What STD could cause small pink and white bumps in the back of your throat?

[DontJudgeMe2266]

I was recently sexually involved with a new partner 12 days ago. We had made out and then she gave me oral - never had penetrative sex. About a week later I noticed my throat started getting scratchy. I took a look at the back of my throat and noticed small white/pink bumps. Some are a little more noticeable than others. My throat hasn’t been really sore, just feels like there’s something caught in there and it’s slightly hard to swallow. Other symptoms I’m having is slight pain/discomfort in my urethra. It kind of hurts when I’m just hanging out, but haven’t noticed extra pain while urinating. I feel like I’ve had to urinate slightly more than normal over today and yesterday. I can’t tell if I’m having any discharge, and I don’t have any other sores, lesions, cuts, etc anywhere. I asked the person I was with and she said she had gonorrhea back in May (4 months ago) and said she had been cleared by a doctor after taking medications. I’m fairly certain I caught an STI, but I’m not sure exactly which one it is, as it seems every STD has the exact same symptoms. Also it’s hard to find images online that look similar to what is going on with me. I have a doctors appointment / STD test scheduled for Friday. Any info is appreciated.

[auntiejessi]

If you didn't perform oral on someone, usually on someone with a penis, you probably don't have an oral STD.

Nothing you did would cause you to have oral symptoms. Whatever is happening in your throat is unrelated to kissing her or her performing oral on you.

If she had genital gonorrhea, she did nothing that would put you at risk for getting it, even if she still had it, since you weren't exposed to her vagina. If she also had it orally, the medication she took for it vaginally would have cured it orally.

Receiving oral sex puts you at risk for gonorrhea, chlamydia (though that's less likely), NGU, syphilis and genital herpes type 1.

I can't say if you have syphilis or not, but it's too soon for those symptoms, which appear at around 3 weeks, and would be a round, painless sore. That's not what's causing your symptoms. If you want to test for that, you can test at 6 weeks.

Genital herpes type 1, if you don't already have oral herpes type 1 (think cold sores) would give you blisters. That's not what you are experiencing, either. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

You can test for gonorrhea, chlamydia and NGU (an infection in the urethra caused by anything except gonorrhea) at 5 days. This can happen when normal mouth bacteria enters the urethra.

Your symptoms are vague, though. You aren't having any real pain with urination, any discharge (which you'd notice), and just have some discomfort in your urethra. This could be a symptom of an STD, or it could be anxiety, dehydration, irritation from too much caffeine or alcohol, or a long list of other things. Oral sex is a lot less risk than penetrative vaginal or anal sex, so try not to worry.

In the meantime, make sure you are drinking plenty of water, lay off the caffeine and alcohol, if those are things you drink. Before you go on Friday, don't urinate for at least an hour before your tests.

Let us know what happens.