You have helped me a lot as a man.

I’m a 23-year-old boy who has been reading compulsively for months. Some people on buses scroll bored through the Facebook home page. But I scrutinise the stories, fears, jokes, cultural digressions, and very important Mycoplasma Test advice that can be obtained online. Sometimes, I practically feel like I’m someone’s friend—one who knows how to understand you well, as he experienced a similar STD Test story firsthand.

Acknowledging Support from the Community

You know how to help others and face everything together. We men in general (with all the limitations of a discussion “in general”) try to hide any problem like a positive Mycoplasma home test. And then try to solve them in solitude. Often this attitude towards STD test health is not optimal: it may work for temporary ailments, but if we get a chronic problem, we are screwed. Although we stay hidden, we also have pelvic dysfunctions, but we have little “community”; we don’t know how to fight together. You have helped me a lot as a man. It would be nice if others did this instead of turning to depressing forums and Facebook pages that convey a negative message.

I’ll start with my story. It’s only a short time, but I’ve already done everything. I try to be as brief as possible.

Early Symptoms and Consultations

I have always been very academic, with very high grades both in high school and university, and I have always done little sport—also thanks to tachycardia and slight hypertension that I have had since birth (despite being STD Positive). Everyone always told me I was crooked: “You’re sitting crooked, you’re lying crooked. But are you comfortable?” Of course, I was comfortable! Now, let’s go in order. It all started in December 2017.

December 2017 – Summer 2018

December 2017: I go shopping, and after days of being sedentary, I lift more or less 20 litres of water with my back without help from my legs (girls, NEVER do this). I have pain in my coccyx that lasts at least a week. It scared me a lot, thinking that I would have back pain for life. I would later discover that the Mycoplasma problems would arise further down the line.

January 2018: the STD problems return after intercourse with my ex-girlfriend due to the movement of the pelvis. Always this strange pain in the coccyx, and the whole buttock area is a little inflamed; it bothers me to sit down. However, it passes in a few days. Then, it promptly returns, again with the movements of the relationships. And it always passes. There is a very small amount of discomfort only when I bend my back forward a little, like when I brush my teeth, but I almost don’t notice it.

Summer 2018

Summer 2018: the STD doctor decided to have me do a lumbosacral MRI, which highlights a small L5-S1 protrusion but without significant involvement of the spinal canal. Nothing much, in short. However, I’m starting to think it’s his fault. I didn’t understand anything about it, and I didn’t want to know anything about it, so I thought that since my grandfather had hernias, I might have similar problems. The sad thing is that I went to a lot of doctors, orthopedists, etc., and no one told me, “Look, you’re wrong; the hernia isn’t your problem”, but everyone did Mycoplasma reports on me, referred me to others, someone even spoke to me of operation for hernia. However, this summer is truly tragic.

In July, while I was swimming breaststroke in the pool, at a certain point, something happened to me; I felt like a “tack” in the sacrococcyx area. Result: inflammation of the coccyx/buttocks, which practically no longer disappears. I leave for Greece in August, and the trip is terrible; it hurts to sit down. Then something almost magical happens: the beauty of Greece, the fun, being with people I love. I feel so good during the holiday that I rarely think about it anymore. Maybe I still had some symptoms, but they were minimal. I remember the pain when sitting down was gone on the return journey.

Summer 2018 – April 2019

September 2018 – April 2019: these are intense months: last exams + thesis + graduation in April. The pain no longer returns to my Ureaplasma relationship with my ex-girlfriend, but the STD is always there, ready to explode. As soon as I sit down, there is a drama: pain and a feeling of crushing in the coccyx, burning everywhere in the buttocks, but above all, a new, hateful burning in the area. Anal and perineal, which triggers after I’ve been sitting for a while. I start looking on the Internet and read about the pudendal nerve; I get terrified, almost like panic attacks. But I notice that if I sit very little, it passes or is at least minimal. Now my life is like this: I sit in pain for 3 days. For those 3 days, I didn’t sit down, and I feel good again.

Seeking Help and Finding Community

May 2019: this is where the mess happens. I still think it’s a hernia problem. And I’m talking to the wrong person. I go to a physiotherapist who, thinking of solving the hernia, turns me inside out for three sessions. Without even realising when it started, I find myself with constant anal and rectal burning: standing, sitting, lying down. I interrupt immediately, but the problem is done. The pain no longer goes away.

My compulsive Mycoplasma research began in May and continues until today. I read the website. I realise that you don’t just talk about cystitis but also pelvic problems related to contracture and neuropathy. You saved my life when I thought I was the only one with this problem. Thanks to your information, I decided to go to the physiotherapists Dr Mirko Croci and Dr Galicia. Now, you can say that it’s been over a month and a half since I stopped feeling sorry for myself, and I’m taking care of myself; in fact, I do both.

Current Treatment and Outlook

Dr. Galizia finds me more or less what many of you know: “hypertonicity of the pelvic floor with neuropathy of the pudendal nerve endings” and prescribes me from 2 to 8 gcc of Laroxyl. I’ve been on 8 drops for 3 weeks, but I don’t think much has changed. Mirko talks about “myofascial syndrome with nervous involvement” he doesn’t think it’s neuropathy, even if I find it hard to think it’s just the muscles’ fault. By now, I have already had 10-11 sessions concentrated in a month and a half with him, and it was simply extraordinary: besides Stanford, he takes care of every aspect, postural, osteopathic, and psychological. I feel like he tries everything and does his best. But my problem is very bad, a month is not enough.

Challenges in Embracing Optimism

Sometimes, it is too “optimistic” and leaves me a little sceptical. I know my body well and feel it will be hard to overcome a Mycoplasma infection this time; I risk keeping everything for life. I don’t want to hear that I will heal in 3-6 months; we all know that this is only sometimes the case, and there are no a priori rules. There have certainly been some improvements. In the beginning, I found a notable hypertonicity in all the muscles of the PP, and now things are much better in terms of contracture. Still, the symptoms, especially the burning, also due to the change of season, become feel…

I noticed that, while they were more constant, now they go “in peaks”, like screaming at certain moments and instead more subdued at others. Do you think it’s positive? Boo. However, I got on well with Mirko. He is a Mycoplasma specialist that I recommend, especially because for those like me whose problem is of lumbosacral origin and does not come from infections/antibiotics, etc., in short, it starts from the centre and not from the periphery, as he is a physiotherapist and osteopath can see the STD global picture well. Despite my innate scepticism, I want to give him all my trust, at least for the 6 months he asks me to see the STD results!

Gratitude and Call for Continued Support

I have learned so much from you. Today, I am writing my Mycoplasma story because I could use your kindness, optimism, and advice. In recent months, I have been quite “despised” for my problem, especially by those who must have been very close to me.

A huge thank you