheumatologist undoubtedly will want to see you from time to time to monitor your progress.
That should end this thread. You can trust your rheumatologist to accurately answer any remaining questions.
Dear Dr,
After following up my symptoms with an specialist and after several blood tests he concluded I've got reactive arthritis, from an unknown source. He told me the pain would disappear within some months and I was waiting for that when now I got a strange skin rash in both knees.
It started as some flat red spots and now after a week they've grouped together in several groups. It's quite itchy and getting worse. I don't have a temperature but both my knees are very hot.
Despite the test where negative for STDs I've started worrying again. Do you think there are any other bacteria we should get tested for? I've read again that Chlamydia and Gonorrhea can cause reactive arthritis...does this new symptom point in any direction? Should we get tested again to rule these out?
Many thanks again for all your help
After following up my symptoms with an specialist and after several blood tests he concluded I've got reactive arthritis, from an unknown source. He told me the pain would disappear within some months and I was waiting for that when now I got a strange skin rash in both knees.
It started as some flat red spots and now after a week they've grouped together in several groups. It's quite itchy and getting worse. I don't have a temperature but both my knees are very hot.
Despite the test where negative for STDs I've started worrying again. Do you think there are any other bacteria we should get tested for? I've read again that Chlamydia and Gonorrhea can cause reactive arthritis...does this new symptom point in any direction? Should we get tested again to rule these out?
Many thanks again for all your help
I will do follow your advice. Thank you very much for all your help
Dear Dr., I can't thank you enough for such quick and detailed response.
It is really reasuring to know that his case doesn't look like STD.
What is very shoking for me is to hear that gonorrhea clears up in most cases after several months, after having read everywhere that gono doesn't go away until properly treated and that it's very difficult to diagnose after a while: is that just to scare people?
I am still a little worried about gonorrhea, what would happen if he is one of those cases that don't clear it away? The antibiotics was given to him about 1/2 year after his problem started, could it be that he already had DGI and the dose wasn't sufficient? And he was tested for it like a year after. I have read elsewhere that the infection clears up from the sexual organs but will remain in other parts of the body forever...
Regarding the night sweats and spasms...don't they have anything to do at all with any of this?
Many thanks for all your help again.
Best regards
It is really reasuring to know that his case doesn't look like STD.
What is very shoking for me is to hear that gonorrhea clears up in most cases after several months, after having read everywhere that gono doesn't go away until properly treated and that it's very difficult to diagnose after a while: is that just to scare people?
I am still a little worried about gonorrhea, what would happen if he is one of those cases that don't clear it away? The antibiotics was given to him about 1/2 year after his problem started, could it be that he already had DGI and the dose wasn't sufficient? And he was tested for it like a year after. I have read elsewhere that the infection clears up from the sexual organs but will remain in other parts of the body forever...
Regarding the night sweats and spasms...don't they have anything to do at all with any of this?
Many thanks for all your help again.
Best regards
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I'll try to help. The bottom line is that no STD is a likely explanation for any of your partner's health problems, or for your own joint pains. There are three main reasons.
First, even though some symptoms you describe can be caused by some STDs (blister-like genital lesions in herpes, joint pain in disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI), several STDs causing urethral discharge), there are numerous details of those symptoms that don't fit with STD. And many symptoms youmention are not associated with STD at all, such as sore throat, forehead rash, and others. All in all, the pattern of health problems you describe simply does not fit with any STD, or even with any combination of separate STDs. DGI does not behave at all like you describe here. Even without treatment, DGI goes away within a few weeks; it is never a cause of prolonged, repeated joint pain, fever, or skin rash -- even though all those symptoms can occur with DGI (for a few weeks).
Second, evaluation at an STD clinic is highly reliable in excluding STDs. Such clinics have the experience to recognize STDs based on symptoms and examination, and yours apparently didn't see anything that made them suspicious. And the tests for common STDs like gonorrhea and syphilis (and probably others they may have tested for, like chlamydia and HIV) are highly reliable.
Third, gonorrhea doesn't last so long. Even without treatment, just about all cases clear up on their own within a few weeks or months. Further, azithromycin is active against chlamydia and usually gonorrhea and syphilis. If your partner ever had one of those STDs, the antibiotic treatment would have taken care of it.
The single symptom that hints strongly at STD is the discharge from his penis. But with the negative tests and treatment with azithromycin, it is not likely any STD continues; and in any case, an STD could only explain that single symptom, not all the others. And there are other causes of urethral discharge, including prostate gland inflammation and non-STD infections like staph.
So you can put STD aside; it clearly isn't the issue here. This forum doesn't speculate about diagnoses other than STD, but staph skin infection is (or was) at least part of the problem. My guess is that there is no single illness that explains his problems. Finally, I doubt your joint pain is related to your partner's health problems.
What to do? Your partner needs a single, high quality primary care provider who knows him well, or who will come to know him well over a few visits. A family medicine doctor or internist (internal medicine specialist) would be a good choice. Or if he already has a primary care provider, he should consider requesting referral to an infectious diseases specialist.
I hope this helps. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
First, even though some symptoms you describe can be caused by some STDs (blister-like genital lesions in herpes, joint pain in disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI), several STDs causing urethral discharge), there are numerous details of those symptoms that don't fit with STD. And many symptoms youmention are not associated with STD at all, such as sore throat, forehead rash, and others. All in all, the pattern of health problems you describe simply does not fit with any STD, or even with any combination of separate STDs. DGI does not behave at all like you describe here. Even without treatment, DGI goes away within a few weeks; it is never a cause of prolonged, repeated joint pain, fever, or skin rash -- even though all those symptoms can occur with DGI (for a few weeks).
Second, evaluation at an STD clinic is highly reliable in excluding STDs. Such clinics have the experience to recognize STDs based on symptoms and examination, and yours apparently didn't see anything that made them suspicious. And the tests for common STDs like gonorrhea and syphilis (and probably others they may have tested for, like chlamydia and HIV) are highly reliable.
Third, gonorrhea doesn't last so long. Even without treatment, just about all cases clear up on their own within a few weeks or months. Further, azithromycin is active against chlamydia and usually gonorrhea and syphilis. If your partner ever had one of those STDs, the antibiotic treatment would have taken care of it.
The single symptom that hints strongly at STD is the discharge from his penis. But with the negative tests and treatment with azithromycin, it is not likely any STD continues; and in any case, an STD could only explain that single symptom, not all the others. And there are other causes of urethral discharge, including prostate gland inflammation and non-STD infections like staph.
So you can put STD aside; it clearly isn't the issue here. This forum doesn't speculate about diagnoses other than STD, but staph skin infection is (or was) at least part of the problem. My guess is that there is no single illness that explains his problems. Finally, I doubt your joint pain is related to your partner's health problems.
What to do? Your partner needs a single, high quality primary care provider who knows him well, or who will come to know him well over a few visits. A family medicine doctor or internist (internal medicine specialist) would be a good choice. Or if he already has a primary care provider, he should consider requesting referral to an infectious diseases specialist.
I hope this helps. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
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.
