Can Chlamydia Clear Up On Its Own

Here Is Some Trivia For You:

Did you know that bladder infections are more common in women than men?

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases estimates 40 to 60 percent of women will have at least one UTI in their lifetime.

This maybe due to the short urethra in women. The urethra is the tube that is about 1 ½ inches long and carries the urine out of the body.

The urethras short length makes it easy for bacteria to travel from outside the body to the bladder.

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How Is Chlamydia Diagnosed

The most common test for chlamydia is called a nucleic acid amplification test . Your provider takes a sample of fluid by doing a vaginal/cervical swab or collecting a urine sample. Then, they send the sample off to a lab to check for the bacteria that causes chlamydia. Your provider may do the test in an office, or they may ask you to do an at-home chlamydia test. Follow your providers instructions carefully to ensure you get accurate test results.

Because most chlamydia cases are asymptomatic, its important to get screened for chlamydia even if you dont notice any signs of infection. The CDC recommends that sexually active cisgender women who are high-risk for chlamydia get screened regularly. Women, more so than men, experience the most severe complications from chlamydia. Transgender men and nonbinary individuals with vaginas should be screened regularly, too, as they can experience the same complications of chlamydia.

Youre considered high-risk if you:

• Have had chlamydia infections previously.

Cisgender men, or trans and nonbinary individuals with penises, should be screened for chlamydia if:

• They live in a setting where chlamydia spreads frequently, like correctional facilities, adolescent clinics and sexual health clinics.
• They have sex with other men.

What Happens If I Dont Get Treated

The initial damage that chlamydia causes often goes unnoticed. However, chlamydia can lead to serious health problems.

If you are a woman, untreated chlamydia can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes . This can cause pelvic inflammatory disease . PID often has no symptoms, however some women may have abdominal and pelvic pain. Even if it doesnt cause symptoms initially, PID can cause permanent damage to your reproductive system. PID can lead to long-term pelvic pain, inability to get pregnant, and potentially deadly ectopic pregnancy .

Men rarely have health problems linked to chlamydia. Infection sometimes spreads to the tube that carries sperm from the testicles, causing pain and fever. Rarely, chlamydia can prevent a man from being able to have children.

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What If Im Pregnant

During delivery, the infection can spread to the newborn from the birth canal. It can cause eye infection or pneumonia. There may also be an association with preterm labour and low birth weight. Screening and treatment of chlamydia during pregnancy can prevent these complications. This is not part of the routine NHS antenatal screening. Doxycycline cannot be taken during pregnancy, but azithromycin is safe and effective.

How To Know If You Have An Std

Plain and simple: Getting tested is the only way to know for sure. Again, the majority of STIs are completely symptom-free. And, unfortunately, even when you feel like something is off, those symptoms are often subtle and can be easily explained away by other common issues such as a yeast infection, bacterial vaginosis, or a urinary tract infection , says Dr. Ross.

“You can’t rely on symptoms to tell you if you have an infection. Only getting a full STI screening done by your doctor can tell you if you have an infection,” notes Dr. Ross. But trust, the whole shebang is pretty quick and painless. “It usually involves some combination of peeing in a cup or getting your blood drawn or cultures taken,” says Michael Ingber, M.D., a board-certified urologist and female pelvic medicine specialist with the Center for Specialized Women’s Health in New Jersey.

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How Do You Get Chlamydia

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection. The bacteria are usually spread through sex or contact with infected genital fluids .

You can get chlamydia through:

• sharing sex toys that are not washed or covered with a new condom each time they’re used

It can also be passed by a pregnant woman to her baby.

Chlamydia cannot be passed on through casual contact, such as kissing and hugging, or from sharing baths, towels, swimming pools, toilet seats or cutlery.

How Chlamydia’s Passed On

Chlamydia is usually passed from one person to another through sexual contact.

Chlamydia is most commonly spread through:

• sharing sex toys that arent washed or covered with a new condom each time theyre used.

It can be spread by giving or receiving oral sex with someone who has chlamydia. The risk can be lowered by using a condom or a dam to cover the genitals.

If youre pregnant its possible to pass chlamydia to the baby .

You cant get chlamydia from kissing, hugging, sharing baths or towels, swimming pools, toilet seats or from sharing cups, plates or cutlery.

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What’s The Treatment For Chlamydia

Chlamydia is treated with antibiotics. If you take the treatment according to instructions, its over 95% effective at treating chlamydia.

• Youll be given a course of antibiotics for 3 or 7 days or sometimes up to two weeks.
• If theres a high chance you have chlamydia, treatment may be started before the results of the test are back. Youll always be given treatment if a sexual partner is found to have chlamydia.
• You may also need other treatment if complications have occurred.
• Tell the doctor or nurse if youre pregnant, or think you might be, or youre breastfeeding. This may affect the type of antibiotic youre given.
• Complementary therapies cant cure chlamydia.

Does Chlamydia Affect Your Periods

Yes it can chlamydia infects the genital tract, and this includes the uterus , the cervix and sometimes the Fallopian tubes and ovaries. Inflammation within the genital tract gives rise to a variety of symptoms, including sometimes abnormal/unexpected vaginal bleeding.

Chlamydia may cause:

• Bleeding in between periods or bleeding during or after sexual intercourse

• Irregular bleeding this is especially common in women using hormonal contraception

• Inflammation on the cervix, known as cervicitis

Do you still need birth control if you have chlamydia? you are advised not to have sex while being treated for chlamydia for a minimum of 7 days. If you do have sex, you should continue your usual form of contraception while on treatment. There is no need to stop the contraceptive Pill for example.

Is it definitely chlamydia causing my period changes? even if you know for a fact you have chlamydia, there are still other causes of period changes that you should consider, including:

• Pregnancy miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy

• Infections chlamydia and other STIs

• Pathology cervical polyps, cervicitis, cervical erosions/ectropion, cervical cancer , endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial cancer ovarian tumours

• Systemic disease polycystic ovarian syndrome , hypothyroidism, extreme weight loss or weight gain, severe stress, pituitary disease , premature menopause, haemochromatosis and other rare conditions

• Contraceptive side effects

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You Cant Catch Chlamydia From A Toilet Seat

Many people believe they can get chlamydia from a toilet seat. This isnt true.

Theres no need to worry about catching chlamydia in a public bathroom. Even if you share a toilet seat with someone who has it, you cant get the infection. You also cant catch chlamydia from sharing items like towels.

How Chlamydia Is Treated

Chlamydia can usually be treated easily with antibiotics.

You may be given a course of doxycycline to take for a week or azithromycin to take once a day for 3 days.

If you have doxycycline, you should not have sex until you and your current sexual partner have finished treatment.

If you have azithromycin, you should wait 7 days after treatment before having sex .

It’s important that your current sexual partner and any other recent sexual partners you have had are also tested and treated to help stop the spread of the infection.

Under-25s who have chlamydia should be offered another test 3 to 6 months after being treated.

This is because young adults who test positive for chlamydia are at increased risk of catching it again.

Sexual health or genitourinary medicine clinics can help you contact your sexual partners.

Either you or the clinic can speak to them, or they can be sent a note advising them to get tested.

The note will not have your name on it, so your confidentiality will be protected.

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Home Remedies For Chlamydia Symptoms

You may still experience painful or uncomfortable symptoms while youre taking chlamydia antibiotics.

Here are some home remedies for reducing your pain and other symptoms while youre waiting for the antibiotics to work:

• pain medications, such as ibuprofen to reduce pain
• cold pack to help limit swelling and inflammation
• goldenseal to reduce inflammation and potentially make symptoms less severe
• echinacea to bolster your immune system against the infection and reduce your symptoms
• turmeric containing an ingredient called curcumin to reduce inflammation and make symptoms less severe

No studies support the effectiveness of these supplements specifically for chlamydia, so take them with caution.

And theres no substitute for antibiotics when treating chlamydia. Only try these remedies if youre already taking antibiotics or if you plan to go to the doctor.

How And When To Take It

Your dose of doxycycline depends on why you are taking it.

The usual dose is 100mg to 200mg once or twice a day. If youre taking doxycycline more than once a day, try to space your doses evenly throughout the day. If you take it twice a day, this could be first thing in the morning, and in the evening.

For preventing malaria, youll take 100mg once a day, usually in the morning. Start taking doxycycline 1 or 2 days before going to an area where there is malaria. Carry on for 4 weeks after leaving the area. Check with your doctor or pharmacist that doxycycline is the best medicine to prevent malaria in the country you are travelling to.

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What Are The Potential Causes Of Chlamydia

Chlamydia gets spread due to sexual contact and it is overly infectious. The name of the infection is suggested after the bacterium that acts like major cause for its production, it is Chlamydia trachomatis.

It is also possible to find Chlamydia symptoms in newborn child as they get transmitted from a Chlamydia positive mother. Reports say that almost 2/3rd newborn babies get infected with Chlamydia from infected mothers.

The most common problems faced by newborns due to Chlamydia infection appears in form of eye issues, respiratory troubles etc. whereas in adults, this diseases causes problems like genital infections.

How Do You Avoid Getting Mouth Chlamydia

How to avoid getting infected the only guaranteed way to avoid chlamydia is not having sex, but this is not a suitable options for most people. To reduce your chance of getting chlamydia you can try the following:

• Choose sexual partners carefully however difficult, you should try to discuss any previous sexual history with a new partner before you first have sex

• Get tested before the start of a new relationship and do not have unprotected sex until you know your test results and your partners an extended STI test kit which tests for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and syphilis is recommended

• Use barrier contraception such as the male condom carefully and correctly always apply the condom before any sexual contact, including oral sex

• If you are diagnosed with chlamydia, always follow the advice about treatment very carefully try to make sure, if you have had chlamydia once, you dont get it again and keep getting tested regularly

• Use condoms at the same time as other contraceptives other contraceptives dont protect against STIs and using condoms alone as a method of contraception has a high failure rate. Women are advised to use a reliable contraceptive method to avoid an unplanned pregnancy, but to use condoms as well, to reduce the chance of acquiring an STI

Who is it at a higher risk of STIs like oral chlamydia? risk factors for chlamydia include:

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Major Symptoms Of Chlamydia And Related Complications

Medical history says that Chlamydia disease does not report any symptom so people often think about does chlamydia go away forever. Almost 80% females and 50% males stay infected without any related symptom. And in case if the symptoms start appearing, they will be observable only after 2 to 3 weeks of exposure.

Due to this trouble, sufferers are not able to receive right treatment and it leads to several issues that are more dangerous ahead. Studies reveal that almost 40% of the untreated women face pelvic inflammatory disease as the next stage of Chlamydia and this state is highly painful. The untreated female patients can face trouble in pregnancy or in some more critical cases, they can have infertility issues.

In case of males, Chlamydia generally starts from urethra and its symptoms may come or go with time. Some people can feel its symptoms during the first urination of day you can identify them as:

• Painful burning at the time of urination.
• Some people may face scrotal pain.
• It can also appear in form of Reiters Syndrome that is a kind of arthritis and usually cause major damage to eyes and body joints.
• Prostate inflammation issues.
• Infertility is one more dangerous issue when infection gets spread from urethra to testicles.

In case of women as well as men, the major complications due to Chlamydia Bacterium are:

• Reiters syndrome that is a kind of reactive arthritis.
• Genital Lymphogranuloma.
• Sore throat or pharyngitis.
• Pinkeye or Conjunctivitis.

Treatment For Chlamydia Is Quick And Easy

Two antibiotics are most often used for treating chlamydia:

• Doxycycline If your doctor prescribes doxycycline, you will take one pill daily for a week. Though it costs somewhat more than azithromycin, its now the preferred treatment for chlamydia in the United States, due to growing antibiotic resistance to azithromycin.
• Azithromycin If prescribed azithromycin, youll likely take one gram at one time, says , deputy director of clinical services for public health with the Seattle and King County HIV/STD Program in Washington. That one gram comes as either two pills or four pills, she says. It is not expensive.

For those without prescription drug insurance, sites like GoodRx and Optum Perks offer discount coupons that may reduce out-of-pocket costs.

Antibiotics can also cure chlamydia in infants, who can get the infection from their mothers, and treatment is essential for them. Without treatment, infants infected with chlamydia can develop conjunctivitis, which can cause blindness, or pneumonia, which can be fatal.

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Can You Test Yourself For Stds At Home

Yes, in fact. Available evidence suggests that home testing kits are accurate and reliable. Moreover, theyre well-accepted and often the preferred method of testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Studies have shown greater testing rates for home-based testing versus the traditional office or clinic approach, suggesting better overall STI screening rates, especially among younger people, in the home approach.

Having said that, when you choose home testing, theres always the chance that youll perform the test incorrectly adding to the chance of a false negative result. Getting tested in a providers office allows for support, counseling and treatment potentially all in one visit.

What Happens If Chlamydia Isnt Treated

Only some people who have chlamydia will have complications. If chlamydia is treated early, its unlikely to cause any long-term problems. But, without proper treatment, the infection can spread to other parts of the body. The more times you have chlamydia the more likely you are to get complications.

• If you have a vulva, chlamydia can spread to other reproductive organs causing pelvic inflammatory disease . This can lead to long-term pelvic pain, blocked fallopian tubes, infertility and ectopic pregnancy .
• In people with a vulva, chlamydia can also cause pain and inflammation around the liver, though this is rare. This usually gets better with the correct antibiotic treatment.

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Youre Not Immune To Chlamydia Once Youve Had It

Once youve had some diseases, you cant catch them again. Unfortunately, this isnt true for chlamydia. Repeat chlamydia infections are common.

If youve had chlamydia in the past, you have no immunity against the infection. If youre sexually active with somebody who has the infection, you could catch it again. Since reinfection is common, you should get tested for chlamydia about three months after being treated for the infection.

Frequently Asked Questions About Chlamydia

Yes! It is curable for both men and women and it is one of the common diseases to be passed on sexually. The hardest thing is noticing the infection itself as it remains symptomless so it can be difficult to realise you have it in the first place.

Most people dont show signs of the infection and it rare for people to recognise symptoms as the infection. If you do get symptoms of the sexually transmitted disease then they usually appear one to three weeks after having unprotected sex with an infected person. It is possible for symptoms to develop months after the initial infection and symptoms can come and go.

Yes! Chlamydial conjunctivitis is redness and swelling of the clear membrane that lines the inside of your eyelids and covers the white of your eyes. In some cases the infection when in the eye is known as pink eye. Although relatively harmless in adults, eye infection in newborn babies can lead to blindness.

Its estimated that about 80% of women and 50% of men wont show sign of having the sexually transmitted infection. With the infection it is possible for symptoms to come and go and they can often be confused with symptoms of other illnesses.

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