Is this a success story?

My success story (especially for the residual symptom sufferers) 

I had a Mycoplasma Test, and the result was a surprise. And I was cured but still had STD Test residuals. I thoroughly believed I was still infected. Turned out my symptoms were largely mental/stress-related. Relaxation is key to recovery post-infection! Country: The Netherlands

Hi all,

It has been months since I last frequented this sub. It has been so long that I do not remember the login to my old account I used here. Hence, I’m posting this from a blank throwaway account since I intend to be here one of the last times. In my time here, I’ve read everything there is to read here out of pure desperation and paranoia, and whilst I thoroughly appreciate all the good information of users such as Linari5, I hope never to return to that state again.

I’ve included my way too lengthy backstory at the bottom for those interested. However, I want to touch upon the mental part of marination:

-Azithromycin, 1g (May, 2020)

-Moxifloxacin 400 mg, 17 days (Jul, 2020)

-Azithromycin, 500mg day 1, 250 mg day 2-5 (Sept 2020)

-Doxycyclin, 100 mg bi-daily, 21 days (Dec 2020)

-Minocycline, 100 mg bi-daily, 16 days (Jan 2020) directly followed by:

-Pristinamycin, 1g 4 times/day, 10 days (Feb 2020)

Examination:

-Positive: after Azy, twice after Moxi, and after doxy

-Negative 4 times after mino + pris (spaced out over 4 months, 3/4 were Hologic optima)

Mind games

The mental aspect is by far the worst part of an Mgen infection. My mycoplasma test showed I was infected and had constant depressing, irrational thoughts. I truly believed I would never be able to engage in any sexual activity whatsoever. This drove me to the point of becoming nearly depressed and having occasional thoughts about how I wouldn’t care to be on this planet anymore. Luckily, I had good support from friends around me (be open about it!) who spoke some sense in my mind now and then, which kept me going.

What I did not prepare for, however, was the mental part after testing negative. For months, I did not believe I was cured and suffered from extreme sexual health anxiety. I read a lot about residual symptoms on this sub and encountered the wildest theories (hidden biofilm infections and whatnot). Whilst I do not want to discard those theories fully, many seem to be posted to scare people without proper scientific evidence to back them up.

My Symptoms Returned

Over time, my continued negative mycoplasma tests began to give me a little faith, yet symptoms were still there. Whenever I slept with a girl (WITH PROTECTION), I instantly believed I was re-infected. Then, suddenly, it all changed. How? I went on a holiday and forgot about it. That’s it. I just forgot about it. I didn’t experience any symptoms. When I came back, however, I suddenly remembered, and lo and behold, my symptoms returned.

This is the first time I became aware of how ‘mental’ my symptoms may have been. As time continued, more and more often, I would realize that over prolonged periods, I didn’t feel any symptoms just because I didn’t give any thought to them up until the point they just disappeared. Now, more than 10 months after taking my medication, I am fully symptom-free. The funny thing, however, is that I am 100% sure that if I were to think about symptoms for a bit and go pee, I’d get some burning sensation. Over time, I learned to let go and stop thinking about myself. Now, I can happily say that I haven’t had a single symptom in months, and the post-sex paranoia has subsided.

Therefore, I want all of you suffering from residual symptoms to know that light is at the end of the tunnel. Whilst you should always be cautious and repeatedly check whether you’ve cleared this infection, you should also consider the mental and stress part as a factor. Stress-induced CPPS and PFD may be at play, or maybe you are just making yourself crazy like I did. Whatever it is, there is hope. Keep your head up and so on, and you’ll be back in the game!

For those interested, read the shitshow down below

The (overly long) backstory

The horror story starts around May 2020. In that period, I had two unprotected sexual encounters with female friends of mine (women who would inform me beforehand if they were aware of having an STD and were not notorious or anything for that matter). A week after or so, I started developing burning, stinging pain whilst peeing. After the required incubation time, I went straight to the clinic, where I got a routine STD test for Chlamydia/Gonorrhea/HIV/Syphilis. As per standard protocol, since my symptoms were chlamydia-esque, I took 1g of azithromycin prophylactically. However, when none of my symptoms seemed to resolve, further testing was done, and I was diagnosed with Mgen. At that time, I did not know the MGen Mycoplasma Test result whatsoever, and the STD clinic assured me that it was easily resolvable.

Since the 1g of azithromycin didn’t work, they prescribed me 10 days of moxifloxacin, saying it would almost certainly cure me (the joke’s on me). Quite convinced by the doctor’s words, I took the moxi without giving it too much thought. In the meantime, however, I made a mistake -that many of us here have made- to dive into the research about Mgen. Since I studied biopharmaceutical research sciences, I had access to ALL the papers available on this topic, which was much more of a curse than a blessing. I read everything there was to read about STI Lab Test treatment failures, acquired resistance and irresolvable infections, and I became convinced that mine was too.

Plot twist: My infection WAS resistant to moxifloxacine.

Whilst I was taking the moxifloxacin, I did not notice any improvements, so I was in agreement with my GP for an STD test, and we ended my course with 7 more days (I do NOT recommend anyone taking moxifloxacin and not for 17 days), however, with no success. Now, this is where it all gets nasty. Moxi is the only real solution in my country. I was in a constant state of desperation. Mgen was constantly on my mind to the point where it gave me fatalistic thoughts.

I was referred to an STI hospital. My doctor, however, did not believe Moxi had failed and ordered retesting and a cystoscopy (not my most pleasant experience). The tests confirmed that Mgen was still present, and the cystoscopy showed a clear infection in my urethra. My doc, who will call doc X to avoid confusion (more docs to come!), said their hospital did not perform resistance testing and ordered for me to take the standard azithromycin regimen for Mgen (500mg first day + 250 mg on day 2-5).

After an excruciatingly long 4 weeks wait, my STD Panel test came back…. my mycoplasma test was negative again! It was at this point I was getting fed up with everything, especially the closed-minded approach of my doctor. Research papers were presented to him, and I convinced him to push for pristinamycin (which had to be ordered from France). Luckily, by miracle, my doctor had ordered such medication once before, so he was open to the idea. He prescribed me doxy for 2 weeks to take as a load-up whilst waiting for the pristinamycin to arrive. However, due to COVID, delivery times on the pris took longer, and my doctor refused to give me more doxy, so I was back at square one.

I was fed up with my doctor and decided to switch to an academic hospital, which was my best decision ever.

The doc in the academic was everything the other was not. She immediately pursued resistance testing and tested me for additional, rare STDs (which all came back negative). The resistance test unsurprisingly showed I had macrolide-resistant Mgen. Together with my doc, I drafted up the plan of taking 2 weeks of minocycline (as it shows ~70% cure rate on its own) and directly following it up with pristinamycin. Pris finally arrived, and I took the course. I took the course and did not notice any improvements in my STDs.

I got another test 3 weeks later and was 100% convinced that I still had mycoplasma due to my horrible symptoms. The surprise, therefore, was INSANE when I got my STD Home test result.NEGATIVE. I wasn’t happy whatsoever and convinced it was still there. I consulted with my doctor, and she agreed; however, she also noted that it may take a long time to heal since it was such a longstanding infection. We scheduled another mycoplasma test for 4 weeks later. Somewhere along those weeks, my symptoms decreased but were far from gone. The test came back negative. As did the other 4 Hologics I did after. I had no choice but to accept that it was gone…However, I was still suffering from symptoms all over.

Some general tips:

-Do NOT take any medication without a positive Mycoplasma test. This went mainly for heavy meds like Moxi.

-**Do NOT let the doctors walk over you. Speak up for yourself and present scientific Laboratory STD Full Test evidence.

-Do NOT take any STD medication that does not follow any recommended guidelines. This may severely harm your successful treatment chances

-Do NOT go wild on all the horror stories you read here. For the vast majority, mycoplasma is treatable very well

-Switch doctors if they don’t follow the recommended guidelines

-Try to place things in perspective. This is hard, but you could be suffering from worse things. Keep your head up!**

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.