Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with chlamydia

[APPLAUSE]

Anonymous — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:21:07 -0800

I have some questions about Chlamydia and its extended effects... is anyone a doctor or nurse or medical professional [or just plain knows] who can give me some general information? During her annual checkup a few weeks ago, my wife got tested; the results just came back, and she's tested positive for Chlamydia. They've put her on antibiotics right away, partially because she's very recently had an afternoon of some pelvic pain and because they feel that this indicates PID.

Unfortunately, the doctors haven't been as helpful as we'd like; she went back for a second exam, just to be sure, and the nurse who was taking her sample said that she didn't really know the answer to some of these questions. She's going in again next week (since you're supposed to get re-checked to make sure the antibiotics are working), so this isn't a situation where we're ignoring medicine; we're just somewhat concerned, and it'd help to have some answers to a few questions a little sooner than next week. Here's what we're wondering:

1. We know there isn't really a clinical test for PID (right?)--it's something that has to be clinically diagnosed. We also know that untreated PID can often cause infertility in women. This is what we're most worried about. However, no one's been able to tell us: is there any way to know how much damage PID has caused? She's on antibiotics, as I said above--are there any other treatments? What's the likelihood of infertility? She hasn't felt chronic pelvic pain--only once, really, although she's had bad digestion for some time.

2. How can Chlamydia be communicated? Everything we've read about it says that it can be sexually transmitted; we found one article that mentions that there is an avian version and a version most often found in children, but we don't know how far that goes.

3. The reason we ask that second question is: we've been together, and monogamous, for six years. We know each other well enough to know that neither of us has cheated. (No comments on the inevitability of betrayal, please; we just want answers.) I (male) have never seen so much as a single symptom of Chlamydia--no discharge, no pain, no swelling. I've had a very limited number of sexual partners (3 before her) and was very dilligent about using condoms; she had a few more partners than I, and has a latex allergy, and so she had more exposures. We're thinking it's likely we've had this, undetected, for six years. Our question: is this likely or even possible? Could Chlamydia really exist for six years without symptoms or detection?

4. Of course, there's a wrinkle even on this possibility. While I haven't been tested at all, she was tested five years ago, about a year after we got together, at a small clinic at our tiny (about 200 students) college. That test was negative. She doesn't really remember what kind of test it was, unfortunately. Is it possible that she had Chlamydia then, but the test didn't detect it? Otherwise, it's likely I had it before I met her; but then it seems strange that, a year after we'd started having sex, she hadn't contracted it.

So... what are the possibilities? Most of all, can someone fill us in on the detection of potential damage that's been done to her reproductive system and treatment of that damage?

I realize I haven't mentioned: I'm getting tested next week, so I'll know about myself soon.

How un/safe is it to drink alcohol while on antibiotics?

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:37:20 -0800

Is there anything really wrong with (moderate? binge?) drinking while taking a course of antibiotics... or is my (frequently preachy, moralizing, unctuous, underfunded, dodgy-quality) free clinic just trying to pull one over on me? I wouldn't normally try to second-guess any professional advice, but in the past I've really kind of gotten some overly-simplified, watered down, and sometimes just plain off-the-wall advice from the various low-income clinics I've utilized. I'm not calling the caregivers there incompetent or anything close--they're saints for doing what they do--but by and large they will dole out a pretty huge helping of homiletics about, say, making sure to avoid salty foods while they're stitching up a cut on your finger. They also won't usually go out of their way to clearly delineate the distinctions between or reasoning behind various instructions they give you.

They're working for the greater good... but it makes me suspicious.

So I got prescribed a 7-day course of antibiotics (doxycycline, if it matters [to treat my recently-contracted chlamydia... anonymity is fun!]) and was told to abstain from alcohol.

I'm no alky... but I'm having about a once-in-every-two-years gathering of 13 of my closest guy friends this weekend and I might want to tip a few back.

Is this a big deal?

I realize that whatever is said in this thread does not constitute medical advice and that by posting here we are absolutely NOT establishing a patient-doctor relationship.

Sick kitty needs nose to work again.

Scram — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:29:55 -0800

Tips for getting a sick pussycat on a feeding tube to eat by mouth again (and a cautionary tale)? Lots of information below before I get to the question, because this situation took us terribly by surprise and I hope anyone in a similar situation will see the warning signs we missed. It could save your kitty's life.

In late December, our cat Jason got a cortisone shot for his feline acne. He soon developed the sniffles, and passed whatever he picked up at the vet to the other two indoor cats. The vet denied that anything viral or bacterial could have been picked up at the office, but did admit that cortisone might have lowered Jason's immunity, causing a flare up of something he already was carrying. If that's so, it's unfortunate he didn't suggest quarentining Jason when we brought him home to make sure he stayed healthy. The vet said to keep an eye on the cats and bring them in a few days if they seemed to be getting worse. For the moment they seemed to just have bad colds, though Jason was almost over his.

A couple days later, we came home in the evening to find the smallest cat, 11-year-old Talullah, hunkered down on the kitchen floor panting. Her nose was caked with hard snot and her white chin was dark with stuff that had run down her face. We cleaned her nostrils out with wet Q-Tips, squirted some water in her mouth and warmed her up, and she seemed to perk up a little. My husband wrapped her in a towel and let her sleep on his chest, and we planned to take her to the vet in the morning. Before dawn he got up to give her more water, and she gasped and died.

So in the morning it was Evel, the 16-year-old, who was rushed to the vet, along with his sister's body. The vet was shocked Talullah had become so sick so fast. Evel was immediately put on a drip with antibiotics, and after a few days the vet wanted to put him under and insert a feeding tube. He was extremely listless and congested, and I was very concerned he would not survive anesthesia. I asked if I could try to feed him by syringe rather than put him under, and I was able to get a couple of small syringes of semi-liquid A/D food into him by working very slowly. The next day he had more energy, but no one else had been able to feed him orally. Told that if he did not eat soon he would die, we agreed to having the feeding tube inserted, and he took the surgery well.

The vet failed to diagnose the illness, and the antibiotics given did not seem to help. He showed an elevated white count that remained constant after more than a week of antibiotics. He became anemic, which the vet thought was due to too much drip hydration, and that was scaled back. Herpes was suggested as a possibility, as was Calicivirus. After talking with a friend whose cat had showed similar symptons and survived, I asked about it perhaps being Feline Chlamydia and the efficacy of trying Zithromax as a one-dose treatment, but the vet blew the suggestion off. Since Evel seemed to be getting better, I didn't press the matter.

After nine days in critical condition Evel began showing signs of his personality and energy returning, and after twelve days we brought him home with the tube still in his esophogus. The vet said he could be tube fed for a month or more without problems, but that the aim is to transition him back to oral eating. After two days home, he seems to be feeling reasonably well, but shows no interest in eating or drinking and spends most of his time lying in the sun. Tube feeding is quite difficult--the tube frequently gets clogged and requires great hand-strength to flush a little water in and then pull back to loosen and suck up the stuck food. With me holding Evel and my husband working the syringe it can be done, but it's messy and frustrating and hard on the cat. The sooner he starts eating, the better!

Here is our current care schedule:

3 times a day:
1) flush each nostril with 6cc saline solution
2) a little later, attempt to get him to eat moist canned salmon
3) when he refuses, flush 2-3 60cc tubes of watery, hand-blended A/D prescription diet food through his feeding tube, with frequent stops to unclog the tube, flushing it with water and papaya juice to break up clogs

morning and night: .9cc Clavamox antiobiotic by mouth, powder contents of lysine pill included in tube feeding, 1/4 tube each tincture of Osha and Goldenseal/Echinacea mixed with water in his feeding tube (recommended by herbalist friend to kickstart his immunity)

Although he is much less snotty than he was (there's some nostril caking in the mornings, but the saline flush seems to go right up into his sinuses, and he doesn't sneeze or blow much mucus out at all afterwards) and his eyes are only a little runny, Evel shows no interest in the salmon. He sometimes seems to be trying to smell it, sniffing and moving his face around the bowl, but there's none of the usual reaction to a fishy treat and he won't taste it.

I'm wondering if there are any tricks to get him smelling and eating again. Are there better foods to be trying? Should the food be heated? Is there anything beyond the saline flush that can be done to help the nose to regain its function? Maybe it's just a matter of time and shaking off this illness, whatever it is, but any suggestions from people who have had similar experiences with their cats would be most welcome.

Evel's a world class pussycat, very personable, affectionate and tough. We've got high hopes he'll make it through this tough time, and he welcomes your prayers, good wishes and bright ideas.