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Strange throat symptoms
Hi. I'm a bisexual male, almost 23 years old. About a month ago I had sex with several male partners I met online. Separately, not in a group setting. Any penetration or genital-anal contact (I'm a top) was done with a condom. I gave and received unprotected oral sex from each of them ONLY after a thorough if extremely un-sexy examination of the mouth and genitals to ensure there were no sores or chancres.
About five days after the last one I began experiencing some strange throat symptoms - not really a sore throat exactly, more an uncomfortable "something's weird" feeling. Upon inspection in a mirror I saw several raised red lumps in the area of the tonsils / vocal cords with white coloring on the top of most of them. I immediately went to my doctor and got a throat swab done. The results came back as "normal flora" and my doctor explained it was probably just a virus. The strange feeling escalated to a genuinely sore throat which resolved itself several days later but the odd feeling remained for another two weeks or so. My doctor told me this was nothing to worry about and that she'd seen a lot of strange bugs this year.
The lumps in the tonsil area receded but didn't disappear completely.
Two days ago I began feeling the same strange swelling in my throat and last night it became a sore throat once more, and by this time the throat pain is gone but I've definitely got a cold - intermittently runny and stuffy nose, changes to taste and smell, mild muscle weakness and a general unwillingness to get out of bed. This is a normal progression of a cold for me - sore throat > sinus symptoms > upper respiratory symptoms > resolution.
Whats worrying me is that odd feeling and the swelling / lumps that never fully resolved themselves. As I understand it, STDs that manifest with sore throats are bacterial and would therefore have shown up on the throat swab. Am I making a big deal of nothing?
Two closing side notes: first of all I began taking wellbutrin-xl (an anti-anxiety/antidepressant medication) shortly before the symptoms started. I've taken this medication in the past but never experienced any throat-related side effects, although it's worth mentioning that throat soreness/swelling is a listed side effect of the medication. Second of all, I'm going in for blood and urine tests tomorrow morning - would an STD presenting with throat symptoms even show up on either one of those tests?
Any help would be appreciated and thank you all.
About five days after the last one I began experiencing some strange throat symptoms - not really a sore throat exactly, more an uncomfortable "something's weird" feeling. Upon inspection in a mirror I saw several raised red lumps in the area of the tonsils / vocal cords with white coloring on the top of most of them. I immediately went to my doctor and got a throat swab done. The results came back as "normal flora" and my doctor explained it was probably just a virus. The strange feeling escalated to a genuinely sore throat which resolved itself several days later but the odd feeling remained for another two weeks or so. My doctor told me this was nothing to worry about and that she'd seen a lot of strange bugs this year.
The lumps in the tonsil area receded but didn't disappear completely.
Two days ago I began feeling the same strange swelling in my throat and last night it became a sore throat once more, and by this time the throat pain is gone but I've definitely got a cold - intermittently runny and stuffy nose, changes to taste and smell, mild muscle weakness and a general unwillingness to get out of bed. This is a normal progression of a cold for me - sore throat > sinus symptoms > upper respiratory symptoms > resolution.
Whats worrying me is that odd feeling and the swelling / lumps that never fully resolved themselves. As I understand it, STDs that manifest with sore throats are bacterial and would therefore have shown up on the throat swab. Am I making a big deal of nothing?
Two closing side notes: first of all I began taking wellbutrin-xl (an anti-anxiety/antidepressant medication) shortly before the symptoms started. I've taken this medication in the past but never experienced any throat-related side effects, although it's worth mentioning that throat soreness/swelling is a listed side effect of the medication. Second of all, I'm going in for blood and urine tests tomorrow morning - would an STD presenting with throat symptoms even show up on either one of those tests?
Any help would be appreciated and thank you all.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi, most specialists say that chlamydia cannot be passed to the throat so we are left with Gono but even with this is rare. You can swab for these but i agree with your doctor that its virus related. Sometime they can be with us for weeks before clearing up.
Bump.
Update - I wasn't feeling well enough this morning to go in for the tests so I rescheduled for tomorrow.
Update - I wasn't feeling well enough this morning to go in for the tests so I rescheduled for tomorrow.
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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.
