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HomeMedicineHow Long After Taking Medicine For Chlamydia Is It Gone

How Long After Taking Medicine For Chlamydia Is It Gone

How Soon Can I Have Sex Again

How long does it take for chlamydia to go away?

Dont have oral, vaginal or anal sex, or use sex toys, until you and your partner have both finished the treatment and any symptoms have gone. This is to help prevent you being re-infected or passing the infection on to someone else.

If youre given antibiotic treatment called azithromycin, youll still need to avoid sex for seven days after starting the treatment as thats how long it takes to work.

What Can You Do To Relieve Your Symptoms

No home remedy for chlamydia can replace antibiotics. Chlamydia is a bacterial infection, so you need to take antibiotics to cure it.

However, there are a few ways you can soothe symptoms while you wait for the antibiotics to get to work. For example:

  • Use pain medications, such as ibuprofen to reduce pain
  • Use a cold pack to soothe inflammation.
  • A herb called goldenseal might reduce inflammation and other symptoms.
  • Use an echinacea supplement aid your immune system.

Remember that these home remedies might soothe the symptoms of chlamydia, but they dont actually cure chlamydia in itself. The best way to soothe the symptoms is to use antibiotics.

What Does A Chlamydia Test Involve

  • If you have a vulva, you may be asked to take a swab around the inside of your vagina yourself.
  • A doctor or nurse may take a swab during an internal examination of your vagina and cervix .
  • You may be asked to provide a urine sample. Before having this test, youre advised not to pass urine for 12 hours.
  • A doctor or nurse may take a swab from the entrance of the urethra .
  • If youve had anal or oral sex, a doctor or nurse may swab your rectum or throat . These swabs arent done routinely on everyone.
  • If you have symptoms of conjunctivitis swabs will be used to collect a sample of discharge from your eye.

A swab looks a bit like a cotton bud but is smaller and rounded. It sometimes has a small plastic loop on the end rather than a cotton tip. Its wiped over the parts of the body that could be infected. This only takes a few seconds and isnt painful, though it may be uncomfortable for a moment.

Cervical screening and routine blood tests dont detect chlamydia.

If youre not sure whether youve been tested for chlamydia, just ask.

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How To Cope With Side Effects

What to do about:

  • headaches make sure you rest and drink plenty of fluids. Everyday painkillers, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, are safe to take with doxycycline.
  • feeling or being sick stick to simple meals and do not eat rich or spicy food. It might help to take your doxycycline after a meal or snack but avoid dairy products like milk, cheese and yoghurt. Dairy products can stop your body absorbing your medicine properly. If you are being sick, drink plenty of fluids, such as water or squash, to avoid dehydration. Signs of dehydration include peeing less than usual or having strong-smelling pee. Do not take any medicines to treat vomiting without speaking to a pharmacist or doctor.
  • sensitivity to sunlight when you go outside, wear sunglasses and clothes that cover you up. Put sunscreen or sunblock on your skin with a sun protection factor of at least 15 . Also use a sunscreen product for your lips. Do not use sunlamps or tanning beds. If you get sunburn, there are things you can do to treat your symptoms.

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What Is The Treatment For Chlamydia

How long after taking chlamydia treatment does it go away ...

Chlamydia can be easily cured with antibiotics. HIV-positive persons with chlamydia should receive the same treatment as those who are HIV-negative.

Persons with chlamydia should abstain from sexual activity for 7 days after single dose antibiotics or until completion of a 7-day course of antibiotics, to prevent spreading the infection to partners. It is important to take all of the medication prescribed to cure chlamydia. Medication for chlamydia should not be shared with anyone. Although medication will stop the infection, it will not repair any permanent damage done by the disease. If a persons symptoms continue for more than a few days after receiving treatment, he or she should return to a health care provider to be reevaluated.

Repeat infection with chlamydia is common. Women whose sex partners have not been appropriately treated are at high risk for re-infection. Having multiple chlamydial infections increases a womans risk of serious reproductive health complications, including pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy. Women and men with chlamydia should be retested about three months after treatment of an initial infection, regardless of whether they believe that their sex partners were successfully treated.

Infants infected with chlamydia may develop ophthalmia neonatorum and/or pneumonia. Chlamydial infection in infants can be treated with antibiotics.

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Can Chlamydia Be Cured

Yes, chlamydia can be cured with the right treatment. It is important that you take all of the medication your doctor prescribes to cure your infection. When taken properly it will stop the infection and could decrease your chances of having complications later on. You should not share medication for chlamydia with anyone.

Repeat infection with chlamydia is common. You should be tested again about three months after you are treated, even if your sex partner was treated.

Is Azithromycin Better Than Doxycycline At Curing Chlamydia

STD guidelines still favor azithromycin over doxycycline for the treatment of chlamydia. This is because of the following reasons:

  • Cure rates of azithromycin and doxycycline are similar, 97% and 98-100% respectively, according to a meta-analysis of 12 trials.
  • Azithromycin is given as a single dose, doxycycline needs to be given for seven days, either as a once-daily or twice-daily dose.
  • The dose of azithromycin can be easily supervised if need be it is much harder to supervise seven days of once daily or twice daily doxycycline treatment
  • People are more likely to take a single dose of azithromycin than finish a seven-day course of doxycycline.

Recently, some reports have suggested that doxycycline may be more effective than azithromycin, particularly when medication adherence can be assured. There is also some concern that azithromycin may not be as effective for anogenital chlamydial infections.

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Does Azithromycin Cure Chlamydia

Cure rates of 97% were reported in an analysis of 12 randomized clinical trials that investigated the use of azithromycin 1 gram for the treatment of chlamydia. That means for every 100 people with chlamydia who take azithromycin, 97 will be cured and 3 will not be cured.

This relies on the person with chlamydia taking azithromycin exactly as directed and not sharing the medication with anyone. Any sexual partners must be also treated.

Although azithromycin cures chlamydia in most people, it will not repair any permanent damage done to tissues by the disease.

If you have been symptomatic with chlamydia before treatment and your symptoms continue for more than a few days after receiving treatment, then ask to be re-evaluated by your health care provider.

Unfortunately, repeat infection with chlamydia is common. This means that even though azithromycin has cured your current infection with chlamydia, this does not mean you will not get chlamydia again. If your sexual partners have not been appropriately treated, you are at high-risk for reinfection. Having chlamydia multiple times puts women at high risk of fertility problems, ectopic pregnancy, and pelvic inflammatory disease. Infants born to mothers who are infected with chlamydia may develop chlamydial conjunctivitis and/or pneumonia. Chlamydial infection in infants can be treated with antibiotics.

Does The Treatment Work

At Last! Reliable Treatments For Chlamydia

Usually, yes. You can infect another sex partner as soon as you get chlamydia. Most women and some men do not have early signs of the disease.

A pregnant women can also pass on the infection to her baby as it is being born. This can lead to infection of the eyes and lungs in the infant. It is important to inform people you have had sex with during the past 3 months because they may have the disease and not know they need treatment. Your public health nurse will contact your partner if you prefer. Your name will be kept confidential.

Read Also: Can You Get Sick From Chlamydia

I Was Treated For Chlamydia When Can I Have Sex Again

You should not have sex again until you and your sex partner have completed treatment. If your doctor prescribes a single dose of medication, you should wait seven days after taking the medicine before having sex. If your doctor prescribes a medicine for you to take for seven days, you should wait until you have taken all of the doses before having sex.

Why Do You Have To Wait 3 Months To Retest For Chlamydia

In fact, women who become reinfected with chlamydia have an even higher risk for PID and ectopic pregnancy than those with a first infection. Due to these risks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that any person who tests positive for chlamydia be retested three months after treatment.

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How Long Does Chlamydia Last After Treatment

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Chlamydia Can Live In Your Gut And Reinfect You After Youre Cured

Chlamydia treatment

Doctors have known that chlamydia can reappear, but until now theyve been stumped as to how exactly it happens

Chlamydia is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. Thankfully, its also curable. But new research suggests that for some people, curing chlamydia doesnt prevent reinfection, even if theyre not exposed to it again. Apparently the disease can live inside your gut, and reinfect you out of the blue.

Apparently doctors have known that chlamydia can reappear in cured patients for about 80 years, but theyve been stumped as to how exactly it happens. This study points out that, in many animals, chlamydia has been found to live in the gastrointestinal tract. Thus, if gastrointestinal infection occurs in most hosts, the authors write, then it is very likely that gastrointestinal infection occurs in humans as well.

The study in question doesnt actually test this theory on any human beings. Instead it looks at data in animal models about reinfection, and the failure of certain drugs to treat chlamydia when it lives in the gut. From there, they propose that women who are infected with chlamydia could see the same kind of issues: the drugs theyre given might cure the disease genitally, but not gastrointestinally, leaving the bug to live inside waiting for the right time to strike.

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Being Exposed To Another Std

Being successfully treated for chlamydia, gonorrhea, or another STD does not protect you from other STDs In fact, many people become infected with STDs over and over again because they continue to have unprotected sex with partners who have untreated STDs.

If you’ve been treated for an STD and don’t want to get another one, the best thing that you can do is change your behaviors to decrease your risk. That means consistently practicing safe sex and always talking to new partners about STD risk before having sex.

Can You Get Chlamydia More Than Once

Yes, you can get the infection even if youve successfully treated it already.

A sexual partner who has chlamydia can transmit it to you again, even if youve already had it and treated it.

You can also get chlamydia again if it wasnt fully treated the first time. This can happen if you stop taking the necessary treatment. Its important to complete the antibiotics youve been given, even if your symptoms get better.

The CDC recommends getting tested 3 months after treatment of your initial infection to ensure the infection is cleared.

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Parents Have A Role In Chlamydia Prevention

Parents can do two main things to help their kids avoid getting chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections , says Dombrowski. These two things are:

  • Talk openly. Parents can start by talking with their kids about sex and sexual health early, giving the kids accurate information she says. When having these conversations, dont try to frighten children into practicing abstinence or safe sex. Its pretty common for parents to use STIs to talk about what can happen if you have sex or unprotected sex. But using STIs as a scare tactic is not effective, she says. It just makes the kids feel more frightened, more stigmatized, and terrible if they really do get one.
  • Ensure access to condoms. Parents are often focused on preventing pregnancy, says Dombrowski, which can be achieved with various contraceptives besides condoms. Parents should also think about kids having access to condoms for the prevention of chlamydia and other STIs, she says. Parents can leave condoms lying around where kids will find them, without saying much of anything about the condoms, she suggests.
  • What Happens If Chlamydia Is Left Untreated

    “Chlamydia Information: Testing, Symptoms and Treatment” by getSTDtested.com

    If left untreated, chlamydia can lead to more serious health problems.

    In people assigned female at birth, untreated chlamydia can cause pelvic inflammatory disease , a condition which can scar the fallopian tubes and lead to infertility.

    Chlamydia can also be passed on to babies during birth if the parent has the infection while pregnant.

    In people assigned male at birth, untreated chlamydia can cause epididymitis, an infection in the prostate gland, and male chlamydial urethritis.

    Read Also: Is Chlamydia Detected In A Blood Test

    Taking The Incorrect Medication

    Keep in mind that your treatment can fail if you’re taking the wrong medication. You might be prescribed the wrong drugs due to syndromatic treatment, an efficient, but sometimes inaccurate treatment method in which patients are prescribed STD treatment based on symptoms, rather than testing. This is sometimes done in STD clinics when there is a concern that the patient might not come back for their test results.

    And you could be taking the wrong medication if you’ve acquired it on your own and chose the wrong onessuch as taking medication that was prescribed for a past STD you had, or for your partner, or for a friend.

    Not all STDs are caused by the same pathogens . Different illnesses require different treatments.

    That’s why it’s so important for your healthcare provider to correctly identify what’s causing your infection. That’s also why you can’t just take any random antibiotic and hope it’s going to work.

    How Chlamydias Passed On

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

    You can get the infection if you come into contact with the semen or vaginal fluids of someone who has chlamydia.

    Chlamydia is most commonly spread through:

    • vaginal or anal sex without a condom
    • 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 infected semen or vaginal fluid comes into contact with the eye it can cause conjunctivitis (infection or irritation of the eye.

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

    Its not clear if chlamydia can be spread by transferring infected semen or vaginal fluid to another persons genitals on the fingers or through rubbing vulvas together.

    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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    Follow Up With Your Doctor As Directed:

    Write down your questions so you remember to ask them during your visits.

    The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.

    How Long Does Azithromycin Take To Cure Chlamydia

    Does Chlamydia Go Away?

    It usually takes approximately 7 days for azithromycin to cure chlamydia. However, it can take up to 2 weeks for the infection to go away completely.

    Avoid having sex during treatment or until the infection has cleared. Youll want to make sure its completely cured, or else youll risk passing it to someone else.

    Read Also: Can You Get Chlamydia On Your Own

    Put Sex On Hold During And After Chlamydia Treatment

    If you were given a single dose of antibiotics to treat your chlamydia, you should not have any kind of sex for a full seven days after the day you took the medicine. If youre taking antibiotics for a week, wait another seven days after the last day of your treatment. Be sure to take all of the medicine that is prescribed for you.

    Not having sex for seven days after treatment is important so you dont spread the infection to your partner or partners.

    Medication stops the infection and can keep you from spreading the disease, but it wont cure any permanent damage that the infection caused before you started treatment. In women, such damage can include blocking the fallopian tubes, causing infertility.

    If you still have symptoms for more than a few days after you stop taking your medicine, go back to see your doctor or other healthcare provider so they can check you again.

    Having Multiple Sexual Partners After Treatment

    After treatment, did you engage in unprotected intercourse with multiple sexual partners?

    If you did, its likely your new symptoms are due to chlamydia or other sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea and trichomonas infection.

    After chlamydia treatment, boosting your sexual health and minimizing the number of persons you have unprotected intercourse with, is vital to prevent reinfection.

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