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Patient's Query
Hi doctor,
I was diagnosed with syphilis at the same time as genital herpes. However, I have had all the syphilis symptoms but no genital herpes. It has been about a month since the first sore appeared. I thought it was just my body irritated from tight clothing or something. When it first happened, I did have painful urination. So immediately started taking cranberry juice and UTI medication, and it went away. But I had a sore in my genital area and mouth, so I knew it was syphilis. But I thought because I had no treatment for my syphilis yet, it may have triggered it to look like I had genital herpes. Could my results have been inaccurate?
Hello,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
I understand your concern. Sexually transmitted infections can be combined, and the test is likely wrong. Syphilis has symptoms only in the primary or acute phase, but secondary and tertiary do not have pain. However, treatment should be taken as soon as possible as I mentioned, it has stages. Painful vesicles (water filled) on genitalia and lips are related to the herpes virus. In this phase, it is best to take Acyclovir 400 mg twice daily for one week. After finishing treatment for both issues, please follow up with repeat tests after a month.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards.
Patient's Query
Hi doctor,
So I should take treatment for syphilis first and get that taken care of. It is a big relief to hear that the test could be wrong due to syphilis. The sore was not painful, and as I mentioned, I could tell the infection in my genitals could be from the initial sore from syphilis. I will say that when it first came about, I had painful urination. Now that my results say I have herpes, I thought that explained the painful urination when it first came about around the same time syphilis did. But could the painful urination be from syphilis or anything else?
Hello,
Welcome back to icliniq.com.
Yes, you treat syphilis first. If you get well with the treatment, there is no need to start antiviral Acyclovir, but if you still have pain, you can only take the antiviral medication. Painful urination can be from either or both, as HSV (herpes simplex virus) cause severe pain as well. My suggestion is to start treating syphilis. If after 48 hours there is no improvement, add Acyclovir also the same time.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards.
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