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STD confusion

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 6:38 pm
by dmm1996
Last week, I saw my doctor bc i was sick & while I was there I mentioned to him that I thought I might have a urinary tract infection, bc I was frequently feeling the sudden urge to pee but never really had to. I gave a urine sample & I didn't have a uti but I did find out that I have chlamydia. This was shocking to me bc I've had a boyfriend for 7 months & I have been tested SINCE I started dating him. We started dating / having sex (unprotected) in January. A little bit into our relationship (mid February) i thought I had a urinary tract infection or yeast infection so I went to the doctor (didn't see my primary doctor). I gave a urine sample & she told me I had a uti. I actually ended up realizing that I had a yeast infection, not a uti. Bc the symptoms are easy to tell apart. Either way the meds got rid of it.

Anyways, when she tested for uti, she also screened for any std & that part came back negative.
Now, months later, I have chlamydia. I did not cheat on my boyfriend and I'm 99% sure my boyfriend would not cheat on me. I asked him anyway and he told me he didn't. I'm so confused bc him cheating seems like the only explanation.

Is it possible that I actually might have had chlamydia back in February & the test missed it? Since it was not a test specifically to look for chlamydia?
Or is it possible that my bf had it but he gave it to me later on in the relationship?

Re: STD confusion

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 8:15 pm
by Heather
Before we go to exploring the other ways this could happen - like your boyfriend having sex with someone else outside your relationship - something I do not see in he is the last time HE was tested. Just one partner can't get tested for both: each person has to have their own tests done.

The general recommendation, just so you know when it comes to this, and also for moving forward, is that new couples always use barriers, like condoms, for genital sex for the first six months of the relationship. Then, it's time for both people to have a new STI test, even if they already were current before that relationship, or had been tested at the start of it. THEN, if all partners are free and clear of STIs they can be tested for, if folks are going to stay exclusive, and want to ditch condoms, it's then as safe as it gets to do that.

So. If he was not also tested and tested negative for Chlamydia, one likely possibility is that he came into the relationship already having it. Most STIs, including Chlamydia, are asymptomatic most of the time for most folks. Obviously it wasn't for you (though who knows, you may have had it for weeks or even months before you had the symptoms you did), but it is even more common that it doesn't present symptoms for people who have a penis instead of a vagina.

Re: STD confusion

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 8:21 pm
by Heather
Also, and this is very important: did your doctor also call in a prescription for your boyfriend to be treated? If not, it is important he, too, gets treated, so if your doctor isn't doing that, he needs to see his. And if he has never or not recently been tested, he needs to do that anyway.

And until he is ALSO treated, and you are both also finished with your treatments, it is vital you do not have unprotected sex again, otherwise you can just keep passing the infection back and forth.