Scarleteen

Okay, so about a month ago I went to the doctor and got tested for an std just because it is standard procedure. A week later she called saying that I was positive for chlamydia. I immediately told my boyfriend that I have been with for 9 months to go get tested also. A few weeks later he called them and they said his results were negative. Now he has broken up with me and I'm very depressed because I have never cheated on him. I have been with one other guy before him who I am 110 percent sure didn't have it because he was a virgin and it would have shown up before now. My new boyfriend had been with multiple girls before me though. So please tell me how ist is possible that I magically have an std and the only guy I've been with doesn't because I have never cheated and am now heartbroken. Could his test be wrong? Also, when I was tested I swabbed myself but I didn't swab inside, just between the lips of my vangina. Could that mess up the test? My doctor said no but I have no idea

Hi kaemariie,

This really sounds like a rough situation and I'm sorry you're dealing with it. You can generally trust that the doctor performed tests on you correctly, although if you have any followup questions about how the test was performed you could ask your doctor when you discuss treatment or just give them a call to talk about that. It seems unlikely that you'd get a false positive, but your doctor would know better if that were possible; they might also know how likely a false negative would be in your former boyfriend's case.

In terms of how you got it when your boyfriend didn't test positive - I'm honestly not sure. Do you know if he specifically requested a test for chlamydia? Different doctors and clinics will have different policies in terms of what they test for if someone comes in and just says "I need STI tests" so if he didn't specifically name chlamydia it's possible they didn't test for it. I know it is often asymptomatic, but it should still have been detectable.
Do you know if your previous boyfriend was sexually active at all? People use the term "virgin" to mean a lot of different things; even if he hadn't had intercourse before, chlamydia can be spread through unprotected oral sex, and sometimes through nonsexual contact as well.