…if left untreated or poorly treated, STI in women will cause blockage of the fallopian tubes -premature involuntary permanent family planning.
Sexually transmitted infections (subsequently referred to as STI) are more common than you would like to believe and they are likely to occur when you or your partner has unprotected sex with a third, fourth or fifth party – a pretty common occurence. The first step to preventing this group of diseases is remaining faithful to your partner and/or ensuring that you consistently use a condom when you have more then one sexual partner.
I will be dwelling on the STI’s that come with pain on urination and whitish discharge at the tip of the man’s penis. The organisms largely responsible for these symptoms are Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia. These organisms are really dangerous to both men and women. Luckily for men, they show the symptoms early while women almost do not show any symptoms. If and when they do show symptoms, it is often late.
The condition has a long term effect on both men and women, for men it can cause a blockage of the conduit that carries urine from your bladder to the outside through your penis- a condition known as urethral stricture. It can also cause the scrotum to swell up and become really painful – epididymo-orchitis and this can lead to infertility in men.
The symptoms are less dramatic, but with more profound long term effects in females. In the early stages, they are mostly asymptomatic- that is with no symptoms. The condition is largely diagnosed early in females when a male partner comes down with the symptoms. At a later stage they may begin to have vaginal discharge and abdominal pain – common symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease. In the long term, if left untreated or poorly treated, STI in women will cause blockage of the fallopian tubes (involuntary permanent family planning). This will make it difficult for them to conceive later in life.
In order to preserve the reproductive capacity and health of our female partners, the onus lies heavily on the males to
1. Be faithful to their partners
2. Be religious with condom use if they have more than one partner
3. Inform their partners, whenever they are diagnosed with this condition, so their partners receive the necessary treatment.
When a man comes down with the symptoms and commences the drugs, the symptoms usually go away in about 3 days. If a drug was prescribed for 7 days, he should make sure to complete the dosage, as the second worse thing after an STI is an improperly treated one.
In conclusion, if you have multiple sexual partners, ensure to use a condom consistently and when you come down with symptoms of an STI, do not hesitate to see a doctor and promptly inform your partner(s). We need to look out for ourselves, the world is already too cold.
I will leave you with this (I promise it sounded better in my head, but it is facts all the same):
An STI is not completely treated in a person until their partner or partners get the same screening/treatment
If you or your partner has any of these symptom and you want to consult a medical doctor anonymously or in person, I am a click away.
Featured image: source
