r/stdtesting

I made a post earlier about not knowing if I have herpes or a yeast infection, I went to the doctor they did the swabs. I don’t have pain unless I use the bathroom but it itches so badly. Like so so badly I’m in tears I don’t know if there’s any cream or something that can help soothe it. Please help.

I had sex with a condom about a week ago and the day after it was itchy and swollen I thought it was a yeast infection so I took monistat and it seemed to calm it down but I also put BV gel because it wasn’t all the way cured which might have been a bad idea Idk why I did that and a week later It’s very itchy I feel the same, now I see these spots I don’t think it’s herpes but I want to be sure Can someone help me. I’ve never had herpes and i’m scared but I don’t know.

I contracted chlamydia in Jan of 2022, when I was a 24 yr old male. I did not know I had it since I had no symptoms up until I had some slight pain on the left side of my scrotum and went to the ER in Nov. of 2022, when I tested positive for the STD. So I had it unknowingly for roughly 11 months. A couple weeks or so later that November, and after taking antibiotics for chlamydia, I notice my scrotum has a bag of worms sort of appearance and I have ED, but still with little pain as the infection cleared. I go to the ER again and got diagnosed with varicocele on my left side.

I haven’t gotten any STDs since then, but since I got cleared of chlamydia, what had started as a left side varicocele with slight pain has transformed over the last 3 years into bilateral varicoceles with chronic nerve type pain post surgery. I have had a microsurgical varicocelectomy and denervation on my right side along with varicocelectomy and embolization on my left side. I continue to have ED, and reduced orgasm sensation though those have improved a little bit a year after my surgery. The right side spermatic cord area became super painful about 16 or so months after the chlamydia infection cleared, so I am not sure if it is possibly related.

My life has changed ever since getting chlamydia and need to know if this condition I have is a result of the infection.

Thank you.

About a week ago I suddenly noticed what looked and felt like a cut at the base of my penis. It was circular and appeared almost like the middle of it was fleshy like the skin was cut off, and possibly infected (faint off white color in the center). The outer part of the circle kind of looks like if you carved it with a knife. It’s darker red and sort of scabby. Smaller than a pencil eraser in diameter if that helps.

It didn’t hurt very bad, only if I tugged at it or stretched the skin really. Anyhow, I thought maybe it was just a cut and so I put some neosporn on it every day since. It has not seemed to get any better, and what’s even better, is that in the last few days, 2 more similar looking spots have suddenly popped up in my pubic region.

I then decided to go get tested. The doctor looked to see if it was syphilis, but said she didn’t think it looked like syphilis and figured it was probably just inground hairs or something to that extent, but this doesn’t look like that to me. She also said they don’t test for herpes at their specific clinic, so I’d have to go elsewhere for that. From the images I’m seeing online though, I’m not sure that’s what it would be either.

In the last 24 hours, a few more bumps have popped up that look more like pimples developing. Those ones I could imagine maybe are what they seem, as I’ve been putting neosporn and also cera ve healing ointment down there, so maybe the pores are getting clogged.

It’s really the strange circular cut looking ones that are concerning me, as they don’t appear to be getting any better. Anyone have any ideas??

TL;DR: I have multiple circular lesions around my genitals that suddenly popped up this last week. They don’t seem to be getting better and look almost like circular scabs but with faintly off white centers. Not very painful and not very itchy. What are they?

I have tried everything I can think of. It is ruining my life.

I’m crying typing this. I finally worked up the courage to get tested for everything after six months of constant worrying. I don’t have my results yet. But I just feel like it’s going to be positive. We are each other’s first full sexual partners. The only way I could have gotten and given him chlamydia is through a fingering incident two years ago—yes, I’m aware that while it’s rare, that it could lead to a chlamydia infection. I feel so stupid. I genuinely didn’t know I had it if I gave it to him. I didn’t think I’d have to worry about this because I don’t remember any fluid, but it seems like the one thing that could have happened.

The reason I’m worried is because in January, we went to the urgent care with testicular pain that came and went with physical activity. He didn’t have any swelling or redness, but he had tenderness on both sides, which they diagnosed at the urgent care as epididymitis (bilateral). They asked if he had been sick recently, to which he replied he had a sinus infection. They chalked it up to that causing the pain, but I can find no evidence of that happening online. The closest thing I can find is about mumps, which I really don’t think he had. They didn’t test him there, but they have him doxycycline for the sinus infection according to his notes. Not even for the supposed Epididymal tenderness. He did go back about a month later for something else and requested an STI test because he knew I was so affected by it. It came back negative. HOWEVER, he had five days of doxycycline for the sinus infection, which I know also just happens to be what wipes out chlamydia.

Sorry for the long post. I recognize that I’m so dumb. I didn’t have any sexual contact until I was like 30 (the manual stimulation) and didn’t think anything of it. I know that my boyfriend is supposedly free of it now if he had it, and that it’s just an antibiotic to treat it. But I still feel such guilt.

So to put it bluntly, I went to an Asian Massage Parlor yesterday. I received oral sex unprotected, and used a condom for vaginal sex.

I asked the girl and the shop owner if everyone is clean and they said yes with testing.

I went to the doctor today for preventive measures because I’m freaking the fuck out. Tested for HIV, pee test, and syphilis blood test. Doctor checked my dick out as well. I have no physical symptoms, but I’m panicking and super anxious. 100 percent never doing something like this again. I just need reassurance please. Thank you.

We all react differently but for someone with health anxiety i really dont know how to get through the waiting period to get tested.

I know alot of people just live their lives and its crazy to think, how would other people react while waiting if they were having symptoms like hiv for example?

I know that many symptoms mimic all types of illnesses and that someone like me will just be told "its your anxiety making you believe you have something" but having anxiety im not able to fathom thinking ahead to taking the test and possibly getting a hiv diagnosis when you thought you were being safe and took the typical precautions.

Ive already waited 3 weeks and im getting symptoms like headaches for 3 days which i never get, just woke up in night sweats, got a soar throat and ive had slight pain under my arms for a week.

Being that im 3 weeks to the day out from the encounter i keep thinking "ok yess these symptoms could just be my anxiety making them up but i genuinely feel an infection?"

Then i think he wore protection but the second one may have not been on properly since i saw it was slippin. I also bled alot!! So more entry for infections. Then I think it broke, then i think what he told me about getting with a girl which he said was unprotected 3 weeks prior at the time, but then he changed his story and said 2 weeks with protection after i had taken him to get tested for hiv (antibodies 4th generation test) which is apparently 50% accurate for detecting infections 2 weeks in and can pick up 80% of infections 3 to 4 weeks after exposure. So if it was 2 weeks his negative test is useless.

Ive to wait 24 days so 3 weeks!!!! How am i going to do it. Already waiting 3 weeks. I think thinking wel’ theres nothing I can do now helps. Although i completely can see that hiv isnt actually the worst thing today as we have treatment i have an neurological injury from cold turkeying an ssri 2 years ago and cant take any medications without being severly bed bound with neurological issues like severe pain after taking a pain killer that goes on a week after just one pill. So I wouldnt be qble to take treatment and i would choose to pass and accepr i would only have 5 or so years to live instead of induring what my injury has caused me as i fought for 2 years already.

Basically stayed celibate for 6 years and this encounter makes it that im not feeling well at all. I have been followed for my mental illness but its almost like how can you wait when you know your life could be over. (In my specific case as i know for people who can take treatment you live a happy normal life).

Even though the guy i had the encounter with had been quite communicative as i think he just is very lustful. I cant help but think i should have gotten him to test later. I rudhed it because of my anxiety and now im left trying to look for validation and security when there is none. We spoke on the phone as he mainly wanted to talk about our relationship I only knew him a month.

Communication wise its not good and i cant trust him but he is a good person but a gold person dosent mean they dont have stis. As he said he brushed it off when i asked him about it and yet he came to get tested to prove i could "trust" him yet i was the one pushing and taking the initiative only after we hooked up with protection yes minus oral though.

So this whole thing is alot for me especially having symptoms. Has anyone lived similar circumstances where youve to wait for testing all while having unsettling information on a third party that was recently involved or even a negative test from them but it was too early and turned out they were positive months after???

Please do share so we can distrract ourselves while waiting.

A while back, my wife tested positive for syphilis. First from donating plasma (RPR), then again at their doctor (RPR positive, RPR titer 1:2,). The TP-PA was negetive, but ive been told those can give false positives if the infection was recent, which to my understanding is consistent with the RPR titer ratio being 1:2.

She had virtually all the symptoms, sore in the mouth, flu-like symptoms, joint pain, and swollen lymph nodes. Her doctor diagnosed her with primary syphilis and had her get penicillin injections for three months that made the symptoms go away and she tested negetive afterwards.

So it had to be a bacterial infection since the penicillin worked. And her doctors tested her for every bacterial infection or autoimmune disorder that could cause a false positive, and they all came back negetive. I tested negetive for it three times, was never treated for it, and never got sick.

To this day she swears that she couldn't have gotten it anywhere, and wasnt cheating on me.

Im pretty certain she has to be lying, but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt and see if anyone has any possible explanations.

As the post says - regular STD panel doesn’t include everything so what do people really mean when they say DDF? STDs PLUS: hiv(I assume but which ones, dif tests time?) hep-c, what about HPV and HSV (herpes both 1 and 2 as both can live on mouth or genitals)? Thanks 🙏

Im trying to find out when I should get tested for HIV? I met a guy on grindr for a frot session. Half way thru it, they sat on my lap and we were grinding together. While grinding the reached around to adjust my penis and we kept grinding. But I went soft because I started to wonder if there was insertion. That lasted less than a minute and we went back to sword fighting.

After we were done, I asked if I went inside them and they said no. I asked for their status and they said negative. I asked two more times in a different way if therewas penetration and they said no two more times. There was no lube, but they did use spit when I went soft and we began frotting again. So I think because I felt my skin after the spitting on it. It felt moist and that triggered my thoughts to think I penetrated this person.

So, because I have OCD and Anxiety I know testing could debunk this vicious what if cycle. We interacted on the 9th of June.

as of writing this it happened 10 minutes ago. we got stopped by a homeless lady and as she was talking spit flew out and landed in her mouth. we are worried as she could have something (an STD) what should we do?
drinking alcohol to “cleanse” her mouth lol

The discovery of lumps, blisters, or sores in the genital region can be quite distressing, and a question many people may find themselves asking is, "Is it genital warts or herpes?" Despite being two sexually transmitted infections affecting the same part of the body, there are notable differences between the two.

Knowledge about these differences can go a long way in helping you identify symptoms early enough, visit a doctor for necessary treatment, and not panic unnecessarily.

Genital warts are infections caused by certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), including types 6 and 11, which are low risk and differ greatly from the high-risk strains of HPV associated with various forms of cancer such as cervical cancer. Genital warts present themselves as small, flesh-colored or gray-colored growths on or around the genitals or anal region. These growths can either be flat, raised, or cauliflower-like if clustered together. Generally, they are painless but can cause itchiness.

On the contrary, herpes results from the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 may cause genital herpes infections. Different from genital warts, the onset of herpes infection starts with a tingling, itching, or burning sensation prior to the development of sores. Fluid-filled blisters appear, which eventually break up into painful ulcers that crust and heal over the course of several weeks. The initial outbreak of herpes may be associated with flu-like symptoms, including fever, swollen lymph glands, body ache, or painful urination.

One of the significant distinctions between the two types of infection is the pattern of development. Warts may stay at the same size, grow, or regress over time due to the suppression of the virus by the immune system. Nevertheless, despite the regression of warts, the virus may continue to stay in the body. Herpes behaves differently; once an individual gets infected, the virus settles down in the close nervous tissue and may reoccur periodically. Some individuals suffer from multiple outbreaks, while others might rarely experience recurrence of the disease.

The two types of infections are transmitted via direct skin contact during sexual activities, including vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse. It should be noted that both of these diseases can be transmitted in the absence of symptoms. Therefore, one can inadvertently transmit the disease to his or her partner even while being completely healthy.

Depending on the type of the problem, treatment differs. Unfortunately, both HPV and herpes have no cure at present. However, these conditions are manageable. Genital warts can be treated using special cream, freezing, laser therapy, or surgical removal. Treatment for herpes includes the use of antiviral drugs, such as acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir, which help to decrease the frequency and duration of outbreaks and to prevent transmission of the virus. In case of frequent outbreaks, one can use these drugs on a regular basis.

Sometimes, it may be difficult to make a diagnosis of either genital warts or herpes just because of their similarity to some other diseases that may occur on the skin. In fact, the ingrown hair, the skin tag, the molluscum contagiosum, the cyst, some fungal infection, and even the allergic reaction can cause the appearance of bumps and sores on the skin in the genital area. Therefore, if you have noticed any of them, it is recommended to visit a medical practitioner for correct diagnostics.

The prevention of this disease is one of the most efficient ways to stay safe from it and from passing it to your sexual partner(s). Using the condoms consistently can decrease the chance of getting such diseases as HPV and the herpes virus; however, there still remains the risk of getting infected since these viruses may affect the parts of the body that are not protected by the condom. Also, vaccination from the HPV provides very good protection against genital warts.

Although genital warts and herpes can both be present in the same region, they are vastly different conditions. Genital warts tend to be painless growths that are often flesh-colored due to HPV infection, whereas herpes generally involves painful blisters or sores due to HSV infection. Understanding the difference will aid you in choosing the correct mode of action, minimizing risks of transmission and turning fears into knowledge. In any case, when in doubt, consultation with a health care practitioner is key.

Tested positive about a week ago. Took doxycycline for a week and symptoms are coming back. Don’t have the money to take another test considering there almost $200 a test but I’m able to buy more antibiotics without it.

The web is giving me the same to options, doxycycline for 2x a day for 7 days or azithormycin for 1x a day for 4 days. Should I go back on dox(prefer not too) or should I hit the azithormycin?

A girl I'd been sleeping with recently tested positive for trich, and is accusing me of giving it to her. I've been tested twice and both are negative. What are the chances that i passed it to her with two negative tests? I'm a 36 yr old male and we were not monogamous, so it is within the realm of possibility that I did pass it to her. It seems unlikely to me though with the two neg tests. My tests were about a month after she told me, so I've waited long enough for it to show I believe.

I had some weird discharge for a few weeks, family doctor prescribed ant fungus, didn’t notice any difference. So I went to gynecologist and she said I so had a Bacterial vaginosis so I took antibiotics, went back and it was still there (green/yellow discharge with blood). She did a swab and send it to analysis. So today I received a positive for gonorrhea. I’m married and haven’t been with anyone besides my husband for more than 4 years. A few weeks ago he run antibiotics too for a urinary infection (pain while peening and white penis discharge) but is feeling good now.
How this could happen? I’m so confuse.

I had sex with a sw with a condom throughout the act. Everything was fine till day 17th. Then I started googling and went into a spiral. I got tested for Antibody Hiv 1 and 2 test done. The results came negative. However, I am aware that this is early, so I am scared. I will take a retest on day 46. Perhaps a 4th gen test. Please advice that I shouldn't be so worried. And from whatever I have researched my chances of getting it is very low.

27 days ago i had protected sex with a sex worker. New to me. Im in my 50s and this is the second time ever. Immediatly after she jumped up and pulled my condom off with a klenex. I dont remember it breaking, it maybe could have.... no idea but I feel like I would have remebered, maybe not.

Either way, 36 hours later my urethra started burning. I drank a lot of fluids, it didnt stop. My local DR thought it was a kidney or UTI. Pee test came back clean but he didnt test for bacterial stds. I have been fighting a bad, bad yeast infection in the crease of my leg for 6 months. It had spread to my scrotum, thigh, and a few other places. It was finally clearing up.

I had to go on a work trip and my dr had no openings so I used an online teladoctor. Told her the story and told her i had been battling yeast due to a round of augmentin. She went ahead and prescribed a single dose of Cefiximine (800mg) and doxy twice a day for a week. Stinging quit so I thought, yep im good. Get back from the work trip and it moved to my left testicle. Pulls a little like I pulled a muscle and then the stinging returned. Now have diarrhea for 5 days. Not bad, just loose and I have to go withing 30 or so minutes of eating.

No noted rashes, no blisters, no noted sores. Urethra is sticking together but I have not seen discharge leave the penis. I can put a 1/4 pea sized clotrimazole (jock itch cream) in the urethra and the burning stops for a few days. My dr cant get me in until the 17th. Im thinking of going to wallgreens to get a mail in test because I dont want to wait. Im 9 days after finishing the round of doxy but still considering taking the test and sending it in so I have something until my primary comes back from vacation.

This is all new to me... any ideas?

So I’m an 18f and my fiancée is a 20m, he’s in the military and recently I’ve been diagnosed with PID and Chlamydia, I saw him 5 weeks ago and got symptoms 2 weeks ago, i was getting severe pelvic pain, abnormal discharge, and lower back pain and went to the ER and they said it was a UTI, then called the next day saying it was an STD, I went to the ER again the next day from the pain and was diagnosed with PID and an ovarian cyst, and an ovarian abscess, abnormal fluid in the pelvic, and permanent scarring because the PID reached to far up my chest, I’m being treated now but still experiencing pain, could he have cheated or is this something I could get before him or him get before me and I’m now just developing PID? I know the std is known to be silent because I’ve never had symptoms of it either nor has he, I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because I truly can’t see him cheating what so ever, and I know I’ve been faithful the whole time as well.