4 Months of Penile Pain, Irritation, Dribbling, Rash - No STD or Diagnosis. Help!
Posted , 234 users are following.
Hello, I am seeking advice! I am 32 years of age and situation has lasted over 4 months. It started when a female at a strip club slid her hands into my pants and rubbed / grabbed my erect penis near the urinary meatus (opening). I felt a sharp pain at the time (not sure why honestly). I feel like perhaps it was due to her rubbing near the meatus. The symptoms below started almost immediately from what I can recall.
Symptoms:
1. Slight rash on the top of the penis glans (head of penis). It is worse after a hot shower. It comes and goes, and can appear almost like a plaque covering, scaly at times. It sometimes starts at the top of the corona (where head meets shaft) and runs straight down to the urinary meatus (opening) like a stripe.
2. No visible lesions (or blisters) or warts on the exterior skin surface. Does not appear to be any internally as well and doctors have not been able to observe anything.
3. Slight purple on one side of urethra, when the meatus is opened to look inside. A small bump is near the top of the purple, or tip of the meatus; however, two urologists believe it is vein related.
4. After urinating, urine dribbles out of the bottom of the meatus. The meatus opens and closes (at the bottom) and urine drops drip / discharge. I have to wipe considerably. The glans around the meatus looks swollen (more one side) and when I press on it, urine will discharge. It is almost like urine gets stuck in the tip of the urethra.
5. No noticeable discharge, but the penis appears and feels “wet” inside, especially post urination. It seems that I am leaking / dribbling throughout the day, after urinating. Urine color is clear.
6. Pain consistently on the underside of the glans near the meatus. The pain can sometimes be very sharp and burn. I also feel a tickle or tingle sensation in the head of the penis that comes and goes. The entire glans is sensitive to touch. This is extremely irritating.
7. The meatus looks red and inflamed at times. It can be very sensitive or painful to the touch and irritated by clothing. This feeling comes and goes in intensity.
8. The bottom of the meatus opens wide (top remains closed) when the penis has increased blood flow and/or is erect. This is abnormal for my body. You can see directly into the urethra when this happens.
9. When erect, the glans / head region seems larger than it had previously and I would describe it as swollen. There is also an internal pain near the underside of the meatus, where it opens up near the bottom (as described). Feels like it is stretching / pins and needles.
10. The glans has a more prominent reddish rash, during and after an erection. The rash appears like I have scaly / dry skin. Post ejaculation my urethra appears red and inflamed as well, when looking inside the meatus. This subsides after some period of time.
11. Semen color seems to be more yellow that I remembered, prior to this incident. Sometimes I feel like there is pressure on the front of my testicles.
12. The pain and irritation increase throughout the day. When I wake up in the morning the symptoms are not as noticeable, besides a dull pain on the under-side of penis glans. Sometimes there is some redness on the top of the glans area.
Testing:
I have been well tested (multiple times) and am negative for the following STD's; HIV (RNA testing done as well), Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Trich, HSV-2, Syphilis, Mycoplama & Ureaplasma, Hep A, Hep B, & Hep C. Again, all negative.
I found in this process that I am HSV-1 positive and likely have been for some period (so is a large % of the population). I have had blisters and a HSV like rash on the bottom of my nose in the past. I don’t think this is HSV-1 as there are no lesions in my genitals and this has gone on too long.
Due to viral load factors, I tested the viral infections (HIV, HSV-2, Hep) at 30 days and again at 95 days post exposure. I assume that I am in the clear based on statistics, but am certainly not a doctor. These tests were unlikely to be positive given the event as there was no intercourse.
Urine analysis looked okay. Red and white blood cell counts were okay, no bacteria infection or UTI found or diagnosed based on urine culture.
Treatment:
I have seen 5 urologists, 1 dermatologists and 1 family practice doctor. I have had 2 cystoscopies, and nothing was found (same urologist).
A family practice doctor thought it was due to some soap or lotion, but referred me to the 1st urologist. He thought nothing was visually wrong.
The 1st and 2nd urologist said they have no clue as there was nothing outside of normal visual tolerance. The 2nd urologist gave me the 2 cystoscopies (camera up the urethra to the bladder) and nothing abnormal was found.
2nd urologist thought it was contact dermatitis due to the rash as nothing surfaced in either cystoscopy. My prostate was examined physically and was ruled to be okay. He referred me to another urologist and also said I should see a dermatologist.
The 3rd urologist confirmed the inflammation in the glans. He suggested to try Quercetin (there are clinical trials which have shown it has helped the prostate) and then potentially Doxy over a longer period as a next step (can be anti-inflammatory). My fear is taking an antibiotic without having a bacteria pathogen diagnosis could be pointless.
The 4th urologist (who the 2nd urologist referred me to) believed that this was related to nerves in the penis. He is a pain specialist and put me on Nortriptyline.
The dermatologist (urologist said I should see one) also saw inflammation and diagnosed the rash as a non-infectious seborrheic dermatitis. He prescribed a topical antibiotic / corticosteroid, which I used. I also tried a steroid. It has reduced some of the redness but not relieve any of the described pain or urine dribble. I am concerned about the use of a topical for an extended period (skin thinning) and have stopped using it. I have a follow-up visit with him scheduled.
Medication:
1. Doxycycline 100mg x2 times a day for 10 days, initially when symptoms started. No relief.
2. Topical cream for rash: Ala-Quin initially for 4 weeks, then tried another steroid cream. Has somewhat resolved the rash issue (not totally).
3. Metronidazole (Flagyl) 2g, x 1 dose for Trich as there is not a great test for this (urine apparently has weak sensitivity). Trich can cause swelling, come and go symptoms, etc.
4. Nortriptyline 20mg every day to resolve nerve issue. I just started this.
5. Supplements currently taking: 1g of Quercetin daily (shown to reduce inflation in clinical trials), Multivitamin, AHCC, Folic Acid, Vitamin E and B12.
The symptoms continue to persist and these treatments have not worked.
My Questions:
1. Does this sound like an STD? Could it be another bacteria pathogen or NGU?
2. If this nerve related due to some trauma, would it cause the rash?
3. Are there any ideas regarding further testing or a diagnosis? I was considering a semen culture but don't know where to have this done.
4. Would a HPV virus cause these symptoms? In men, I believe the HPV virus is typically asymptomatic and/or presents itself with warts.
5. How can I test for HPV other than a biopsy of the penis or penis scrape (which most doctors don’t perform)?
6. Could this be yeast related based on the symptoms? I have noticed an increased coating on my tongue which scrapes off and dry mouth symptoms. I have also noticed the coating and dry mouth is much worse after drinking alcohol or eating sugar (yeast related).
I should mention that my anxiety over this is through the roof and am aware of some changes in my body as a result of it (anxious, no hunger at times, weight loss, etc.). I also think the dry mouth could be related to anxiety.
Please, I am looking for some help! I know there is someone out there that can help me as this has gone on for so long. This is such a struggle and always on my mind.
Further, I am terrified about infecting a new person who I just started dating. A couple doctors indicated that I was safe to have intercourse as I was well tested, but I don’t feel right about having intercourse with the symptoms persistent.
Thanks all for your help. - Steve
12 likes, 867 replies
john77055 Guest
Edited
Ok gents, been following for a while.
Like many have stated I have the same symptoms as many of you. Mine started late may early June. Same as most (unprotected deep oral and sex) Went to the Dr. after uncomfortable feeling in urethra and pain in testicles. This lasted for a while. went through the gamet of antibiotics and tests.
Tests all came back negative. Except recent which was a blood igg positive for HSV1 (Never knew and never expierianced typical "outbreak")
Anitibiotics included:
Azithromiacin
Flaygl
Cepra (IM)
Septra DS
Levoflaxion
Moxiflacion
and long term Doxicicline
tried creams:
Women yeast infection creams and foot fungus creams
I would get temp relief then back again. These last two months the following symptoms have been present:
Red irritation, dime size, stemming from urethra going down top of glans. Dribble, and ever present ache in testicles.
So I tried everything people have mentioned with no relief. Till Now...
I waited to see if this would work 15 days. So far so good. Went after the possible yeast angle.
-Taking 1000 vitimin C daily
-Bought Candida Support supplement off Amazon. Taking 2 pills daily.
-Started using Castor oil on glans. After every shower and before bed. I even use a q-tip swab to get it about 1/2 down the urethra.
And taking 800 mg motrin x 12 hours
So far i look and feel about 98% better with almost no irritation. Glans returning to normal color, testicle pain 98% reduced. No dribble. Gonna stop with the treatment when I feel 100% fingers crossed.
Give it a try, hope the info helps someone.
Darty17 john77055
Posted
Thank you very much for providing your story and treatment. I hope that this is the cure for you (and all of us)!
Concerning the castor oil - is this for topical treatment of the yeast? For improving skin health? Or something else? I would think that putting anything down your urethra isn't the best idea. Mine, for example, is incredibly sensitive and painful (always has been - lidocaine for cystoscopy made me scream for minutes and shake uncontrollably), so I cannot imagine putting anything down there.
Darty17 john77055
Posted
Apologies for second reply post. To double-check, you were tested for yeast as well, and all came back negative?
john77055 Darty17
Posted
So it was standard STD checks:
Chlamydia
Gonorea
Syphillis
Urine Culture
HIV
Mycoplasma Genitalium
HSV- Positive HSV-1
They didnt test for yeast. I went through three diffrent Drs. They all said I didnt have anything clinical, but like we all said.. we know our own junk.
My logic was this:
Could it be viral? Well I never presented with any lesions or sores. And it has lasted over 4 months and 13 days. So I wrote off HSV.
IF this was bacterial, the nuclear action of all those antibiotics should have destroyed it. Maybe the initial onset was a bacterial infection but it was resolved and that said... could the irritation and pain be because there was Candida present and went crazy in my body AFTER all the antibiotics???
so I decided to go down the yeast road. Why not, I tried a lot of the other suggestions but nothing worked.
So I finally tried this. As for your question, yes I topically rub the castor oil all over my glans. I also use a cotton swab two get it in the urethra. I did this cause there was a contant itch irritation coming from in there. That itch has now disppeared by about 98%.
Like I said, I don't know what part of the treatment led to my relief but by doing all those steps really made a difference.
Oh, I use the motrin because I agree with what one guy said earlier. I think our bodies are using so much energy trying to control the inflamation that it cant fully kill off the infection. So the 800mg every 12 hours has helped.
Time will tell. I keep you all up to date... Good luck
Darty17 john77055
Posted
Thank you kindly for your reply. This helps paint a deeper picture for me, which I can appreciate. And God Bless the scientific method, amiright?
My thoughts are the same as yours - all bacterial testing comes back negative. Multiple times. No lesions, sores, oozing, scabbing, bumps, etc., so likely not viral. Candida is a solid possibility. I took/used a few antifungal creams and pills (flucanozole) that helped with balanitis I had twice over these couple of years, but what if it never fully went away?
I did have a deepscan test that did crazy levels of testing for all kinds of things in my semen and urine - no fungus found, but not yeast testing specifical (iirc) specifically.
The idea of ANYTHING in my urethra gives me nightmares, so I thank the lord that I do not feel any itching there. Just irritation/pain.
I am going to give this a solid shot starting next week.
Guest john77055
Posted
hi mate, which particular Candida Support supplement you are taking from Amazon? Also want to check if it is safe to take motrin?
Do you have any swelling on the penis tip meatus? Thanks for all the information you have provided and i hope you get 100% healed.
john77055 Guest
Edited
Its called Dr. Tobias Candida Support. The Castor oil is nothing special or pricey, its the same stuff you can buy at the pharmacy that is for internal use for constipation. Ibprophen / Motrin is a safe anti-inflamatory that is safe up to 800mg.
Well quick update:
I started it on Sep 23. I just stopped using the Castor oil on Wednesday Oct 8. Everything looks back to normal finally. I still have a very very minor "itch" in the opening of the urethra.. but that may be because i'm still hyper aware of everything. Still a minor ache in the testes every now and then. I'm still taking the vitamin C, Candida support, and Motrin.
Happy to report I'm back to having unprotected sex with my wife. Stress is gone and Im moving on.
I was literally living on this thread, reading every post and trying every idea... except the pelvic floor theory, lol. I knew that wasn't my issue. I was feeling stressed and hopeless. I'm glad i found something that seems to have worked for me. I hope it might be the answer for you all. Just know that there is life after this. I know for me it was a kick in the butt to stop messing around. I will never let a piece of strange tempt me again. Life is out there gents! We need to get back to living it.
john77055 Guest
Posted
oh, as far a swelling yes and no. I just had red, irritated area on to of glans coming from the meatus.
The only time my uretha/meatus swelled is when I tried another idea from someone.. I tried using an oral medicine syringe to shoot 3% peroxcide down my urethra.....I dont recommend that one at all!!!! Eh, I was getting desparate to kill this mystery bug..
Guest john77055
Posted
I tried castor oil on the glans along with Motrin orally just one dose 200mg.
I got a very bad flare up on the glans which become very reddish. I used castor oil only one time for the night and it did not work for me instead made it worst.
I have stopped it now and just left it without any oils or ointments.
Did you use castor oil with any carrier oil or directly used it without any carrier oil?
Antonio3334 Darty17
Posted
any update on your status john. the other person trying motrin said his symptoms came back and was wondering how you are feeling after a couple more weeks?
Bige410 Guest
Edited
Hey, I have dealt with a similar thing. My girlfriend and I were having unprotected sex for some time. One day she was having some symptoms and she went to the clinic and got tested and she was STD free as well as UTI free. We continued to have unprotected sex but she ended up going back to the clinic and getting a more thorough test. She tested positive for Mycoplasma however I was still fine. We then had sex after she started antibiotics (we shoulda waited but we assumed I had it but was asymptomatic). Literally about an hour after we had sex I felt a tingling at the tip of my penis. I then went to the clinic and got treated like she did. A week went by and her symptoms started to clear up but mine did not. I had super sensitive glans (hurt to walk) pain at the meatus and pain during urination. This went on for months and I kept going back and got different antibiotics. The one doctor I saw who worked in urology insisted this was all mental which initially I didn't buy. Basically my GF and I decided to only have protected sex and be very clean after. My symptoms stuck around a bit (still hurt to walk) and so i went back to the doctors and was again told to seriously consider the fact that it was psychosomatic. I then had a talk with my GF about that possibility because I am a very anxious person and I hold a lot of tension in my body. The next day I felt quite a bit better. The sensitivity in the glans pretty much dissipated within a week and the only thing I was left with was very slight irritation at the meatus which also dissipated. I stopped worrying about it getting irritated pretty much completely. A few nights ago my GF and I decided to try and have unprotected sex again and I noticed I felt slight irritation right after and this encouraged me that it is indeed psychosomatic as an infection wouldnt show symptoms that fast. It has been 5 days and the irritation really hasn't gotten much worse and still no sensitive glans. I am quite convinced at this point that it is psychosomatic. I feel anxious at what might happen and become very aware of my physical feelings and it pretty much exacerbates sensations. Ill keep you guys updated but I urge a lot of u to strongly consider this as I had similar symptoms that some of you showed. (Redness, pain, pain upon urination, no discharge.)
jake28951 Bige410
Edited
Funny. I was about to post a nearly identical story.
My saga comes to an end after 6 months. After every test under the sun has come back negative, I went to another dermatologist who is regarded as one of the best in the world. I thought he could swab me to finally tell me what's going on. The first question my doctor asked me was if I had a sexual encounter that created anxiety in me. Absolutely yes. An encounter that I regretted to my core was rotting me inside out.
Long story short, he insisted there was nothing wrong, nothing contagious, nothing abnormal and nothing to swab. I've been told this before but apparently I needed the credentials and conviction that he had before I believed it. Also, I've tried everything already so it was either psychosomatic or a mysterious virus at this point.
I know it sounds impossible because the pain is real, the irritation is real, and even a change in appearance is real but I have no doubt anymore that I can put this behind me.
The endless doctor appointments and fixation is a downward spiral that needs to be broken.
I'm going to stop posting here to help myself to stop fixating on this problem. Hopefully this post can help anyone who is also anxious, neurotic and prone to depression. The problem might actually not be some medical anomaly and could very well be your head.
Darty17 jake28951
Posted
Thank you so much for posting this. It's a horrible catch-22. If it IS a health issue and you chalk it up to psychosomatic, you will have problems. If it IS a psychosomatic issue and you chalk it up to a health issue, you will have endless stress and appointments. It just sucks.
But either way, practicing mindfulness, meditation, and self-forgiveness will be helpful always no matter the source of the issue.
KeepPrayin94 Darty17
Posted
THIS IS TO EVERYONE thank you and please keep sharing as much helpful information as you can. weather something helps or makes it worse weather its pushing for more professional opinions/solutions or research please keep at it! i will do the same! the stretches havent helped to see what would happen i weaned off the motrin and 1% steriod cream.. and it returned in full force again. but because of the weather approaching the 30 degrees F. i notice after work it feels much better after a warm shower but im still pretty convinced its an infection. its too much of a coincidence 2 days after high risk unprotected sex i have symptoms that have tamed down to practically nothing on the doxy zithro combo.... i either think its A. fungal or B. bacterial. just because it doesnt show up on a test doesnt mean its not there i had a urologist tell me that theres plenty forms of bacteria that dont show up on a urin test. and when they looked at my urin under a scope they found irregular count of white blood cells in the past. i have a follow up appointment tomorrow morning i will keep you guys updated but im not going to stop pushing for an answer i want my normal life back already. NOTE: there is alot of antiobiotic resistant bacteria in the chlamidia/ gonn family going around and it doest always show up in tests so you need to push for a 100% forsure soulution or answer. to put it to rest for if not resolved in a timely fashion could cause health problems such as urethral scarring or infertility.. god bless all of you keep pushing for answers and so will i we might not all have the exact same thing but we can sure as heck help eachother out with different angles of approach tests or process of elimination. will post an update after my appointment! because the motrin for me is more of a bandaid fix although it can keep me sane from the pain ! thanks again everyone!
sopa96102 KeepPrayin94
Posted
That's exactly my thoughts. Everything I negative. However I have symptoms. Everybody says it's not contagious but I did start to feel this way 2 weeks after sex.
Culture tests in urine and sperm don't always work. I've just order one of those DNA sequence tests for urine and sperm. I'm sure they will pick up something.
Darty17 sopa96102
Posted
I hope that the test takes up something for I did one of those and it basically found nothing in both samples. Trace amounts of a couple bacteria in the sperm sample, but not enough to really be the cause, even the infectious disease doctor said that it wasn't the case. Tried antibiotics to attack those specific things and there is no results.
sopa96102 Darty17
Posted
Maybe we just have cpps.. The symptoms match and everything is negative.. I'm hoping the DNA test will be the last piece of the puzzle for me.
Darty17 sopa96102
Posted
probably. been exactly where you are at, so I completely understand. the only thing for me that doesn't line up is the redness. does anyone have articles or similar starting that redness on the glans can be from cpps?
sopa96102 Darty17
Posted
Redness of the glans is balanitis. I did had a yeast infection so it could explain that.
Darty17 sopa96102
Posted
Except, it doesn't seem to be balanitis. I had a couple cases of that and treated with antifungal creams and better cleanliness. The shininess, soreness, smegma of balanitis is gone - nothing like that.
Bige410
Posted
Little update! So its been a few weeks since we tried the unprotected sex and it never returned in full force. It only came back at about 15% for about 10 days and then i forgot about it. We have been having regular condom sex since then and no problems have arose. The more time that passes the less i think about it. For me i think it was all in my head. I know its hard but ask ur doctor about psychosomatic symptoms as it very may well be the case.
Bige410
Posted
Another update GF and I have been having unprotected sex consistently. No return of the former super sensitive glands. Opening of meatus still gets red after sex but nothing super crazy. After sex I still feel very conscious of my penis which causes some tension. It goes away in a few hours and by morning I am perfectly fine. We can have sex everyday and nothing gets worse and this is a very good sign. I can walk with no discomfort which is great. I feel as now I just have to kick the post sex anxiety and ill be a happy camper. Although, I am very happy with my progress so far! Please, I urge everyone who has gone through all the testing to no avail to strongly consider somatic symptoms! I hope this can bring some relive to some of you guys!