Urethritis but maybe not from sex?

[barecub85]

I'm on my second day of mild urethral irritation, dysuria and mild whitish, mucus-like penile discharge. I've had these symptoms a few times in the past (maybe once every couple years) and the same thing happens every time -  I go to the clinic, I get tested, get empiric treatment (azithromycin 1gram and ceftriaxone 250mg), then the tests come back negative for gono and chlamydia and the symptoms clear up within a couple days.

I already went and got the test/treatment yesterday, but I'm really disinclined to think that I picked this up from sex (I haven't fucked a guy in almost three weeks). 

Have any of you guys had recurrent urethritis that wasn't gono or chlamydia, and did you ever end up getting a diagnosis?

[bihairy]

Couple months back I bred a guy repeatedly that ended up having some stomach issues and I got a UTI.  Doc said it happens to older guys sometimes.  After a week on meds it was gone. Did have some discharge and I thought was STI but not.  Very painful though.  Once clear I was ready for more fun.

[barecub85]

Well the tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea were negative, but the discharge and burning went on for another week. I saw my primary care on Thursday and he repeated the tests, but also did a urine culture and started me on Cipro in case it was a UTI. Symptoms cleared up after the first couple days on Cipro, and again everything came back negative. The initial test at the STD clinic (a fairly shitty suburban one mind you) was a urethral swab which is not as sensitive as the urine test my PCP did, so I guess it is possible I got a false negative the first time around. The symptoms were pretty textbook for gono - pretty copious whitish discharge. Eh, at least it's gone now.

[FuckFistFillPDX]

As an NP, I treat lots of penile discharge and the most common culprit is NGU (non-gonococcal urethritis), and zythromycin is the go to for these infections and works well.

Other infections are also possible. Trichmoniasis is sometimes responsible, although men rarely have symptoms. Mycoplasma genitalium is another possibility and has been linked to chronic urethritis. Many places do not culture for it and while it is usually cleared with azithromycin, sometimes moxifloxacin is used as a second line treatment.

It may also be that anatomically you may be more inclined to get NGU. I sometimes see this in patients with larger urethral openings.

Continued recurrent infections without known re-exposure and after apparently successful initial treatment should be evaluated by a urology specialist. 

[Guest FriendlyBottom]

The one time I had NGU (25 years) ago, I think it was caused by massage oil used as lube during mutual masturbation.  I was all of 20 years old, hooked with a handsome older man.  This was 1990 in SF and safe (very safe) sex was the norm.  Our play consisted of kissing, mutual sucking (no condom, no cum), and mutual masturbation.  For lube, we used massage oil (grapeseed oil-based, if I recall correctly) and he sort of squeezed it from the bottle on the head of my cock in such a manner that I think some went directly into my urethra.  I recall it felt a bit weird at the time.  Anyway, a few days later, had painful urination and maybe some discharge.  Urethral opening was a little pink/red/irritated.  Swab at county clinic came back as NGU.  Took some pills and was good.