Lingering symptoms after treatment
Hi, I've (21FTM) been lurking on this sub for awhile and now looking for experiences from others who have dealt with Ureaplasma parvum and lingering symptoms after treatment.
Starting in late 2024 I dealt with recurrent UTIs (approximately 5-6 over several months), recurrent yeast infections, and BV twice. I had about 5 months of no infections starting last November, until I seemingly got a UTI. I had lingering symptoms after 5 days of Macrobid that eventually calmed down, but I was not back to normal. Maybe two weeks later, I had a huge flare that didn't go away. After a bunch of doctor's appointments with urology and gynecology, I was eventually diagnosed with Ureaplasma parvum via vaginal swab in March 2026. I was previously tested via urine sample which was negative, but I think there's a chance that the urine sample didn't detect it at that time. I completed a 10 day course of doxycycline (100mg twice daily) about a month ago and my partner was treated simultaneously (he was asymptomatic; treated with 7 days of doxy). I also started pelvic floor therapy in March of this year, mainly due to other reasons (PTSD causing pelvic floor tension), but also because of the recurrent infections.
Prior to the Ureaplasma diagnosis I was also treated for vaginal inflammation with a topical steroid, and had multiple antibiotic courses for UTIs (generally Macrobid or Cipro). Unfortunately, my old doctors never really did urine cultures (minus a few times, once showing Klebsiella aerogenes; also have had UTIs in the past for E. coli) and only went off urinalysis. My theory is that I likely had ureaplasma all along (most likely from a previous partner, which is when this all started). I've dealt with UTIs throughout my childhood, but never anything like this. My first yeast infection (and BV) was right after sleeping with my ex for the first time, and everything seemed to spiral from there. I've been with the same partner now for over a year (March 2025), and I think I probably passed the ureaplasma along to him.
Improvements since treatment:
- Urinary symptoms significantly better overall
- Tolerating previous bladder irritants (coffee, alcohol) without much issue
- Discharge improving; shifted from watery back toward more normal cream/yellow texture. It's still much thinner than my normal (with some "chunks" for lack of a better term of thicker, stringier discharge that is probably the closest to normal for me), but it's not the watery discharge that I was dealing with prior to treatment.
Lingering symptoms I'm still dealing with:
- Mild persistent post-void urethral sensation (warm, almost like a drop is there after urinating)
- Most noticeable after first morning void and when dehydrated
- Generally improves throughout the day with hydration
- Discharge still not fully back to my normal baseline (fluctuating and slightly less than normal)
Overall I'd describe it as extremely mild but persistently present.
My questions:
How long after completing doxycycline did your urethral symptoms fully resolve?
Did symptoms fluctuate during recovery (better some days, worse others)?
Did discharge take a long time to fully normalize?
I know that doxy + azithro is commonly recommended in this sub, but I 100% trust my gyno's opinion as she has never led me wrong during all of this. The 10 days of doxy does seem to have worked, and while I still have mild symptoms, it's a night and day difference. Antibiotic use has caused other health problems for me, so I felt like just doing the doxy was the best course of action at that point (my gyno also agreed). As for a test of cure, I will likely be tested in early July at my urogyno consult. My gyno is over 2 hours away from me, so getting retested isn't very straightforward and not currently even an option for me.
Also to add that my partner and I entirely abstained during this time (we didn't even seen each other for awhile due to unrelated life circumstances). We only had sex for the first time again two weeks ago, and I'd been done with doxy for a few weeks (he had finished a week and a half prior). I know many recommend abstaining until a negative test result, but I strictly followed the guidance of my gyno and trust her judgment. We took every possible precaution, and I did not flare at all afterwards (just still the mild symptoms that I was already dealing with).
I'm aware of all the recommendations regarding treatment, TOC, and sex, but right now I'm just looking for people's experiences with the recovery timeline, not any of those things.
Thank you!!