Started having symptoms about 4 years ago. My symptoms are primarily INTENSE itching (itching that is so bad that I can't focus at work and that wake me up during the night), thick yellow/white discharge, and frequent urination.
When I first started trying to get treated, the doctors tested me for STIs, BV, and yeast but results were negative for all of them. They treated me for BV and yeast anyways but obviously there was no improvement. I tried many different natural remedies: boric acid, probiotics, suppositories, and none of that cured me. I finally went to one doctor who tested me for ureaplasma (saying "this is super super rare but let's see") and it was positive. I was given 7 days of doxycycline and while it improved my symptoms slightly during treatment, they came back full force later. I got referred to a gynaecologist who couldn't figure out what was wrong with me and didn't believe ureaplasma was a real thing and so I temporarily gave up trying to fix the problem because I was so discouraged.
I renewed my efforts to fix this issue a few months ago after doing SO much research into ureaplasma which is the ONLY thing I tested positive for in the last 4 years during which I've had these symptoms. Got re-tested for everything and it was all negative except ureaplasma. Begged my family doctor to prescribe me the ureaplasma bible's first line of therapy but she refused (even after sharing articles and research I printed) and only gave me 1.5g of azithromycin. I ended up hacking the system to get another doctor to prescribe me 7 days of doxycycline. I did the proper 7 days doxy + 1.5g azithro (and no sex) exactly as outlined and for the first time ever I felt my symptoms resolving. I was so hopeful but about a week after finishing treatment the symptoms are back again full force. I haven't gone back to get tested again but I am nearly certain it will come back positive since nothing has changed.
I asked my family doctor to refer me to a specialist and she has been reaching out to clinics (over 10+) but all of them reject my referral either because they apparently don't deal with this kind of problem. I am losing my mind because I have been suffering for so long, I really hoped treating ureaplasma correctly would work, but now I'm in a position where I don't know what treatment to try next and I don't even know what doctor I can go to to get it because no one wants to believe me that ureaplasma is real.
For context, I live in Canada and no one seems to take ureaplasma seriously. I need advice on what to do when first line of treatment fails but you're not able to get second line of treatment or even a referral to see a specialist. Any advice or even just someone that can relate to this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi y'all, this is my first post here but this subreddit has already helped my mental health regarding HS diagnosis so much, I'm so glad you guys are here!!! I searched for a post on this but didn't see anything this specific...
So I just recently saw a derm for HS, in stage 1 but has been going on over a year and getting worse. She prescribed me clindamycin pledgets to use around my groin twice a day (as well as doxycycline 100mg twice daily) and I don't know if I'm using it too close to my vagina/labia, but the last couple shifts I've worked, about halfway in I start feeling really irritated and dry with like a burning itch kind of around my clit/vulva area. I can't tell if it's just from sweat, as I have gotten this feeling in the past just from being too dry/irritated and then sweating a lot. But I'm starting to think the sweating is just causing the clindamycin to migrate inwards lmao and irritated pretty much everything.
Should I be like changing my underwear halfway through my shift or something? I don't have any that are draining right now, but I have a couple flares and one is right on the edge of my labia like at the top, so ideally I would be applying clindamycin around that as well. I also occasionally use boric acid suppositories when I feel my balance is off because it keeps the yeast infections at bay for the most part.
UGH if it is the clindamycin irritating me, wtf am I supposed to do?? Are there different products that won't dry my vag out, increasing my risk of already chronic yeast infections? I know it's not a uti, and I know it's not yeast, I don't have any other symptoms I would normally get and it's not irritated up inside at all, just inside my labia.
This fucking sucks, I keep getting so uncomfortable at work. I have to keep moving and standing the whole time during work so there's no rest for irritation or to stop sweating except for my hour lunch break.
If anyone has experienced this before please help me out lol I just want relief that doesn't fuck up my whole system that I've already worked to get under control.

Storytime with a Question (LONG):
Soooooo it's been a wild couple of days. I have been receiving treatment for a UTI over the past 2 weeks. Nitro was used first but didn't seem to work so doxycycline was the next choice. Based on some nasty redness, itching, and burning that came up after the doxy,, they also gave me fluconazole for a potential yeast infection. I was finishing up my antibiotics and also took the fluconazole. Things seemed fairly normal.
Fast forward to yesterday, my husband and I drove down to the beach for my birthday weekend and on the way down, I started having really intense pelvic pain. There wasn't really anything nearby but a more rural ER so we went in to see what was going on; I told the doctor my pain levels and she was at first pretty dismissive, saying its normal to be in "slight" pain for yeast infections sometimes? I reuterated that my pain was not slight at all, probably a 7 to 8 out of 10. When she did my pelvic exam and swabs, she says "oh, yeah wow, this is super irritated". Duh! She noted yellowish/white sticky discharge and inflammation at my cervix and outer labia. Ran some urine tests and did some swabs. No found bacteria, yeast (said may be because I had taken the fluconazole), STIs, anything. Essentially told me the pain is normal, take Advil, try miconazole, and I can stop the doxy since my urine catch was clean (apparently no more UTI).
We tried to get back on track, get me advil and some miconazole, and continue our trip. But it wasn't long before I had insanely intense burning (the miconazole made things worse) and then HORRIBLE pain, like I was being stabbed in the cervix. I tried a warm bath, but that only amplified the burning, so my husband insisted we drive home given that there weren't a ton of medical services nearby. It was on the way home that my pain was up to a 9 out of 10. As someone who has had horrific period pain, especially as a teen, and also tried to get an IUD inserted, this was right up there with some of the worst pelvic pain I've ever had. I'm moaning in agony so my husband says how this can't be normal for just a yeast infection and stops at another ER. I'm having trouble walking and feeling abdominal/bladder spasms so they wheel me in, give me morphine, and then proceed to run a ton of tests (blood, urine, CT, ultrasounds,). Everything came back normal (no UTI, BV, etc), aside from finally getting validation of my PCOS diagnosis for a left ovary cyst (diagnosed in 2019 but was more of a process of elimination, had never been able to find cysts before). The doctor said it may potentially be something digestive or bladder related, such as interstitial cystitis, IBS, or potentially based on past period pain, endo growing in the wrong place? They also said I may have pelvic floor dysfunction and that a regerral to a pelvic floor specialist may be a good next step. I have a follow-up with my PCP and an OBGYN appt on Monday.
I guess my question is, has anyone else something like this happen??? Can a bad yeast infection even cause pain like this? The pain has subsided some today but is still aching. My plan is to just try and get through the next couple of days and see if the fluconazole continues to help things improve. They filled me a prescription for another tablet of it to take in two days just in case things aren't responding.

Hello! This is my first time on this sub as it comes up when I search for help with Perioral dermatitis. I usually get this face wash every couple years, and this time I’ve had it since September.
I was given tacrolimus .1% (which worked previously very well) and metrodinazol. After a couple months of no luck, I was finally given a referral to a dermatologist. She prescribed doxycycline. After 2 weeks I had adverse reactions (spots all over my body and non stop itching) and had to stop.
At our first appointment, the dermatologist told me that if the antibiotics didn’t work, there was one last cream to try but it was expensive and most likely not covered by insurance. I’ve called and asked if I can be given the medication name, or even if she’s willing to give it to me on the basis that the doxy failed, but haven’t received an answer in 4 weeks. They are very hard to get ahold of.
I am really hesitant to even go to my next appointment. It’s a high out of pocket fee, and I might not even be able to afford whatever it is she is prescribing. My first appointment she looked at a picture a nurse took, and the whole appointment lasted less than 5 minutes.
Has anyone had doxycycline fail and found something else that worked? I’m so tired of my face hurting!
Also, I started working out regularly in August of last year, and I’m wondering if that is aggravating it at all? Is there even a chance of getting rid of this dumb rash?

Hi everyone. I have had what seems to be called stage 1 rosacea for years (redness, flushing) and it’s been managed with low dose doxycycline and avoiding triggers.
A few weeks ago, I had what I now realise was the beginning of a papulopustular rosacea breakout however I was treated with steroids as my GP wasn’t familiar with it. We now know that was the worst possible thing we could have done and I’m in personal hell. Three days ago my entire face erupted and is red, swollen and has hundreds of tiny pus filled bumps on my cheeks, nose, chin and neck. I’ve never had anything like this before and I was not prepared for how soul destroying it would be. I do not want to leave the house.
I’m on a (long) wait list to see a dermatologist and in the short term I’m now on 100mg of doxy a day and have started soolantra. I am aware they take a long time to kick in though.
I need advice. I don’t know what to do to try and bring this down a little bit? The itch is also driving me nuts. I’ve just called in sick for work tomorrow as I am so distressed.
Currently this is what I’m doing but I’m so lost:
AM - dermagogica ultragel cleanser followed by LRP BAUME B5+ BALM CREAM. I do also have the AR tinted moisturiser but it pills terribly on my skin so not using it. I’m not sure if I should be doing something else? I’m in Australia so options are a bit limited for a lot of your go to things like Vanicream
Note: I do have Paula’s choice pore normalising cleanser which I have read may be a better choice? I stuck with the ultragel one as I have used it for a year now.
PM - dermagogica ultragel cleanser followed by soolantra cream all over face in thin layer. Not sure if I should be doing something after this? Night time is awful currently with itching, dryness and discomfort. I wake up with highly irritated skin every day

So… this is gonna be a long post.
The first time I had issues with folliculitis was about 3 years ago. It was all over my face, neck and chest, it spread fast, but didn’t (and still doesn’t) itch at all. I got a corticosteroid cream from my family doctor, which helped tremendously.
Unfortunately, it came back after a couple of weeks and I went to see a dermatologist. She diagnosed me with folliculitis instantly. Since she didn’t know what was causing it, she gave me clindamycin, which only made the folliculitis angrier - my skin was red, itchy, burning after the first use. Then we tried with a ketoconazole shampoo, but that didn’t help at all so I stopped using it. At that point, the folliculitis had spread all over my body - literally from head to toe in a matter of 7 days! Needless to say, I was terrified.
I finally found a cure in potassium permanganate baths which erased every trace of folliculitis from my body in about 3 days. However, two months ago my nightmare came back… and literally nothing has worked, not even potassium permanganate baths. It just kept getting worse!
My new dermatologist did a throat, nose and pustule swab culture, I had multiple blood tests done and checked my thyroid. I turned out to have a colony of staphylococcus aureus in my nose, but the pustule swab showed nothing. Nevertheless, my derm put me on 200mg doxycycline for 2 weeks and then 100mg for another 3 weeks, plus probiotics to maintain my gut health. He also gave me an erythromycin solution to apply to the pustules. I was so hopeful that we had finally found the cause AND cure for this. Unfortunately, while the solution did dry out some pustules, they just kept showing up and the doxy wasn’t showing any results, it didn’t even calm the inflammation down. The folliculitis was not budging from my skin at all!! Not even a tiny bit! I might as well have been drinking water..
I then tried the ketoconazole shampoo again. I was convinced it was helping for two days, but on the 3rd day I had a horrible flare up. I thought it damaged my moisture barrier so I immediately stopped everything and only used Uriage cica-gel for a while. I then switched to Panoxyl 10% and saw no results whatsoever after 10 days. I changed my diet (no gluten, no dairy, no sugar). I switched my shampoos, makeup and skincare to FA safe products. I only wear cotton and change my sheets every night. None of it has had any effect whatsoever on my folliculitis.
I’m considering going to a new dermatologist but I’m losing my mind (and actually crying typing this). Like I said, it doesn’t itch but it is a bit painful and i feel it on my skin… I’m mentally exhausted and unwell, tbh. I haven’t been able to focus on work, I stopped going places, missed my friends wedding, literally isolated myself and stopped touching my family members because I don’t know if this is contagious or not. At this point I’m tempted to just ask for a corticosteroid cream again and keep using it. I’m devastated that nothing has worked except for that…

I originally got mgen around November 2022. I was seeing a partner regularly and having unprotected sex with her but didn't see an issue with that. After I had the first round of unprotected sex with her, I got an STI check which I do before and after every new partner and everything came out clean so I commenced. Around 3 weeks later I felt a very slight itch in my urethra. I thought it was odd but didn't pay too much attention to it. I left it for about 5 days and realised it wasn't going away and in the morning I was getting very slight discharge. Booked a test at the clinic and an STI check was done again. They gave me doxycycline for 10 days and told me if it was chlamydia than that should sort it and if its something else then this would be pre-treatment). About 4 days into this treatment my symptoms went away. A few days later they called me and said I was positive with mgen, I had never heard of it before. They said I'd just need to take some more medication and that it would be sorted.
1st round:
My first round of treatment was 10 days of doxycycline followed by 7 days of moxifloxacin. At this point of time, I had no symptoms until around day 2 of taking moxifloxacin. The moxifloxacin did not make me feel great (more mentally than physically, maybe its because of all the negative stories you hear). On around 2 day of taking moxifloxacin, I developed a very slight pain just below my right testiscle (Epididymitis). It was slight, and went away basically as soon as it came. Did my TOC 4/5 weeks later, still positive.
2nd round:
At this point of time, my epididymitis was in full swing. A careless doctor prescribed my oxfloxacin for 2 weeks. That helped my symptoms. Still positive for mgen.
Regarding the epididimitis: I had it for months. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced and the only thing that made it feel better was antibiotics. It took a long time for it to go away. I looked into CPPS and PFD but they didn't seem like the right fit. I don't think I really did anything except increase my steps and just hope it didn't really hurt that day. The pain just gradually went away slowly. If anyone wants me to go more in-depth, just message. I'm currently struggling to remember.
3rd round:
Here gets a bit fuzzy in my memory but I am now back on moxifloxacin, this time for 10 days. I don't think I should have done this. Did TOC again I think 3 weeks after - still positive.
4th round:
It's around Easter 2023 here. The doctor has now prescribed me minocycline. I can't remember if I pretreated with doxycycline but at this point I was under the care of a mgen researcher at my clinic and I think he was wary of giving me any more antibiotics. Took it for 2 weeks. Did TOC 4/5 weeks later. Still positive. At this point, I spoke again to the researcher who was working on the next guidelines for mgen in the UK and he stated that since I've been asymptomatic for so long and with the amount of medication I've been on, it's most likely doing more damage than it is fixing. This did not fill me with confidence. He said that over time, it could just flush itself away from my system and I could be negative. I didn't really buy that but at this point I was tired and I left it.
5th & final round:
Fast forward to around Jan 2024. I was seeing a new partner and we had sex. I stupidly had really believed that I was negative at this point and we had unprotected sex. 3 weeks later, I got the same symptoms again. Did my test, still positive. Thankfully she did not contract it. At this point I was given doxycycline for 10/14 days (I can't remember which) and pristinamycin for 10 days. I did not feel any side effects on the medication. I did my TOC 4 weeks later and this morning I just received my first ever negative text for mgen. It feels weird seeing this test result. I wouldn't say I was happy when I received it. It's almost like I don't believe it. I think I will redo it just to make sure.
TLDR: Doxycycline 10 days + moxifloxacin 7 days-> Positive
Ofloxacin 14 days -> Positive
Moxifloxacin 10 days -> Positive
Minocycline 10 days - Positive
Doxycycline 10 or 14 days + pristinamycin 10 days -> Negative

posting on behalf of my best friend because we’re getting desperate. he is a 24-year-old black male, 6’3, 229 lbs. history of eczema which he uses over the counter lotion for. he drinks occasionally with no other drug use. currently taking doxycycline (100mg twice daily) and has received 2 separate rocephin injections for the problem I’m about to describe.
in late February, he exchanged blowjobs with another male and developed testicular pain about a week later. he also noticed a singular painless lesion around his genital area that healed up and went away on its own within a few days. he went to his primary doctor who tested him for chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV/AIDS, & syphilis, all of which came back negative. he was given a single dose of azithromycin (1000mg) and a shot of rocephin, which initially helped with the symptoms.
fast forward to mid-march. the lesion is gone but testicular pain remains, with newly developing discomfort with urination and itching around the rectal area. he’s now experiencing discomfort when passing bowel movements and what he describes to be like a rash around his ass that he initially attributes to his eczema. he returns to his primary who, for some godforsaken reason, prescribes a week’s worth of ciprofloxacin & orders no further testing. friend takes it and does not fee better after it’s done. we are beginning to suspect syphilis at this point due to the way his symptoms are reacting to treatment. edit fwiw, no fever or chills here or at any other point in the timeline. he does have a single swollen lymph node in his neck that has been that way for maybe a week or two as of writing this.
it is now early april. we’ve taken him to be tested a second time at a different provider because he seems to be feeling worse by the week. the doctor gives him a second rocephin shot and a round of doxycycline to be taken for a week, which he reports is helping, but does not fully get rid of his symptoms. so far all of his tests - including an RPR for syphilis - are once again negative.
I am extremely worried for his health due to how long this has persisted, the fact that his area has had a syphilis problem for quite some time now (which neither of us knew about prior to this), and the fact that he does not have access to good healthcare in the shitty little town he lives in. Seriously, the population is less than 10,000 so his options are already limited, and the last time he tried getting in with a urologist for this, she told him to Google other places in the area because they couldn’t help him without even listening to why he was calling in the first place. WTAF?!?!
So, doctors of Reddit… what’s our next move? I live very far away from him (I got him tested again when he came up to visit for my birthday last week) but am trying to help out however I can. Any and all advice on what he could be dealing with and how he needs to handle it given the circumstances is appreciated. Much love 🫶

Hi, so Im posting on behalf of my brother(m38 white) and best friend(doesn’t have Reddit) who has recently been experiencing a vast array of strange medical ailments which abruptly started about 5-6 weeks ago and have been compounding but Doctors have not found diagnosis yet. We work together in a shop he owns so I see him at least 5 days a week where watch him struggle through his day to day tasks as he’s juggling being a Dad of 3, business owner,tattoo artist and mentor to me. The cascading health problems just stack up and to see him in so much pain from so many seemingly random areas of the body is extremely difficult. He is heavily limping and has been for most of the 5 weeks and can’t lift his arm above his shoulder making it difficult for him to work. There are many other symptoms which listed below.
He has always been a healthy, fit and athletic person for all of his life, eats a mostly good diet(former chef but loves that candy), regular exercise/physical activity, and aside from having the occasional drink or edible(which he hasn’t in months) otherwise he lives a clean life. It’s probably worth mentioning he’s going through a tough divorce, and others have said it could be stress, which I’m not sure about, but he was under much more stress long before all this started and had also been making much effort in practicing self care(therapy, retreats, yoga, working out(now he can’t) etc.
He’s been to multiple urgent care/EDs and has now seen or has appointments with multiple doctors/specialists, and has had some testing done. He’s been given multiple medications but doesn’t seem to help much.
Here is a list of symptoms he’s sent me in chronological order over the course of the 5-6 week period in chronological order:

• Burning urination and “unsatisfied” feeling while urinating. (Lasted about a week and a half. He initially thought it was an std and went to get checked out and tested for everything but all results were negative)
  
• lower back pain. Both left and right side. Pretty gnarly at the start. Over a period of a week, it occasionally shifted into my side/rib area. (Still kinda comes and goes)
  
  • red and irritated eyes. (Lasted about a week)At one point he could barely keep his teary left eye open and they were both crazy bloodshot
• left arm/elbow pain. Lack of mobility and extension up and down. Sore to the touch, and inflamed/swollen. (Still going on)
  
• right leg pain. Started mostly in my inner thigh, then shifted to both my thigh and knee. Felt a lot like sciatic pain, which I’m familiar with. But, then after about a week of that, things shifted to the ankle. Swollen ankle with almost a pulse at times. Throbbing, swollen leg too. Lots of pressure because of all the inflammation. It’s been pretty persistent for a week now, with those couple of days of almost full relief. Now I’m dealing with the red spots(1).
  
• sore throat and left side neck pain. Eventually, after about a week it shifted into the entire neck area, then more towards the bottom part of my neck. Felt like someone was pulling at my tendons on each side, while also plucking them like a bass guitar. Obviously a lot of stiffness too. A good portion of the front on my throat/neck was tender to the touch too. Then things shifted into both the bottom neck area (360 radius) and my top shoulders. Putting on a shirt became really fucking difficult and painful. (He’s shown me multiple times how limited the mobility of his arm is, he can barely lift it above the shoulder, and he’s had to cut a few tattoo appointments short because of it)
  
• for a short period of time while dealing with the neck/shoulder symptoms, I experienced a lot of pressure, pain, and soreness in my top chest area. It seemed to be straining on my heart too. It felt like someone was squeezing my heart and stepping on my chest. My collar bone on the left was sore and tender to the touch too. My whole chest was pretty sore in general. Luckily that only lasted a few days.
  

(1) The red spots he’s referring to showed up around 10 days ago. The spots look similar to cellulitis in my experience as I had a pretty intense case of it once so he asked me About it. They are small 1/4”+ oblong spots, not raised. He said it hasn’t itched, which was not my experience. The spots have since faded and are mostly gone at this point
These are texts he sent me regarding his testing so far:
“First was standard blood and urine test at the urgent care center. White blood cell count was high in one of the two, but I didn’t want them to send it to the lab because of costs. We chalked it up to me having an STD, and then getting a shot of Ceftriaxone 500mg in/above my butt. They also prescribed me the 7 day supply of doxycycline.
A week later was when I decided to go into the hospital to have things checked again. They did more blood work and another urine sample there. They also administered another shot of Ceftriaxone 500mg in/above my butt, told me to continue on the antibiotics (doxy) and prescribed me eye drops for those irritated eyes. I later got test results back with negative screens for chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhoeae.
I went to the eye doctors to have an exam done, and he said everything looked good. As things persisted, I decided to make that trip/visit to a bigger hospital about 2 weeks after the first. They ran more blood work, another urine sample, blood cultures, strep test, COVID test and then did an x-ray of my chest. My white blood cell counts, sedimentation rate, CRP, and glucose were all elevated/high. My neutrophil was high as well. The doctor at the 2nd hospital had mentioned that some or most of those levels were higher than they were last I was tested the first time, and after finishing 7 days of doxycycline. That’s when he recommended infectious disease doctor After seeing my primary care physician, she ordered more blood work to be done. She also ordered an x-ray of my ankle and elbow, along with the drawing of fluid(s) from either one (elbow or ankle). My blood work results came back with sedimentation rates and platelet counts still on the rise and high. I forgot to mention that strep and COVID came back negative from the swabs done at 2nd hospital, and the blood cultures they took there also came back clear, negative, with no growth of any kind.
An HIV and Lymes test was also included in what my primary doctor ordered. Both came back negative. There was a “rheumatoid factor” test result that showed normal too. My protein levels were crazy high (after the blood taken that was ordered from my primary). Lastly, the X-rays done at the orthopedics looked fine. And, the fluid he ended up drawing from my elbow came back negative for “crystal, SYN FL”. Fluid/tissue culture showed no growth. But…. My body fluid levels were high on almost all counts. And, there’s a note in there about the presence of clots too. I’ll send a pic of those results because it’s a lot to list”(I can post Pic if necessary)
He has the infectious disease appt in the next 10 days and at least one more appt with a specialist coming up and will meet back with his primary afterward, he also just mentioned to me that he’s lost 10 pounds since October.
I apologize for any redundancy or grammatical errors in all of this, there is a lot to keep track of. We are at a loss as to what to do and things aren’t getting quantifiably better though they don’t seem to be getting worse at the moment. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts or requires more information at all please let me know, we just need to find him some relief in at least identifying what the problem could be. Thank you in advance

22m, would really appreciate some insight or commentary or shared experiences. Here's my timeline:

• ~3 months ago, had unprotected sex (m/m), got chlamydia.
• No symptoms for a while. Then, urethra started to randomly tingle/itch/sting, like someone poked me with a hair. This gradually became more frequent (up to a couple times a day). Did NOT burn when I peed. The "tingle" was totally random, I couldn't predict or trigger it.
• One morning I woke up and squeezed a teardrop of slightly cloudy liquid from my dick. I decided I was not imagining the tingling.
• Got tested, positive for chlamydia, treated with 7 days of (doxycycline?)
• Symptoms disappear quickly.
• But every now and then...the tingle returns. Feels identical to the chlamydia tingle, in my urethra. But so infrequent that I think I'm tricking myself into thinking it's there.
• ~2 months ago, I see a doctor. Ask them to retest -- they say no, I can't because I'll get a false positive due to my recent infection.
• I tell the doctor about the infrequent (every 2-3 days) but recurring tickle -- she says this is maybe normal, and should go away.
• 2-3 weeks ago, my butt starts to itch. It's not really that a specific spot hurts or itches. I just get a general burn/itch from time to time. Often, I don't feel anything.
• Actually doesn't itch that much. FWIW, my butt has always been a bit weird (I think I wipe to hard, and it naturally stretches itself when I sit, in a way that sometimes gives my dry/irritated skin).
• I freak out -- genital herpes?
• So I started taking well-lit HD videos of my ass. Spread my cheeks and all that. Never found any blisters or sores or wounds. Ass looked totally normal.
• But it did/does itch/burn sometimes! It comes and goes. And the itching/burning is very minor, easily ignored.
• This draws my attention to my health, and so I started squeezing my dick whenever it tickled, and there would usually be a *tiny* teardrop of clear or cloudy liquid that came out! This only happened when I squeezed *after* the tickle.
• 1 week ago, I get retested.
• When I peed in the cup, there was actually a tiny amt of cleawhite mucus/slime/semen/discharge? I couldn't tell. I thought I was going to test positive for something, for sure!
• I test negative for all the standard stuff (for chlamydia, gono, syphillis, HIV, hepatitis).
• I'm relieved--I figure, this ass itch is random, and the rare stringing sensation is maybe a dysfunctional immune response, or psychosomatic.
• Over the last few days, several things happen:
  • I wake up with a swollen, thrushed-looking tongue, kind of sore.
  • Butt still itches minorly, and without blemishes/sores of any kind.
  • I have a small swollen, sensitive patch under my foreskin. I've had this before (as a teen, child), I think it's a yeast infection.
  • I got the dick tingle again, and squeezed it, and a (very small amount) of discharge came out, this time white/cloudy but also yellowish.

What the hell is going on?

• At no point has peeing ever stung.
• Never got flu-like symptoms, or a fever, or swollen lymph nodes.
• At no point has my ass (or any other part) ever had any sores or blisters. (So, I'm ruling out herpes. Also, I read that herpes doesn't usually cause penis discharge?)
• Random ass itch???

Ideas:

• Maybe when I got chlamydia or took the antibiotics, I got trich or myco-whatever? (These are STI's i've not heard of until googling a bunch of stuff.)
• Maybe I got a fungal/yeast infection on my ass, and it spread to my dick and mouth? Possibly since I was frequently touching my genitals when I was inspecting them. This could explain the swollen tongue, the dull burn on my butt, and the (very obviously balantis) sensitive spot on my dick.
• Or -- maybe someone I had sex with gave me a fungal/yeast infection in my mouth/dick/ass?

Risk factors:

• Gay sex
• I frequently (daily) drink a good amount of coffee.
• Lately (last 1-2 weeks) I've had a little too much sugar in my diet...

Guys, I’m about to lose it. I finish my 60 days doxy in a couple days. The week before last, I was SYMPTOM free. Then I got my period (which lasts about 6 days). It was extremely heavy and weird textured again but NOT PAINFUL! Previously, my period pain has been like labor pains, absolutely excruciating. All good signs right? But over the past few days I’ve gotten extreme, deep vaginal burning again (a rare symptom for me these days…symptoms have mostly become limited to uterus pain), general pelvic burning, and a little bit of itch. I rarely have any itching as a symptom, even with yeast! Fluconazole is doing nothing, and it usually works if it’s yeast. I take it weekly. I’m also having gray discharge for the first time ever so could be BV (inserted a boric acid last night and it has maybe helped a tiny bit). Seems like extreme pain for BV though. I have tested positive for gardnerella a few times before but since no BV meds ever made any difference, I don’t actually think any of my symptoms have ever been related to BV.
Pleeeeeease tell me this awful flare could be biofilm being released (I know none you can actually tell me that, ha). After 60 days, is this up-and-down still to be expected?!? Ready to crawl into a hole and disappear forever. Yesterday was my one year mark of feeling symptoms for the first time so this is also mentally tough.
The good news is, my appointment with Heer got moved way up and it’s this Wednesday! I think I’ve decided to get on azithromycin or clarithromycin either WITH the doxycycline or alone, and hopefully can continue it for a few months. Send good vibes. :(

So I'm starting to think I have a UTI and I'm scared. My last one was in October of last year. I'm no stranger to antibiotics, as I had a lot of infections as a child due to a low immune system. The problem is that I have had allergic reactions or severe side effects to every single antibiotic I've ever been prescribed. Penicillin, amoxicillin, azithromycin, bactrim, keflax, doxy 100, sulfamethoxazole. As a child, I had a doctor that absolutely refused to believe that I was allergic to penicillin, and would not prescribe anything different so I was forced to go through the reaction multiple times until my mom ditched that doctor (I had hundreds of hives all over my body, swollen lips, tongue and neck every time, progressively worse each time).
I was able to go ~8 years without antibiotics before I got a sinus infection and then since then, I've had 1-2 infections (sinus, UTI) a year. I've had allergic reactions to every. single. freaking. antibiotic. I seemed to do okay-ish on cephalexin when it was at a lower dose (a manageable level of hives), taken twice a day. Then I was prescribed 3 times a day and my throat, tongue and lips start to swell and itch, at which point I stopped taking it and the doctor agreed that I shouldn't take it.
The incredibly frustrating thing is that I am not allergic to doxycycline, but when I was prescribed it, I went absolutely insane. We're talking psychotic episode/suicidal insane. I've never been so close to offing myself, and I had to stop taking it immediately because I am confident I would not have survived another day with it in my system. Which, apparently, happens in a very small number of people who take it and it's not in the side effect warnings.
Now I think I have a UTI and I'm facing the possibility of having to go on antibiotics again. Are there even any antibiotics left for me to try, that aren't related to ones I've already had? The last two infections I've had, the doctor had to literally take twenty minutes talking to colleagues to try and figure out what the heck they should do with me.
Tl,dr; I've had negative/concerning (for the doctor) reactions to every antibiotic I've taken in my life thus far, and I think I have another infection, meaning I have to go through this hellish process again. What are my possibly remaining options? What if I'm allergic to all antibiotics? What do I do then?

I’ve been having chronic yeast infections/BV for months now. I finally went to see a gyno vs just my universities shitty med clinic or urgent care. They found heavy growth of staphylococcus and moderate growth of ecoli. I took doxycycline and cipro for 10 days and I just finished it. BUT i started to get yeasty symptoms pretty soon into it. So my gyno prescribed me 3 days of teraconazole & monistat 7 once a week after finishing the teraconazole (so one package should last me 7 weeks). I just finished the teraconazole and I swear it’s worse than ever before. It burns and itches so bad. Today was my first dose of the monistat and it hurt so bad I had to sit over the toilet and try to let it all fall out. I’m so tired of this my stomach has been destroyed by the antibiotics and it seems like they didn’t even help. Also, the medical care where I’m at is AWFUL. And I can’t get into any gyno around here until end of April (I made the appointment in February). The gyno I went to was in my home state so I can’t just go back to him whenever. Has this happened to any of you guys? I think I’m going to go to the ER tomorrow (maybe tonight if it keeps burning this bad) and just beg for them to test me for everything and help me get in quicker with a gyno.
I’m vegetarian and have a terrible diet so I’m wondering if it has something to do with vitamin deficiency?? All I know if I cannot keep dealing with this I want to be put down it hurts so bad and it has for months

Okay so, I’m actually beyond it at the moment and I’m turning to the only girls I know can potentially understand fully. I’m a 26 year old woman diagnosed with PMDD and I still have a chin and jawline FULL of huge painful cystic acne. It’s all on one side of my face on the left and it fluctuates but is always there. Some of the (very painful) pimples are also around my lips and my chin. It’s so beyond embarassing, I feel so fugly and awful about myself no matter how hard I try to see myself beyond it. Sometimes the pimples are so painful, I can barely move my face, they itch and are so red! As a teen who suffered from severe acne all over my face, I think I’m just still a bit scarred from the bullying. I had a period of time from about 22-24 where my face really cleared up, but I have no clue why 😭.
I started DIM & Zinc a month and a half ago and things seemed to be looking up and now I’ve yet again broken out in itchy painful pimples. I’m at my wits end, I genuinely don’t want to leave the house and it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing when I go to sleep.
When I tell you I have tried literally EVERYTHING I mean it. I worked in the warehouse of a beauty company for the past few years and have had access to free skincare products of literally every single type, very premium brands as well. Ive tried every serum/moisturiseanything on the market and I’ve also tried just moisturiser daily to keep it simple and it makes no difference. I’ve tried tretnoin which only seems to make it worse, I’ve supplemented with DIM, Zinc and I’ve changed my diet. I barely consume dairy, stopped drinking whey protein and only drink oat milk. I’ve taken a course of Doxycycline, which did nothing. I’ve been to the docs a billion times and they only recommend the pill which I utterly refuse because it only exacerbates every PMDD symptom I have.
I seriously don’t know what else to try. Is there anyone else out there that has found results with any of the things I have tried or does anyone have any solutions, skincare products, supplements etc.? I’m literally at a loss, I don’t have a hundreds of dollars to see a dermatologist and I just don’t think they’re going to be helpful but if others have found this to be beneficial, I might give it a a go.
I just want to feel good about myself again, please anyone help lol 😭

Hello everybody. I wanted to hop on here and tell my story, because I think it is very important for these topics to be covered in general, but even more so in our community. And in my experience, quality LGBTQIA+ friendly healthcare is very rare to come across. The amount of doctors I have been shuffled around to for this issue was crazy. And it is not only demoralizing and demeaning the way I was treated throughout this process, but the health care providers blatantly neglected very critical factors of my life and all missed the correct diagnoses as a result.
In the Summer of 2022, I had five (5) different sexual partners while I lived at the beach. I hadn’t gotten tested for STI’s for the duration of the summer, so the first thing I did when I returned home was went to get tested. For reference, I routinely get tested bi-monthly when I receive my Apertude shot. Upon testing, it was uncovered that I had asymptomatic Chlamydia- an easily treatable bacterial infection. I treated it with Doxycycline, tested negative upon finishing the medication and moved on.
About a month later, I started getting problems with my anus and rectum. I thought at first it was related to excessive itching and had nothing to do with the Chlamydia. But when I really thought hard about the excessive itching I had, I knew this was NEW and ABNORMAL for my body. The itching eventually lead to scratching which lead to minor fissures.
After becoming a certified Google Doctor, I realized that Chlamydia and another STI called LGV are very closely related, and many of the symptoms I was having were mimicking those of LGV. So I went to my primary care (who specifically works with LGBTQIA+ people and is amazing) and asked for her input. She told me that the LGV would show up as Chlamydia on the tests I get done bi-monthly and that based on the geographical area I am located in, it is unlikely. PLUS I already took Doxycycline for the Chlamydia, which is the same medicine given to fight LGV. However, LGV requires more time on Doxycycline than Chlamydia does, so one theory explaining why it wouldn’t show up on tests if I had it is because the shorter dose I took for the Chlamydia might have brought my LGV levels down to a point where the test wasn’t registering it.
Regardless, we started to treat it as unrelated to the Chlamydia given the circumstances and treated it more as a chronic itching. The issue kept intensifying to the point where it began ruining aspects of my life. My hole was always so raw and wrecked that I wasn’t sleeping with people, I stopped consuming alcohol, I cut out many different kinds of food from my diet, I started taking Fiber on a daily basis and I started utilizing hydrocortisone cream (a topical steroid that you cannot depend on because your body will have severe withdrawal from it following extensive use). These things helped minimally, but the issue was never cleared and the symptoms would randomly intensify.
I returned to my primary care doctor asking for input. She referred me to a colorectal specialist. I called to get an appointment and… it was a 6 month wait, which I couldn’t do based on the severity of the symptoms at that point. I jumped through hoops and was able to land an appointment with a different colorectal doctor who was allegedly LGBTQIA+ friendly, as his profile had explicitly mentioned.
When I went to see the colorectal doctor, I told him all of the aforementioned. I told him what measures I was taking to improve my symptoms and I told him my history, including the Chlamydia diagnoses. He essentially told me that the issues I was having were a result of my own wiping behavior and he prescribed me hydrocortisone cream after I explicitly asked him not to due to the previously mentioned issues about withdrawal. He essentially did not listen to a word I said, gaslit me and kicked me out the door.
After that, I was beaten down a bit. But I have experience in healthcare and know that doctors and nurses can lack empathy and can be extremely unhelpful. I knew I had to be my own advocate because at this point, the symptoms were gravely impacting my life. I knew that I was going to need some sort of scope (such as a colonoscopy) to eliminate any potential causes and potentially find the cause. So I pulled some strings and was able to get an appointment with a GI Specialist.
When I went to the GI Specialist, I told him all of the aforementioned, including the Chlamydia diagnoses. He literally did not know that gay people get their rectums swabbed for STI testing and he had minimal clue as to what PREP was. These were all major red flags to me, but I went in with a goal and it was to get checked out. After pleading with him to not send me home with ANOTHER hydrocortisone prescription, he ended up offering me a flex sigmoidoscopy scope, which I ecstatically said yes to. I just wanted relief at this point.
When I went in for the scope, a different doctor was performing it. The first day I went in, I wasn’t “cleaned out enough” which meant that they couldn’t see what they wanted to and that I would have to return for a second scope. I obviously did exactly that because I needed this issue to get taken care of at this point. Following the second scope, everything came back seemingly okay, with only one minuscule fissure located. They even took samples from my insides which all came back okay.
I was absolutely perplexed and running out of options it felt like. I still had no diagnoses, I believed that this was a result of something I was regularly doing and I went on trying to self treat. I thought this was just something I was going to have to deal with, as every doctor kept telling me I was totally fine. The symptoms would come and go at varying intensities from that point until December 2023.
On December 3, 2023, I was in the shower washing my genitals when I noticed a sensitive area in my groin. After further inspection I felt a tough lump in my groin. This was weird, but I thought it might have been a hernia from the gym. The next day, the sensitive area grew, which then became alarming for me. The next day, my anal problems started to present and that night, I went to the ER out of concern for the hernia primarily, with a secondary emphasis on what I believed to be a hemorrhoid.
The ER doctor knew I was gay and in hindsight, I think she had a problem with me because of it. At the ER, the doctor had mentioned something about Lymph Nodes being in the groin region. She felt the lumps and said she felt nothing. I told her about the hemorrhoid. She jammed her finger straight up my rectum causing excruciating pain and never spread my cheeks to physically look at the area, which was covered in fissures and bumps and was extremely discolored (I have so many pictures to support this claim). She then gave me a CT Scan to cross her T’s and after waiting hours in the ER, she came back and said that the CT Scan came back clear.
I was so obviously in distress at this point. But she came back and told me nothing I had was emergent, I probably have a pulled groin and have a minor fissure and that it was time for me to go home. She sent me home with nothing. Had she caught it, there were meds (Valacyclovir) that could have been administered to greatly improve my situation. But instead she just gaslit me and seemingly wanted nothing to do with me. Holy hell, she missed the writing on the wall BIG TIME and it was solely due to the fact that she didn’t care. I don’t know if it was burnout, homophobia or what… but her lack of investigating was indicative of her lack of interest in my issues.
At this point, I went to my primarily care, a colorectal specialist, a GI specialist, a doctor conducting the sig scope, and an ER doctor and they all kept saying the same thing- there was no real problem with me.
Honestly, thank god for my primary care because they were the only ones not invalidating me at every breath. At this point I was so lost, hopeless, confused, angry and determined.
My mom is a nurse and a damn good one at that. I had her check me out. I had to show my mother my hole and the second she saw it, she said ABSOLUTELY NOT! She knew the Lymph Nodes were acting out because they were either fighting a bacterial or a viral infection. Now it was time to figure out just which one.
I went to my primary care, showed them my hole in its peak moment and gave them a list of stuff that I could have. The top three things were LGV, Anal Herpes and Mycoplasma Genitalium. So they treated me for Mycoplasma Genitalium and LGV, and we tested for Anal Herpes.
My results came back positive for HSV-1, aka Anal Herpes. Look it up if you’re curious. It’s great!!!! (Sarcasm).
My hole was covered in blisters. It was essentially one huge fissure at that point. There was discharge involved so I would be wearing two pairs of underwear at one time and traveling with additional clothes in my car everywhere I went. Bowel movements sent me to the grave every time. I had to hop in the shower and bathe immediately after a bowel movement. I would sleep on the bathroom floor multiple nights because I couldn’t find comfort or relief anywhere. That had been going on for over a week at that intensity. I couldn’t sit for lengthy periods of time and I worked a desk job. I had never endured something like that and I have endured more than most people you know. I literally have fallen off of a 4-story roof before, shattered my spine and both ankles in multiple places and had to get emergency spine surgery. THIS WAS RIGHT UP THERE WITH PAIN.
The most messed up thing? Majority of the population has HSV-1 so they don’t test for it in America because it isn’t worth the price tag. Doctors tell people they don’t need to worry about it or disclose their status to people because of how common it is and it “can only be contagious during flare ups.” I guarantee I got this from someone tossing my salad. It is not hard to get. People also commonly believe that HSV-1 is just specific to the mouth while HSV-2 is just specific to the genitals. However, HSV-1 can be oral or genital as well as HSV-2, so it can be passed from mouth to genitals.
AND BEWARE. You do not need to hook up with someone with an active cold sore to get herpes. The virus can shed without displaying symptoms. There are few ways to prevent the spread (condoms aren’t even effective) and there are no ways to cure this. You can take suppressive therapy medication for herpes to reduce flare ups and diminish the likelihood of passing the virus to people, but most people do not know they have herpes and can spread it without having flare ups.
The only light at the end of the tunnel following this diagnoses is that there are ways to suppress the virus within you to reduce likelihood and severity of flare ups. You can use Nifedipine to help heal fissures. You can use Lidocaine to numb the region. You can use Aquaphor to keep the region hydrated. You can take Ibuprofen and Tylenol for pain. There are many ways to help, but no ways to cure. I have just been dealing with this on my own when there is medicine available that could have been given to me to help me deal with this and suppress the virus. It’s called Valacyclovir (Valtrex), god forbid anybody needs that plug.
It is so insane. Do whatever you must to avoid having something like this. It is completely unhinged and entirely too easy to get. I was always a skeptic and wanted to have my hookups show me their last STI tests before we did anything together, but never did because that’s a wack vibe kill and who does that? But at this point, I wish I did. But also?!? IT WOULDN’T HAVE HELPED BECAUSE THEY DON’T TEST FOR HERPES!!!
Anywho, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Some things to take away from this are: you know your body best, doctors often times do not know what they are doing, average doctors have no clue how to work with LGBTQIA+ people, Genital Herpes is no joke despite the way society treats it, and you need to be your own advocate. This whole moment was so stressful, I cannot believe how relieved/validated I feel now knowing that this wasn’t “nothing” the whole time. And relieved is a crazy word to use seeing as though I now have to deal with this virus for the remainder of my life and I am 25 years old.

Any advice is greatly appreciated because I’m at my wits end and feeling hopeless. About a year ago, I began using Elta MD foaming facial cleanser and a few ZO Skinhealth products (Rozatrol, salicylic acid 2%). I had very few issues and felt great about my skin. After starting birth control, I had an eruption of perioral dermatitis that lasted several months before I finally went on doxycycline and spironolactone (I stopped using all skincare products except the EltaMD face wash when necessary). Within a week of 100mg doxy per day and topical erythromycin gel twice a day, my dermatitis was FINALLY so much better!! Just a few spots remained and they were very light, and finally not itching. I’d also like to mention I have been taking a 10-Strain 50 billion CFU probiotic since the beginning and drinking lots of pre and probiotics.
Fast forward to my 10th day on the antibiotics, I began having what I believe is fungal acne. I woke up with what I originally thought was a rash on my neck and jawline. It began spreading to the sides of my face and forehead, appearing to be small “oil blisters” which I now assume are fungal acne. I’ve begun washing all of my pillowcases, ensured I am using FA safe products, and today I applied miconazole nitrate 2% cream all over the areas with FA. I also stopped using the topical antibiotic. I would like to quit doxycycline, as I think my FA has just gotten worse after using the antifungal cream, but I am so scared of my dermatitis coming back again. Additionally, I’d like to try Nizoral but it has SLS and I know that is a common trigger for dermatitis, so I’m also afraid putting this near my face will make the dermatitis worse.
I’ve spent so much money on SLS-free products and FA safe skincare and so on, and I cannot get in to see my doctor until April. I am so lost and don’t know what to do anymore. Please help!!

Hello I am a 27 year old woman , approximately 5’2 and 140 pounds. I have been suffering from what I believe to be a form of an std for 7 almost 8 years now. In 2019 I tested positive for Ureaplasma but have been testing negative ever since did the doxycycline treatment.
My symptoms started in 2017 as bladder symptoms. Over the years my symptoms have slowly progressed and I now have bladder pressure, rectal burning, uterine burning, vaginal burning, throat itching and cough , sudden hearing loss in right ear as well as tinnitus and itchy ears, and chronic conjunctivitis. All of my symptoms are constant. My conjuctivitis started this year and since then I have spread it to my family , coworkers, and some friends who have then spread it to their family. They now also have chronic conjuctivitis symptoms.
I do NOT test positive for any stds , any infections , and do not have autoimmune disease. Is it possible to still have the ureaplasma ? Antibiotics do not help me nor do any medications I have tried to manage symptoms. What could this be???? As you can imagine this has taken a huge toll on my quality of life and I hate to be contagious just by being alive and give others something so extremely dangerous and painful. If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear it

I'm at a loss with trying to get help in getting preliminary testing to elucidate a potential MCAS disorder. My spouse has been dealing with over a year of unexplained symptoms consisting of: - Heart palpitations - Shortness of breath - Irregulaerratic heart rate that comes and goes and varies in severity - weakness/fatigue - muscle/ joint pain - a sensation of burning/itching around the lower extremities and abdomen when hot,stressed(emotional or physical),or during exertion

• GI issues that fluctuate
  
• new intolerance to random foods(beef,cheese, excess grease) and worsening allergies or reactions to existing allergies that where before they were a slight inconvenience now there debilitating when consumed(like soy)
  
• elevated anti-phosolipid antibodies (with no other connection to any other thing)
  

The only times his condition improved were when he took a high dose of prednisolone for a allergy ore treatment before an MRI and a few before that when he was on doxycycline. Both prednisolone and doxycycline are histamine/mast cell inhibitors or stabilizers from what I understand.
Now we're in a spot where all the specialists are saying see a therapist your nutso, because all the testing this far is normal from:
Primary (originally dismissive and had to switch , the new one did one blood test (tryptase) which was normal so they said talk to your therapist)
Cardiology (most extensive work up MRI, tilt table,CT of the arteries, heart monitors up the wazoo, yet no explanation of the symptoms)
Pulmonology ( they did function test, your lungs 'm at a loss with trying to get help in getting preliminary testing to elucidate a potential MCAS disorder. My spouse has been dealing with over a year of unexplained symptoms consisting of: - Heart palpitations - Shortness of breath - Irregulaerratic heart rate that comes and goes and varies in severity - weakness/fatigue - muscle/ joint pain - a sensation of burning/itching around the lower extremities and abdomen when hot,stressed(emotional or physical),or during exertion

• GI issues that fluctuate
  
• new intolerance to random foods(beef,cheese, excess grease) and worsening allergies or reactions to existing allergies that where before they were a slight inconvenience now there debilitating when consumed(like soy)
  
• elevated anti-phosolipid antibodies (with no other connection to any other thing)
  

The only times his condition improved were when he took a high dose of prednisolone for a allergy ore treatment before an MRI and a few before that when he was on doxycycline. Both prednisolone and doxycycline are histamine/mast cell inhibitors or stabilizers from what I understand.
Now we're in a spot where all the specialists are saying see a therapist your nutso, because all the testing this far is normal from:
Primary (initially dismissive and when switched to another one in a different practice in a different state they barely did anything further and when the one requested blood test to start checking into potentially MCAS being the cause for most of this and when it came back normal they said see a therapist. )
Cardiology (most extensive work up done to show no evidence of heart attack, no blockages, no electrical abnormalities, no explanation of the symptoms.
Pulmonology ( they did function test and an at home sleep study and confirmed sleep apnea
Rheumatology (they did same one avise blood panel like 5 times to keep showing the anti-phosolipid antibodies but didn't care to go beyond that)
Hematology (they confirmed the avise panel and said yup you got them antibodies ok bye)
Infectious disease (which they only checked for Lyme)
Hematology (they confirmed the avise panel and said yup you got them antibodies ok bye)
We can't get in to see an allergist without a referral and primary refuses to look into it further along with most every other specialists after the bare minimum and blame it on mental health.
I don't know what we can do. Does anyone know allergists or MCAS testing can be done without all of this crap holding us in chains?