Wednesday, November 7, 2012

i received my test results today. negative for gonorrhea and chlamydia (GC and CT). WTH??? i don't know what to make of these results. i thought for sure i'd have something. to make matters worse i'm still having a little bit of symptoms so i don't think i've been treated completely.

i'm not sure whether to believe the GC/CT tests. the urine sample i gave was a midstream sample when it's supposed to be a first-void sample. i was pretty sure the urine for GC/CT had to be first-void (meaning the urine when you first start peeing) versus midstream (taken when you've peed out a little) but i asked the nurse and she was like, "oh give a midstream sample!" so i did. i don't know how much that affects the test results but when you get results you don't believe you look for any little thing. i did a literature search on first void versus midstream and it shouldn't make that much of a difference but i'm still doubtful. yes being this anal about how a urine sample is collected is why i'm a doctor.

ideally i wish i could have just done a urethral swab and gram stain on myself and just made a definitive diagnosis. i was even thinking last week, how hard would it be to get into the hospital lab and set up my own slide without raising any eyebrows. but then i remembered i would have no idea how to set up a gram stain anymore so that option was out. nerd science talk out of the way, i'm not sure what to do next. my options:

1. be re-seen by a healthcare provider and do whatever they want, then quietly dictate what care i actually want. (by the way we hate patients who do this)
2. treat myself with a cocktail of antibiotics.
3. be seen by the public STD clinic.
4. ignore things for a few days then decide what to do.

4 is very tempting (well they all are), but realistically i'll probably do 3...and maybe still politely suggest they do all the things i want them to do if they don't suggest it themselves. i'm just hoping there's not something more serious or weird going on. i'm actually wondering whether i got the urethritis from rimming/oral interchange but as you might imagine it's hard to find good data on that.

on a side note, i wonder how my care would have been if i didn't mention that i was a doctor. i was seen by a PA and she picked up fast that i knew a little healthcare lingo and we both knew why i was there. after she said she'd run the urine tests that was the last i saw of her though and some nurse came in to give me my butt shot and my discharge papers. i was a little disturbed because 1, the nurse forgot to mention that i had a prescription for the pills i needed to take and 2, the prescription technically wasn't written correctly and i got no instruction otherwise.

the treatment for gonorrhea is ceftriaxone 250mg IM (intramuscular..aka the butt) and azithromycin 1000mg by mouth in one dose. the azithromycin is for added activity against gonorrhea (but is not sufficient treatment alone for gonorrhea) and also for presumed co-treatment of chlamydia. (since they frequently run together) anyway the script for the azithromycin was just written out as a standard z-pak, so if i was a regular person i would have gotten the pills and taken it the wrong way and still potentially be infected. that's just bad healthcare. i'm giving the PA that saw me the benefit of the doubt that she did things that way 'cuz she knew i would know what to do and otherwise would have explained things out to me if i was just some regular slut off the street, but who knows.

the point is, make sure you know what your doc is trying to do to you and always ask questions if you don't know what the hell is going on. yes we hate when patients ask questions but you guys deserve at least a few answers.

anyway i'll keep yall updated...hope this is all not TMI, but better to live vicariously through me than experience it yourself.

5 comments:

  1. Don't delay -- just get the test from where ever and start treatment ASAP. The longer you wait, the longer your recovery time.

    My brother is a doctor (a surgeon) and he hates going to see his personal doctor. He held off for years, thinking he could treat himself. He finally went to find out he's diabetic. It runs in my family. I have it too and I probably waited too long to go on insulin and now I'm feeling the long term effects of waiting.

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  2. I've worked in healthcare forever. Your best bet is to be seen by public Health. You wouldn't allow a dermatologist to do your heart surgery. Those folks see it all and see it first. Be safe and go there

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  3. Not TMI! Please keep us posted. I too was told I had an STI, and superscription antibiotics. Since I'm NOT in healthcare, I just did as I was told, and I warned my regular buds of the issue. Of course I lost all but one of them.

    Kind of pissed me off when later the tests (like yours) came back negative.

    So, yah, keep us posted. I think in this case TOO MUCH information is still not ENOUGH information!

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  4. Non-GC urethritis or a random weird UTI maybe? Do you actually do your own Gram stains? I haven't done a Gram stain in like over 6 years, the last time was in undergrad! Maybe a regular UA/UCx may be helpful?

    Option #3 isn't a bad idea. Probably what I'd do myself.

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  5. Hey man! I'm catching up on reading your blog.

    The STD must have been a real bummer. I can imagine you feeling ashamed (although you're not to blame in my opinion) it happens even to de best aka safest guys in the world. I once contracted pubic lice just from jacking off and dry humping with a guy, and I felt like my life was going to end when I found out. It was very embarrassing having to by shampoo, and as I found Stof just after that I had to tell him too so he could check himself. So I think it's very brave of you to share this. Respect!

    About phone guy, sorry but I laughed my ass off with the toilet accident, doen't that only happen in movies no? lol
    But serious now, I second Foc that you did the right thing. Whatever his reason for not meeting might be, it's not a good base to start from. You're indeed dating a fantasy person then, who's able to control every single thing you get to see or hear, and not a real person.

    Hope you get rid of that bug, take care buddy!

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