What To Expect From Your Urgent Care Std Testing And Treatment
Sexually transmitted disease, or STD, testing is recommended for anyone who has ever been sexually active. You do not need to display symptoms of an STD to get treatment. It is possible to have an STD without experiencing any symptoms, and delaying treatment can cause long-term health problems, including infertility. Fortunately, you can get tested and treated at an urgent care office. Find out how this works.
What Should I Do If I Have Chlamydia
Chlamydia is easy to treat. But you need to be tested and treated as soon as possible.
If you have chlamydia:
- See a doctor or nurse as soon as possible. Antibiotics will treat chlamydia, but they will not fix any permanent damage to your reproductive organs.
- Take all of your medicine. Even if symptoms go away, you need to finish all of the antibiotics.
- Tell your sex partner so they can be tested and treated. If they are not tested and treated you could get chlamydia again.
- Avoid sexual contact until you and your partner have been treated and cured. Even after you finish your antibiotics, you can get chlamydia again if you have sex with someone who has chlamydia.
- See your doctor or nurse again if you have symptoms that don’t go away within a few days after finishing the antibiotics.
The Process At The Emergency Room
An ER can complete a forensic medical exam within seven days of the assault. If you decide to seek care at an ER, it could be beneficial to go as soon as possible and try not to eat, drink, brush your teeth, bathe, or wash the clothing you were wearing to maximize the chances that they can recover evidence on your body or clothing. Because the clothing could be helpful as evidence, you may also want to bring a spare set with you, or the hospital can provide you with a new set.
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Should You Go To An Urgent Care For Vaginitis
Should You Go to an Urgent Care for Vaginitis
There are two basic types of vaginitis. The first is superficial and usually caused by Candida Albicans . This type of infection should be treated with an antifungal cream or suppository. The second, more severe form requires a prescription pill called metronidazole to help clear it up. Metronidazole is typically administered orally and takes anywhere from one to four days to start taking effect. Many women find that theyre still in pain during those few days, which leaves them wondering whether they should go to an urgent care center for treatment instead. Though most symptoms of vaginitis will subside within a few days with home treatments, its good to keep your options open.
Symptoms of Bacterial Vaginosis And Yeast Infection. The most common symptom of bacterial vaginosis is an unusual vaginal discharge that has a strong fishy odor, according to the Mayo Clinic. Women who have BV may also experience some vaginal itching or burning, especially when they urinate or have sexual intercourse. Some women may also experience bleeding after sex. If symptoms continue for more than three weeks despite home treatment efforts, seek medical care from your primary care physician or your OB/GYN. Another type of infectionyeast infectioncan cause vaginal itching and discomfort as well as a watery yellow-colored discharge with a mild foul odor.
How To Contract Chlamydia
Chlamydia is transmitted by unprotected sexual contact with an infected person. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you can contract chlamydia even if your sexual partner has the STD and does not ejaculate during sexual intercourse. According to the CDC, if you are pregnant and have chlamydia, you can pass it on to your child during birthing.Chlamydia is transmitted by unprotected sexual contact with an infected person. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you can contract chlamydia even if your sexual partner has the STD and does not ejaculate during sexual intercourse. According to the CDC, if you are pregnant and have chlamydia, you can pass it on to your child during birthing.
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How Is Chlamydia Diagnosed
There are two ways that a doctor or nurse tests for chlamydia:
- A urine test. This is the most common. You urinate into a cup. Your urine is then tested for chlamydia.
- A swab test. Your doctor uses a cotton swab to take a fluid sample from an infected place . The fluid is then tested for chlamydia.
A Pap test is not used to detect chlamydia.
Get Checked At Urgent Care
If you or your partner show any signs of chlamydia, you should seek medical care, especially if youre pregnant and this goes for any STD!
At GoHealth Urgent Care, STD testing includes a physical exam, as well as blood and urine tests. In some cases, the doctor will use a swab to collect a sample from the affected area.
Even if youre not experiencing symptoms of an STD, you should get tested if youve had unprotected sex or if youre sexually active and not in a mutually monogamous relationship.
Women under 25 are especially vulnerable to chlamydia, so its important for them to get checked annually at their well-woman visit. Pregnant women should be tested for chlamydia regardless of their sexual history.
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Where Do People Seek Treatment
Among those who reported ever having had an STD, a private practice was the most frequently mentioned place to which the respondents had gone for treatment . Respondents who said they had been told in the past year that they had an STD also were more likely to report having gone to a private doctor or group practice for treatment . Among the remaining respondents who had ever had an STD, 8% had gone to an “other clinic,” 7% to an emergency room, 5% to an STD clinic and 5% to a family planning clinic 23% did not mention a place where they had been treated for their STD and 3% mentioned multiple sites.
Figure 1 shows that the pattern of STD treatment choice for the younger members of the sample was very similar to that of older respondents . The main difference was that a higher percentage of the younger group than of the older group chose family planning clinics .
Forty-nine percent of respondents with genital herpes, 59% of those with genital warts and 62% of those with hepatitis reported receiving treatment from a private practice. In contrast, only 26% of respondents who reported ever having gonorrhea indicated that they had received treatment from a private practitioner .
A varying proportion of respondents mentioned more than one place where they received treatment for a specific STD. More than 6% of the respondents who reported genital herpes had received treatment at multiple sites, compared with 3% of those who had had gonorrhea or who had nongonococcal urethritis.
Reasons Not To Go To The Er
Let’s say you decide to visit your local ER because last night you developed a low-grade fever and earache. You drive yourself for care and describe your symptoms to the triage nurse, who then has you take a seat in the waiting area. And while you wait, other patients seem to be jumping ahead of you in the queue. Hey, you’ve been waiting much longer than the woman complaining of chest pain and dizziness, and you’ve definitely been here longer than the man who cut off his finger what’s that all about?
Wondering whether an illness or injury is a medical emergency? You just need to know your ABCs. Because the body can’t survive without oxygen, any complaints relating to airways, breathing and circulation are potentially life-threatening and considered an emergency. Emergency departments don’t prioritize patients based on a first-come, first-served model. Instead, patients are seen based on the severity of injury, so the less sick or wounded you are, the longer your wait will be. You could be waiting for hours, and that wait will be longer on the weekends and some nights.
So you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Is the reason you’re considering emergency care a life- or limb-threatening situation, or is it just that it seems more convenient to go to the ER than to wait a day or two for your doctor to have an available appointment?
Contents
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Std Prevention And Treatment Options
The type of treatment you receive for an STD depends on the symptoms and diagnosis.
Infections like chlamydia or syphilis can all be treated with antibiotics. While UTIs, yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis are not STDs, they can be associated with sexual intercourse, and can also be treated with antibiotics. Other STDs, like HIV, herpes or human papillomavirus , are not curable. Instead, the treatment focuses on reducing symptoms and complications related to the illness.
The best way to avoid STDs is through prevention. The only foolproof preventive measure is abstinence. However, if you are, or plan to be, sexually active, there are many ways to make sex safer for you and your partner. Before having sex, it is important to discuss your sexual history and ask your partner if they have been screened for STDs.
Condoms or dental dams are great contraceptive options. While the two are not 100% effective, they are among the best ways to reduce the risk of STD transmission during sex. Regular STD screening can also help prevent spreading infections to your partner and lower the risk of further complications. If you are in a monogamous relationship, there is no further spontaneous risk after being screened for STDs. Speak to your provider via a virtual or in-person visit about the best ways to prevent STDs.
Can You Go To Urgent Care For Std Testing
If you think you may have an STD or if you wanted to get an STD test as a precaution, you may be wondering, should I go to urgent care or my primary doctor? Many people choose to go to an urgent care clinic for an STD test if they feel uncomfortable or embarrassed to go to their normal doctor. Theres no reason to feel embarrassed about getting an STD test but there are some benefits of going to urgent care:
- You can get same-day, walk-in care
- You can book an appointment online and save even more time
- Urgent care centers can treat you discreetly
Your urgent care doctor will give you a physical exam and evaluate any visible symptoms. To get an official diagnosis, youll be asked to give a blood or urine sample which will be sent to a lab for testing. Youll usually have the results within a few days and be given a prescription for antibiotics to treat a bacterial STD or an antiviral medication to treat a viral STD.
The only time that you may be unable to be treated for an STD at urgent care is if it has progressed beyond what can be treated with a prescription. If this is the case, your urgent care doctor will advise you to follow up with your primary physician.
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How Can I Prevent Chlamydia
The best way to prevent chlamydia or any STI is to not have vaginal, oral, or anal sex.
If you do have sex, lower your risk of getting an STI with the following steps:
- Use condoms. Condoms are the best way to prevent STIs when you have sex. Because a man does not need to ejaculate to give or get chlamydia, make sure to put the condom on before the penis touches the vagina, mouth, or anus. Other methods of birth control, like birth control pills, shots, implants, or diaphragms, will not protect you from STIs.
- Get tested. Be sure you and your partner are tested for STIs. Talk to each other about the test results before you have sex.
- Be monogamous. Having sex with just one partner can lower your risk for STIs. After being tested for STIs, be faithful to each other. That means that you have sex only with each other and no one else.
- Limit your number of sex partners. Your risk of getting STIs goes up with the number of partners you have.
- Do not douche.Douching removes some of the normal bacteria in the vagina that protects you from infection. This may increase your risk of getting STIs.4
- Do not abuse alcohol or drugs. Drinking too much alcohol or using drugs increases risky behavior and may put you at risk of sexual assault and possible exposure to STIs.
The steps work best when used together. No single step can protect you from every single type of STI.
How Is Chlamydia Treated
Your doctor or nurse will prescribe antibiotics to treat chlamydia. Antibiotics can cure chlamydia. But they cannot fix any permanent damage done to your body, including scarring of your reproductive organs. For this reason, you should get tested and take the antibiotics as soon as possible.
For the antibiotics to work, you must finish all of the antibiotics that your doctor gives you, even if the symptoms go away. Do not share your antibiotics for chlamydia with anyone. If symptoms do not go away after treatment, see your doctor or nurse.
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant. Your doctor can give you antibiotics that are safe to take during pregnancy.
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What Is The Treatment For Chlamydia
Since its a bacterial infection, chlamydia is treated with oral antibiotics. Depending on the severity of the infection, youll need to take your prescription for 5 to 10 days. Be sure to finish the entire prescription. Just because your symptoms improve, doesnt mean the infection has fully cleared.
Youll also need to avoid all sexual activity during the course of your treatment until the infection clears up. This will reduce the risk of reinfection or transmitting the infection.
Due to the prevalence of chlamydia, its important to get annual tests if you:
- are under the age of 25 and are also sexually active, especially if youre female
- have sex with multiple partners
- have a history of STIs, or are treating another type of STI
- dont use condoms regularly
- are male and you have sex with other men
- have a partner who has told you theyve recently tested positive for chlamydia
You may need to get tested more often than once a year.
If youre pregnant, youll need to get a chlamydia test during your first prenatal appointment. Your gynecologist or midwife may also recommend another test later in your pregnancy if you have any of the above risk factors.
Chlamydia can cause complications in pregnant women, but also lead to problems at birth, such as pneumonia and eye infections.
After youve had chlamydia, you should get retested
Where Can I Get Tested For Chlamydia
You can get tested for chlamydia and other STDs at your doctors office, a community health clinic, the health department, or your local Planned Parenthood health center. In some states, you can do an online visit and take a chlamydia test at home.
STD testing isnt always part of your regular checkup or gynecologist exam you have to ask for it. Be open and honest with your nurse or doctor so they can help you figure out which tests you may need. Dont be embarrassed: Your doctor is there to help, not to judge.
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How Do I Know If I Have Chlamydia
You cant tell if you have chlamydia just by the way you feel. The only way to know for sure if you have chlamydia is to get tested whether or not you have symptoms.
If youre showing any signs of chlamydia, you should get tested. Testing is also a good idea if youve had unprotected sex or if a partner has chlamydia . In general, people who are sexually active should get tested for STDs, including chlamydia, about once a year. If youre pregnant, get tested for chlamydia at your first prenatal visit. Want to know if you should be tested for chlamydia? Check out this quiz to find out.
Chlamydia testing is pretty easy and painless. The best part about getting tested for STDs? Once you get it over with, it can really put your mind at ease. And if you DO have chlamydia, its best to know right away so you can take medicine and get better as soon as possible.
How Does Chlamydia Affect Pregnancy
For pregnant women, chlamydia may lead to premature birth, or babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Premature birth is the most common cause of infant death and can lead to long-term health and development problems in children.5
Babies born to mothers who have chlamydia can get:
- Infections in their eyes, called conjunctivitis or pinkeye. Signs include discharge from the eyes and swollen eyelids. The signs most often show up within two weeks after birth.
- Pneumonia. Signs include congestion, cough, and rapid or labored breathing, although these are not always present. Signs most often show up one to three months after birth.
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Where Do People Go For Treatment Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Context
Major public health resources are devoted to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases through public STD clinics. However, little is known about where people actually receive treatment for STDs.
Methods
As part of the National Health and Social Life Survey, household interviews were performed from February to September 1992 with 3,432 persons aged 18-59. Weighted population estimates and multinomial response methods were used to describe the prevalence of self-reported STDs and patterns of treatment utilization by persons who ever had a bacterial or viral STD.
Results
The health care utilization patterns for STD treatment in the United States are complex. Specific disease diagnosis, gender, race and income status all affect where people will seek treatment. These factors need to be taken into account when STD prevention strategies are being developed.
Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31:10-15
Our objectives in this article are to provide population-based estimates of the prevalence of patient-reported STDs and to characterize patterns of treatment utilization according to specific STDs and client characteristics. The analyses use data from the National Health and Social Life Survey , a population-based survey of the sexual behavior of Americans. This survey obtained information directly from respondents about which STDs they had had and where they had received treatment for their STD.