Did you know this about Syffilis?

[dennis123]

I'm kind of a butterfly so sometimes I end up with something so here some experience with what I got nine months ago, or earlier but that's when I started treatment, Syffilis.

In case you didn't know, a condom doesn't nescessarily protect you from Syffilis, as the blister or whatever they call it, can occur on many places on your body, for example in your mouth so you can even get it from kissing, which is quite disturbing for a butterfly like me.

One symptom is that you get a small spot somewhere, not sure how they call it, open blister perhaps, I never noticed that anywhere on my body or in my mouth.

Second stage, you get other symptoms, which can occur in the palm of your hands or under your foot, easy to confuse with feet eczema, I had it in the palm of my hands and my partner under his foot, it was odd to see in the palm of my hands as it were small round red/brownish kind of dots about 2-3mm diamater, more brownish/beige then red really and it looked and felt like callus, however very strange to get that in the palm of your hand. I worked plenty in my life and that's where it does not occur. Went to a clinic back then and they had no idea, told me to visit a skin doctor, however it disappeared after a month or so and I didn't give it any additional thought.

Only when I had some eye infection where antibiotics drops initially didn't help, and some anti-viral medicine neither, I visited the hospital which gave me another antibiotic + anti inflammatory drops, that eventually did the job, took about 3 weeks total for it to be completely gone. As I love to do self diagnoses with the help of the internet, I read the connection between those dots in the palm of my hands and Syffilis, and after reading more about it I also read that Syffilis can cause an eye infection.

So I had the hospital test my blood, just in case, and tadaa Syfillis was found, though it had nothing to do with my eye infection, but still if I hadn't self diagnosed I likely wouldn't be aware of it.

Now as for the treatment of Syffilis, and here it get's a little scary;

- Two penicline shots in each of your bills

- Repeating that for 3 weeks, so 6 shots in total.

Nothing scary about that right?

Well if you;ve never had a pencilin shot and only antibiotic shots, it's a HUGE difference, man does that hurt!!! They stick the needle inside you and slowly push the penciline in you, it starts to hurt a bit, and the pain keeps increasing till it reaches it top after a few minutes and if it's the first time for you you're definitely squeezing the rail of the bed and biting your teeth together. When I got up after those first two shots I felt like I could hardly walk and I really had to stand still for a 10-20 minutes or so as I didn't dare to go sit on my motorbike and drive home. My partner experienced the same and blamed me for it lol, well I actually blame him but well...

Now if that's a one time thing, ok fine I guess, but the fact that you have to return twice more in the next 2 weeks, damn. Have to add that the 3rd time was a lot less painful, but the soreness in your butt seemed to last longer as well so it's one thing or the other it seems.

As a follow up you need to test your blood 3 months after treatment, if all went well it should be non reactive by then, however in our case the score did drop but it was still measurable.

In that case no additional treatment but they tell you to come back after another 6 months to give your body the time to kill off the remains of the disease, which is in my case tomorrow.

I'm a little bit scared it ain't gone completely, not sure why...

What happens when it isn't gone is a back prick, eg they will take fluid from your spine, actually from your brain but through your spine in your back is the way to get it. I've heard that it's an absurd painfull experience, likely even worst then those peniciline shots.

If it happens to be that the Syffilis has reached your brain you will need to go on the infuse I've been told, no idea for how long or how costly that would be, if you have to go flat for days the bill can increase quite a LOT, in that case I would likely fly back to my country and sign up for healthcare again and get it done there a few months later as time doesn't seem to be a huge issue with this disease, unless you wait years.

What if you don't know if you're infected? Well if you don't know and don't treat it it will sleep in your body, and can affect your organs like 5-25 years later and you can die from it by then.

So yeah it's not something to ignore.

If you're a butterfly as well you can almost count on it to go through this process as well some time in your life, even if you consistently use condoms, heck everyone can get it without knowing.

As for costs, so far about 7000-8000 baht spend on two consults with the doctor, two blood tests, six penicilin shots over 3 weeks and tomorrow another blood test + consult for approx 2000-3000 baht. All together it kept me busy for 9 months now, with the first 3 weeks most intense obviously, so hopefully we can close this chapter tomorrow.

Moral of the story: Don't underestimate those bloody STD's and especially not Syfillis that a condom won't protect you against in most cases.

Final note: Do you know that most sex workers don't test their blood on regular base? For the simple reason they are scared they have something, I really had to convince my ex partner with horror stories to join me to the hospital and he was crazy happy when he found out that he didn't have HIV, he didn't even seem to care about the fact that he did have Syffilis, till he realized the treatment for that lol

Some good news: Syffilis is only contagious for a very short amount of time, prior to detection I had sex with a handful of people and I all took them to the clinic for a blood test and no one had it, besides my ex at that time so yeah you have to be a bit unlucky to catch it.

[dennis123]

As for reactive levels:

- My first blood test showed 1:4, the second blood test was 1:2

- My partners first test showed 1:64 and dropped to 1:16 during the second blood test (those high levels scared me a bit)

Once it becomes 1:1 it means it's still found in your blood.

The doctor told me it was likely I gave it to my partner because my levels were so low, eg your body fights it, his high levels would indicate that he would've gotten it recently.

However we both had the symptoms (eg me in the palm of my hands and he under his feet) at the same time so that's a bit strange of course, and that was about 4 months prior to treatment so theoretically we would both be in the 3rd stage.

[dirtypierre]

If its any help to you I will step you through the fluid tap.

They need to take spinal fluid sample.

Sometimes called a Lumbar Puncture.

They have to pass a needle between the vertebrae joints to reach the spinal cord. If you are tense and the doctor should accidently nick a bone it will hurt like crazy.

So firstly lie in a fetal position but do tell the doctor you understand how difficult it is for him but that you have total faith in him. This will relax him and take a lot of the pressure off him. Then you need to mentally relax yourself so your joints will also be relaxed and it will be so much easier for him to pass the needle between the joints.

Way back in 1974 an ambulance took me from one hospital to another as I had Meningitis and the paramedic stepped me through this same process. The doctor said it was the easiest Lumbar Puncture he had ever performed and I didnt feel a thing. I was indebted to that paramedic for his advice and have been sharing it ever since.

Good luck mate.

[dennis123]

If its any help to you I will step you through the fluid tap.

They need to take spinal fluid sample.

Sometimes called a Lumbar Puncture.

They have to pass a needle between the vertebrae joints to reach the spinal cord. If you are tense and the doctor should accidently nick a bone it will hurt like crazy.

So firstly lie in a fetal position but do tell the doctor you understand how difficult it is for him but that you have total faith in him. This will relax him and take a lot of the pressure off him. Then you need to mentally relax yourself so your joints will also be relaxed and it will be so much easier for him to pass the needle between the joints.

Way back in 1974 an ambulance took me from one hospital to another as I had Meningitis and the paramedic stepped me through this same process. The doctor said it was the easiest Lumbar Puncture he had ever performed and I didnt feel a thing. I was indebted to that paramedic for his advice and have been sharing it ever since.

Good luck mate.

Uhhh thanks, I think I'll score some Diazepam first lol.

[oncearugge]

I am not sure what the OP's post is about.

Unsafe sexual practice will expose a person to risk of contracting an STD which includes Syphilis

Men who have sex with Men are known to have a very high risk of contracting STD's which are becoming increasingly difficult to treat/cure.

The OP is very fortunate to have contracted an STD which remains sensitive to penicillin.

I hope that a full STD screen was undertaken at the time of the initial medical consultation.

If there is anything to be learnt from the OP's post it is to remove risk from sexual behaviour.

There is a lot of information freely available about safe sexual practices ............... search it out and abide by it !

[dennis123]

My point is that most people think quite easily about STD's, me included. If I knew all this in advance I would've tested myself more regularly as the faster you know it the easier it is to cure it.

As for removing risks, Syphilis is afaik the only one that you can contract without having sex, kissing is enough.

For the rest the post is just about sharing my experience, if you don't like it don't read it.

[oncearugge]

My point is that most people think quite easily about STD's, me included. If I knew all this in advance I would've tested myself more regularly as the faster you know it the easier it is to cure it.

As for removing risks, Syphilis is afaik the only one that you can contract without having sex, kissing is enough.

For the rest the post is just about sharing my experience, if you don't like it don't read it.

from the American CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-msm-syphilis.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/the-facts/syphilis_2010_508_final.pdf

Edited September 23, 2015 by Sheryl
civility

[dennis123]

Just had the last blood test and the Syphilis is gone, wooeehooee, doctor said, to prevent getting it again you should only have sex with a single person that tested negative for it, yeah duhhh... lol

[Sheryl]

Hope you were also tested for Hep B and HIV.

[dennis123]

Hope you were also tested for Hep B and HIV.

No idea but I did that 6 months ago and haven't had much sex in the last 6 months, besides that I'm not on the receivers end so the risk of getting HIV is extremely low. Oh and I did use a condom most of the time!

Edited September 23, 2015 by dennis123

[lgking]

Hope you were also tested for Hep B and HIV.

No idea but I did that 6 months ago and haven't had much sex in the last 6 months, besides that I'm not on the receivers end so the risk of getting HIV is extremely low. Oh and I did use a condom most of the time.

They say the 'devil is in the details'...