Nobody likes going to the dentist, even if it's "just" a routine check-up. After all, who knows what the doctor might discover, tartar or plague, and then there's an embarrassing reminder to brush your teeth better in future. Or, in the worst case, in the case of caries: "I'm afraid we'll have to drill".
In hindsight, Carsten* would have preferred root canal treatment to what his dentist actually discovered, namely a strange spot on the inside of his right cheek. "I hadn't noticed anything myself," Carsten recalls. He could feel a small bump with his tongue, but he didn't attach any great importance to it. After all, it didn't hurt.
"I think you should have this checked out by your GP," the dentist advised, without voicing his suspicions. The tone of voice, however, gave a hint: Something was really wrong. And Carsten's alarm bells started ringing. A few days later, the diagnosis was clear: the small bump was an ulcer caused by a syphilis infection. Carsten didn't need to consult a medical guide to find out how the bacterium could get to that spot in his mouth and then lead to this inflammation. He already knew all about the transmission routes of Lues, commonly known as syphilis. "Blow the wrong cock once and that's it," comments Carsten jokingly. After the diagnosis, however, he had less to laugh about.
"For the first few days, I didn't even want to brush my teeth and just kept my mouth closed. I was disgusted with myself," admits the 30-year-old candidly.
"Gonorrhoea, crabs, chlamydia - they're all annoying and a bit embarrassing, but not really dramatic. Syphilis, however, is a completely different matter". In fact, if the first signs of an infection, usually small, painless ulcers, are not recognised, they often disappear unnoticed afterwards. However, the syphilis pathogen continues to spread throughout the body via the blood and lymph channels. In the worst case scenario, damage to organs and the central nervous system can occur as a late consequence.
Carsten went to a gay specialist for skin and sexually transmitted diseases with his suspicions. "I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be asked any stupid questions." Because that's what had happened to a friend of his. "But that's a very unusual entry point for a man. Do you have an explanation as to how this could have happened?" the attending doctor had asked sarcastically and with recognisable disgust.
Carsten was spared this humiliation. Instead, his doctor tried to take away his initial shock after the diagnosis with an encouraging joke and then explained the next steps to him: A blood sample and swab went to the laboratory, followed by the curative penicillin injection and check-ups at intervals of several weeks. After around two months, everything was over. Carsten was lucky that the syphilis was recognised relatively early after the infection. Before that, however, there was a bitter pill to swallow. "No sex until further notice, at least not with others," the doctor had strongly advised him and appealed to his responsibility. In Carsten's case, even kissing was a strict no-go until the infection had finally healed. Under other circumstances, this would have been a real problem for Carsten, as he enjoyed having fun with other guys far too much, regularly going to sex clubs and saunas or travelling to an interesting online date for a weekend. "But I lost my desire for sex at first," Carsten admits openly.
I was simply off at PlanetRomeo for weeks. To avoid the embarrassment of having to explain to his fuckbuddies why he was making himself scarce or not coming to the sauna as usual. "I felt like a filthy bitch," says Carsten seriously. "Filthy - the word somehow fits with syphilis. Of course, objectively speaking, I'm a slut, which means I like having sex with lots of different guys. But for me, syphilis somehow had something quite fucked up and dirty about it. Something you get in dirty corners of nasty darkrooms. I don't know why." He didn't have to inform anyone. He had almost certainly caught it on a weekend trip to Barcelona, after which he hadn't had any more sex. Carsten was pretty happy about that. He had actually kept the infection all to himself. Only when it was all over did he tell two close friends about it.
And the time without sex? "I had almost got out of the habit," laughs Carsten. "I was totally insecure at first. What if I end up with the wrong cock the first time?" Of course, rubbers also reduce the risk of getting infected when fucking, but not when giving a blowjob. "But before I suck cocks wrapped in plastic, I'd rather not do it at all." The first visit to the sauna "afterwards" was strange, Carsten admits. I was really panicked and didn't dare touch anything or anyone. But then at some point, you're overcome with lust," he says mischievously. "I try to be careful, but I don't really know what I'm supposed to regret. I know it could happen to me again. I don't always think about it, but I do from time to time. I'm a bit more relaxed now, though." And if it were to happen to him again? "I'd keep it to myself again, I think." One case of syphilis would still be considered bad luck. "But twice in a row is a clear sign of a filthy bitch". Carsten presents this sentence as a joke, but you can clearly tell how much truth there is in it for him.
Incidentally, Carsten looked for a new practice for his next routine dental prophylaxis. "I was just too embarrassed to show my face there again."
You want to know more about Syphilis: you can find a short clip here around treatment, transmission and protection.
* Name changed by the editors.
