The Importance of STD Testing
Cordelia is back with some Sex education about std testing.
Neglecting your health is never a good thing but neglecting your sexual health can affect more than just you. By not getting appropriate STD screenings, you can be putting yourself and your sexual partners at risk for diseases, some potentially deadly. You can see your regular primary care physician for these tests or if you find you’re uncomfortable doing so, you can visit a clinic. There are plenty around that are low cost or even free. They’re also one hundred percent confidential!
So what does the CDC recommend for STD testing?
Age
They recommend anyone between the ages of thirteen and sixty-four – The age of sexual active adolescents is increasing and older people (especially those in retirement communities) have the highest risk of STDs.
They also suggest chlamydia and gonorrhea screenings yearly for sexually active women around the twenty-five-years or younger area. It’s also suggested for women with new or multiple partners.
Who should be tested?
Men and women, especially pregnant women, should be screened for Syphilis, HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and hep B – I personally recommend everyone goes for a year screening with a full panel done. It really can’t hurt. I also suggest making sure you’re up to date on a hep b vaccine! It’s really, really important for pregnant women or women trying to get pregnant to test for STDs. STDs can make it harder to conceive but also cause miscarriages or premature births.
The CDC also suggests regular 3 to 6 month screenings for gay or bisexual men as well as people who have had unsafe/unprotected sex or IV drug users.
The CDC actually has a little box where you can plug in your zip code to find testing centers near you. Or your can do a quick google search for clinics.
Being tested regular can help stop the spread of these diseases.
What a lot of people fail to recognize is that STDs don’t just compromise sexual health but also your overall health. Some of them can have lifelong, incurable, lasting impacts on your health. Remember, you can have MULTIPLE STDs at once and they do not just go away on their own. They often need one or more rounds of antibiotics to treat them.
It’s also important to recognize that STDs don’t always affect your sexual organs and can present in other ways; usually these are flu-like symptoms like a sore throat, achy muscles or joints, swollen glands, and even fever. Some STDs don’t even show symptoms and can be missed until they’ve reached that incurable state. Not only that, but the risk of unknowingly spreading it to other sexual partners is high.
WOMEN! Some doctors (like mine) include an STD testing for women of certain ages but not all do. I suggest asking your doctor out right whether this is included in your yearly pap visit and if it isn’t, asking them to add it.
What more information on specific STDs? Check out this blog HERE.
