I think you should know something in case you ever need to be tested for gonorrhea our chlamydia again, which is why the doc inserted the q-tip into your urethra. For at least 10 years, urine testing has been available for the testing of gonorrhea and chlamydia. The urine test detects the bacterial DNA after the amount of DNA has been amplified by a process known as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or LCD (ligase chain reaction). It's debatable whether the urine test is quite as accurate as the swab test. Nevertheless when looking for gonorrhea or chlamydia in men the swab test should only be done under a few circumstances, which are after a negative urine test when suspicion of infection is high, if the patient doesn't make urine (such as dialysis patients), or if the patient is very ill and cannot risk getting a false negative (which is still very unlikely with the urine test). So if the situation arises again, ask if the urine test is an acceptable alternative.
Here is an Ask . com article about the urine test.
http://std.about.com/od/gettingteste...-Chlamydia.htm
I say this bc I think it's unfair that you had a swab inserted into your urethra bc your doctor hasn't picked up a book in 10 years and I'd like to help you stop it from happening again unnecessarily. I dislike all the doctor-bashing that occurs on this forum but when I read stories like yours, it just confirms how many bad doctors are out there tarnishing the profession's reputation.