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From:
Sent:
To: drgian@stdweb.com
Subject: What STD [other] panel do you recommend?
Dear doctor:
I
need your advice as to what to get tested for. This is my case:
45 year old male. Went to Bangkok. Had heterosexual sex with condoms
with 3 girls, they were all between 18-22. French kissed and oral sex
[they looked healthy] - all sexual intercourse was protected.
10 days after the first contact or 7 days after the last contact I
developed:
·
Mild sore
throat. More like the tonsils were bulky then actual pain, disppeared at
two days.
·
Severe
malice ( a strange head pressure),
·
Cold
sweats during the day and night sweats.
·
A strange
urgency of the stomach, but no diarrhea.
·
No matter
how hard I tried I could not detect a fever.
·
I
never saw a rash (manically checked often).
·
Severe
anorexia, for 1 week, eased the next week, lost 10 lbs.
·
Two days
into this I felt a swelling of my hard pallet [near the front were its
all wrinkled]. Then I reached in and pulled off a hard crusty thing.
Looked in with great difficulty using a mirror and saw a large lesion
with clearly defined red borders and a gray/beige interior. It was
painless and lasted 1 week or so as it slowly shrunk. I had inflamed
gums and one small ulcer on the gum next to a molar that hurt and bled
some.
·
A gland
swelled on my neck when that happened and it disappeared after it
started to heal. I felt one inguinal gland that lasted for at least 2
months, pea size - very hard.
·
I had a
bizarre tingling of my cheeks and eye lids.
·
At least
3 episodes of hard leg jerks - a partner noticed one as we were watching
TV.
·
All
symptoms cleared at 10 days, specially the malaise and gained my weight
back by 3 weeks.
·
No
genital symptoms.
·
No other
symptoms since then, its now 6 months.
Clearly primary HIV come to mind but after much fear and anguish, I
tested negative {Home Access - sorry) at 3 and 5 months.
But what was it? Syphilis, primary herpes, mono, toxoplasmosis?
I
need to rule out anything contagious. What STD [other] panel do you
recommend?
Thanks,
Worried
Hi,
I am intrigued by the
distinction you make between "oral sex'' and ”sexual intercourse" in the
context of STD. May be you are referring to oral versus vaginal
intercourse. I also have to assume that your three partners were
commercial sex workers and that the " oral sex" on your side was both
of the insertive (you performed) and of the receptive (you received)
type.
It all sounds like you had some
sort of bacterial or viral infection of the mouth and pharynx with
destruction and reconstruction of mucosal cells of the soft palate. This
goes along with your swollen cervical gland and general malaise. Most of
the other symptoms you describe could be attributed to anxiety or guilt
which magnifies the normal body perceptual signals. These kind of
emotions are common reactions when one engages in paid sex which, more
than sex, is aggression since it is typically deprived of intimacy
which instead gives sex its glory.
It is
very likely you were affected by a garden variety virus or bacterium
but, for peace of mind, you may want to get tested with a
comprehensive
panel for STD and also use the time for some self reflection.
In good
health,
Dr.
Gian.
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