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Chlamydia - a personal journey
So a few things first.
I'm not posting this in the STD forum because an STD that becomes a chronic condition ends up in the Urology section, the STD forum is sort of like High School and I graduated to college you see.
I'm an older guy not some crazy college kid, and divorce saw me doing some things with younger, wilder women that would have had be crying for forgiveness on my knees in church when I was married, you see I was that rarest of things, a man who actually loved and respected his wife. Divorce can release your inner demons, and for me at least, it certainly did.
I came from the days when sex was strictly "au naturelle" - condoms were preventing pregnancy, diseases, meh. So there were no boundaries for me, I threw caution to the winds with several partners, and trust me, for a while it was pure hedonistic pleasure, the silver fox strolling through the lobby of the Venetian in Las Vegas with a gorgeous 26 year old on my arm - then I caught Chlamydia.
I self diagnosed it long before the test results came back, and the doctor agreed with me an started treatment immediately, Azithromycin 1.5g immediate shock dose. I did my research, a common condition affecting millions, no big deal, sometimes serious if left untreated especially for women and very easily treated. I relaxed, but the symptoms didn't - the discharge disappeared but the itching and burning did not. So the doctor hit me with heavy dose Doxycycline, 2 weeks and re-tested both dip and culture - and I was declared disease free, but I was still in pain, occasionally so bad I cried out in agony. The only relief I could find was alcohol, and so I drank, heavily. On a Friday night after work just one beer took all the pain away, I would dance around in absolute joy drinking even more to prolong the effect, and then in the morning I would wake up in pain again but now with a hangover.
The pain was in my bladder and in my urethra, I wanted to urinate constantly to alleviate some of the discomfort, but urine actually made it worse in the long run. In short I was living a nightmare.
So I was diagnosed as having chronic urethritis and my Urologist recommended having "the scope" - I couldn't face that, so I sought out a second opinion - an older and very experienced Urologist. In short the best doctor I have ever had.
He didn't judge me, he sat back in the chair in his office and sized me up after doing an exam, urine test, and flow analysis. First he told me not to worry about the laproscopy, "if you need that I'll put you under first" he said - and I actually burst into tears, then he explained to me that Chlamydia scars the urethra and that the urethra is not a structure that repairs itself quickly, barely at all in fact. He put me on a fairly new drug called Uribel, and within days every toilet in the house was sporting a bright green/blue stain that proved difficult to remove. But the medication (which is absorbed into urine and "coats" the urethra with a pain relieving drug) eased my symptoms, my life began to return to normal. Uribel can be taken forever if needs be, and I ordered a huge prescription.
I tried to ween myself of the drugs several times but the pain would come back with a vengeance. Then one day just a few weeks ago the pain finally left me, no Uribel, no alcohol, and no pain.
To this day my urethra feels "numb" when I urinate, there is no sensation at all. Either the nerves are damaged or the inner face of my urethra is coated with scar tissue, thick, but not thick enough to impede urine flow. Total time from infection to full resolution 8 months.
Now I'm not a board certified Urologist, and my experience is limited to just one case, my own, but I am going to give you my conclusions, conclusions shared by other sufferers I might add and not conclusions that you will find in the medical advice websites.
1. Chlamydia is a serious infection - if unprotected sex is your thing then you may want to procure a supply of Azithromycin and give yourself a prophylactic dose immediately before and after sex.
2. Chlamydia is hard to eradicate - the infection is easy to kill, but the symptoms are not, there is increasing evidence from recent research that Chlamydia also has a "timebomb" ability courtesy of it lying dormant in cells and then suddenly re-infecting. So if you have a recurrence of symptoms get retested even if you have been celibate.
3. Chlamydia isn't just for Christmas - the scarring, nerve damage, and chronic (i.e. persistent) urethritis caused by Chlamydia is a FREQUENT consequence of infection, be prepared to deal with months of painful symptoms for which there is no cure.
4. Don't give up hope - I have found many cases of infection where sufferers took upto a year to fully resolve their symptoms. Exercise can help, a hot bath, drugs like Uribel, and for me at least - beer, specifically Sapporo in industrial quantities. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but it's best to stay out of the tunnel in the first place.
So my journey is finally over, I will never judge those with STDs or even those who eschew the use of condoms. For me my sex life is now over, that is the consequence I will have to live with, but I wanted to share my journey with others who may be on that same nightmare path, or perhaps persuade those who have yet to experience the joy of a Chlamydia infection to take a different path. I think back 3 years to the start of my wild days to a routine checkup I had with my first urologist (now sadly retired) - "listen" he said, "no one in their right mind wants to have sex with a condom on, I've been there as well in my younger days and I'm a Urologist" - but if you had seen the things I have seen you would never, ever consider sex with a new partner without using one. If only I had listened.
Use a condom,
I'm not posting this in the STD forum because an STD that becomes a chronic condition ends up in the Urology section, the STD forum is sort of like High School and I graduated to college you see.
I'm an older guy not some crazy college kid, and divorce saw me doing some things with younger, wilder women that would have had be crying for forgiveness on my knees in church when I was married, you see I was that rarest of things, a man who actually loved and respected his wife. Divorce can release your inner demons, and for me at least, it certainly did.
I came from the days when sex was strictly "au naturelle" - condoms were preventing pregnancy, diseases, meh. So there were no boundaries for me, I threw caution to the winds with several partners, and trust me, for a while it was pure hedonistic pleasure, the silver fox strolling through the lobby of the Venetian in Las Vegas with a gorgeous 26 year old on my arm - then I caught Chlamydia.
I self diagnosed it long before the test results came back, and the doctor agreed with me an started treatment immediately, Azithromycin 1.5g immediate shock dose. I did my research, a common condition affecting millions, no big deal, sometimes serious if left untreated especially for women and very easily treated. I relaxed, but the symptoms didn't - the discharge disappeared but the itching and burning did not. So the doctor hit me with heavy dose Doxycycline, 2 weeks and re-tested both dip and culture - and I was declared disease free, but I was still in pain, occasionally so bad I cried out in agony. The only relief I could find was alcohol, and so I drank, heavily. On a Friday night after work just one beer took all the pain away, I would dance around in absolute joy drinking even more to prolong the effect, and then in the morning I would wake up in pain again but now with a hangover.
The pain was in my bladder and in my urethra, I wanted to urinate constantly to alleviate some of the discomfort, but urine actually made it worse in the long run. In short I was living a nightmare.
So I was diagnosed as having chronic urethritis and my Urologist recommended having "the scope" - I couldn't face that, so I sought out a second opinion - an older and very experienced Urologist. In short the best doctor I have ever had.
He didn't judge me, he sat back in the chair in his office and sized me up after doing an exam, urine test, and flow analysis. First he told me not to worry about the laproscopy, "if you need that I'll put you under first" he said - and I actually burst into tears, then he explained to me that Chlamydia scars the urethra and that the urethra is not a structure that repairs itself quickly, barely at all in fact. He put me on a fairly new drug called Uribel, and within days every toilet in the house was sporting a bright green/blue stain that proved difficult to remove. But the medication (which is absorbed into urine and "coats" the urethra with a pain relieving drug) eased my symptoms, my life began to return to normal. Uribel can be taken forever if needs be, and I ordered a huge prescription.
I tried to ween myself of the drugs several times but the pain would come back with a vengeance. Then one day just a few weeks ago the pain finally left me, no Uribel, no alcohol, and no pain.
To this day my urethra feels "numb" when I urinate, there is no sensation at all. Either the nerves are damaged or the inner face of my urethra is coated with scar tissue, thick, but not thick enough to impede urine flow. Total time from infection to full resolution 8 months.
Now I'm not a board certified Urologist, and my experience is limited to just one case, my own, but I am going to give you my conclusions, conclusions shared by other sufferers I might add and not conclusions that you will find in the medical advice websites.
1. Chlamydia is a serious infection - if unprotected sex is your thing then you may want to procure a supply of Azithromycin and give yourself a prophylactic dose immediately before and after sex.
2. Chlamydia is hard to eradicate - the infection is easy to kill, but the symptoms are not, there is increasing evidence from recent research that Chlamydia also has a "timebomb" ability courtesy of it lying dormant in cells and then suddenly re-infecting. So if you have a recurrence of symptoms get retested even if you have been celibate.
3. Chlamydia isn't just for Christmas - the scarring, nerve damage, and chronic (i.e. persistent) urethritis caused by Chlamydia is a FREQUENT consequence of infection, be prepared to deal with months of painful symptoms for which there is no cure.
4. Don't give up hope - I have found many cases of infection where sufferers took upto a year to fully resolve their symptoms. Exercise can help, a hot bath, drugs like Uribel, and for me at least - beer, specifically Sapporo in industrial quantities. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but it's best to stay out of the tunnel in the first place.
So my journey is finally over, I will never judge those with STDs or even those who eschew the use of condoms. For me my sex life is now over, that is the consequence I will have to live with, but I wanted to share my journey with others who may be on that same nightmare path, or perhaps persuade those who have yet to experience the joy of a Chlamydia infection to take a different path. I think back 3 years to the start of my wild days to a routine checkup I had with my first urologist (now sadly retired) - "listen" he said, "no one in their right mind wants to have sex with a condom on, I've been there as well in my younger days and I'm a Urologist" - but if you had seen the things I have seen you would never, ever consider sex with a new partner without using one. If only I had listened.
Use a condom,
Hey just wondering how your doing now. I’m dealing with this currently and it’s been 6 months of pain in my urethra. Feels so baddd
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