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Worried about STD potential
Hi Doctors,
I’m a male that regrettably visited two CSWs last week. The first was on 8/20 and the second one was on 8/22. The visit on 8/20 consisted of me only receiving unprotected oral. On 8/22, we both gave unprotected oral and had protected vaginal sex. After these visits I’ve had significant anxiety and worry. I’ve experienced some itching in my general groin area – perhaps due to my over heighted anxiety. I have not noticed any discharge or physical changes to my genital area and while I think I might be urinating slightly more, it does not seem excessive and might be just my constant worry that is thinking this.
On 8/26 I developed conjunctivitis in my right eye. I went to the doctor on 8/27 and he diagnosed that along with a sinus infection and fever. I did not tell him about my visits to CSW. Based on my research from this website it seems my two STD concerns would be gonorrhea and NGU. Also from what I’ve read it seems I would already know if I had caught gonorrhea but NGU could still be a possibility as symptoms usually begin between 10 to 14 days. To address my sinus infection he diagnosed azithromycin with 500 mg the first day then 250 mg the next four days. My questions are this:
1) Without noticeable symptoms to my genitals, the eye and sinus infection do not seem to be indicators of an STD but a garden variety infection. Is that true?
2) Would the azithromycin dosage he prescribed remedy NGU if I did have it? If this dosage would not cure NGU, am I able to immediately go to a STD clinic to get tested (while on azithromycin) or do I need to wait for a period after finishing the medicine to get accurately checked and tested?
3) Does alcohol diminish the effect of azithromycin ? I say this because I had 4 drinks one night two days after beginning the medicine.
4) Can NGU be passed to women? (I have a girlfriend and would obviously hate to pass it on.)
Thank you for your time and wonderful service.
I’m a male that regrettably visited two CSWs last week. The first was on 8/20 and the second one was on 8/22. The visit on 8/20 consisted of me only receiving unprotected oral. On 8/22, we both gave unprotected oral and had protected vaginal sex. After these visits I’ve had significant anxiety and worry. I’ve experienced some itching in my general groin area – perhaps due to my over heighted anxiety. I have not noticed any discharge or physical changes to my genital area and while I think I might be urinating slightly more, it does not seem excessive and might be just my constant worry that is thinking this.
On 8/26 I developed conjunctivitis in my right eye. I went to the doctor on 8/27 and he diagnosed that along with a sinus infection and fever. I did not tell him about my visits to CSW. Based on my research from this website it seems my two STD concerns would be gonorrhea and NGU. Also from what I’ve read it seems I would already know if I had caught gonorrhea but NGU could still be a possibility as symptoms usually begin between 10 to 14 days. To address my sinus infection he diagnosed azithromycin with 500 mg the first day then 250 mg the next four days. My questions are this:
1) Without noticeable symptoms to my genitals, the eye and sinus infection do not seem to be indicators of an STD but a garden variety infection. Is that true?
2) Would the azithromycin dosage he prescribed remedy NGU if I did have it? If this dosage would not cure NGU, am I able to immediately go to a STD clinic to get tested (while on azithromycin) or do I need to wait for a period after finishing the medicine to get accurately checked and tested?
3) Does alcohol diminish the effect of azithromycin ? I say this because I had 4 drinks one night two days after beginning the medicine.
4) Can NGU be passed to women? (I have a girlfriend and would obviously hate to pass it on.)
Thank you for your time and wonderful service.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I knew you had unprotected oral and intended to convey that oral sex is safe even unprotected. With a condom, it's super-safe.
Thank you for the quick reply and assessment. This helps tremendously. My one comment was that the oral sex I received from both CSW and gave to one CSW was un-protected. Would this change your view and assessment as you mentioned in your reply I had "entirely safe sex" and "condom-protected oral sex" for which I actually did not.
Thank you again.
Thank you again.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question and for your kind wods about the forum.
You had entirely safe sex (congrats for a wise decision!) and can therefore be very confident that neither chlamydia, gonorrhea, nor any other traditional STD from those exposures is the cause of your upper respiratory infection and conjunctivitis. The vast majority of such infections result from garden-variety respiratory viruses. FYI, the most common true STD that causes conjunctivitis is chlamydia. Gonorrhea can do so, but rarely; and non-chlamydial NGU generally does not do so.
Having said that, it is conceivable you caught your URI and conjunctivitis from one of your commercial sex partners. Sex is obviously sufficiently close contact to transmit cold viruses, especially if there was any kissing. There's even one group of cold viruses (called adenovirus) that can infect the urethra, resulting in NGU in combination with conjunctivitis and/or other cold symptoms; below is a link to a forum question about it. However, with condom protection for oral sex, this isn't plausible in your case -- and you have had no symptoms to suggest urethritis.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Adenovirus-UTI/show/1780687
To your specific questions:
1) I agree exactly.
2) Your treatment sounds like a classical example of a doctor prescribing an antibiotic "just to be safe", knowing the problem is almost certainly viral. The large majority of upper respiratory infections, with or without sinusitid, are due to viruses -- and no virus responds to any antibiotic. In other words, I would not have prescribed azithromycin or any other antibiotic in this situation. But to answer your question directly, this AZM regimen, while not the recommended one for NGU, almost certainly would effectively treat it if you had it. There is no point in being evaluated for NGU. which cannot be diagnosed after treatment clears it up.
3) Alcohol does not significantly impair the effectiveness of any antibiotic, except if someone gets too intoxicated to remember to take the drug. But your AZM treatment wasn't necessary and won't have any effect on your URI anyway.
4) Yes. NGU -- whether due to chlamydia or other causes -- infects affected men's female sex partners. But it's not an issue here. You can safely continue sex with your partner, with no risk to her (except catching your cold).
You had entirely safe sex (congrats for a wise decision!) and can therefore be very confident that neither chlamydia, gonorrhea, nor any other traditional STD from those exposures is the cause of your upper respiratory infection and conjunctivitis. The vast majority of such infections result from garden-variety respiratory viruses. FYI, the most common true STD that causes conjunctivitis is chlamydia. Gonorrhea can do so, but rarely; and non-chlamydial NGU generally does not do so.
Having said that, it is conceivable you caught your URI and conjunctivitis from one of your commercial sex partners. Sex is obviously sufficiently close contact to transmit cold viruses, especially if there was any kissing. There's even one group of cold viruses (called adenovirus) that can infect the urethra, resulting in NGU in combination with conjunctivitis and/or other cold symptoms; below is a link to a forum question about it. However, with condom protection for oral sex, this isn't plausible in your case -- and you have had no symptoms to suggest urethritis.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Adenovirus-UTI/show/1780687
To your specific questions:
1) I agree exactly.
2) Your treatment sounds like a classical example of a doctor prescribing an antibiotic "just to be safe", knowing the problem is almost certainly viral. The large majority of upper respiratory infections, with or without sinusitid, are due to viruses -- and no virus responds to any antibiotic. In other words, I would not have prescribed azithromycin or any other antibiotic in this situation. But to answer your question directly, this AZM regimen, while not the recommended one for NGU, almost certainly would effectively treat it if you had it. There is no point in being evaluated for NGU. which cannot be diagnosed after treatment clears it up.
3) Alcohol does not significantly impair the effectiveness of any antibiotic, except if someone gets too intoxicated to remember to take the drug. But your AZM treatment wasn't necessary and won't have any effect on your URI anyway.
4) Yes. NGU -- whether due to chlamydia or other causes -- infects affected men's female sex partners. But it's not an issue here. You can safely continue sex with your partner, with no risk to her (except catching your cold).
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