How Do You Know If You Still Have Chlamydia After Take The Pill
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What Are The Risks Of Chlamydia Infection
Untreated chlamydia can lead to many serious health conditions.
Women can develop pelvic inflammatory disease. This can lead to pelvic pain, complications with pregnancy, and fertility difficulties. Sometimes women become infertile from the effects of untreated chlamydia.
Men may develop inflammation of their testicles from untreated chlamydia and may also experience fertility issues.
Babies who acquire chlamydia during childbirth can develop pink eye and pneumonia. Its important for women to be treated for chlamydia during pregnancy to avoid spreading it to an infant.
Sexual behavior of any kind puts you at risk of contracting chlamydia. Some ways to reduce your chances of getting chlamydia include:
- refraining from sexual activity
How Many Days Does It Take To Recover From Chlamydia
It can take up to two weeks to recover from a chlamydia infection. Most prescriptions last 7 to 14 days on average and chlamydia is typically cleared up at the end. However, you will likely have to be retested after 3 months to ensure you have recovered fully. If you have severe chlamydia it may take longer to recover and a hospital stay may be involved.
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Effects Of Chlamydia Treatment
After you have begun your course of chlamydia treatment, you should start to notice an improvement in your symptoms within a few days. Generally, most symptoms should resolve completely within 24 weeks. If any symptoms persist, such as pelvic pain or pain during sex, please return to the clinic as further treatment or investigations may be necessary.
If you are diagnosed with chlamydia you may need to inform anyone you have had sex with within the last six months as they may also be infected. They should be advised to attend a sexual health clinic for a chlamydia test and will usually be offered treatment on the day they attend. This advice is regardless of whether they have any symptoms or not, or whether or not you used a condom.
If you feel unable to inform previous sexual partners one of our Health Advisers will be able to notify them on your behalf without revealing your identity.
You should not have oral, anal or vaginal sex during your course of chlamydia treatment or for seven days after a single dose of chlamydia treatment and also until your current partner completes their treatment and until both you and your partners symptoms have abated. This is to avoid being re-infected and requiring further treatment.
Chlamydia Can Harm Your Pregnancy Or Reproductive Health
Can chlamydia harm your unborn baby or your future reproductive health? Many people will say no, but thats not true. The infection can cause complications for both pregnancy and fertility.
Chlamydia can cause many complications for pregnant women and their babies. When the infection is left untreated, it can cause preterm delivery. Babies who are born prematurely can have problems with their lungs, hearts, or brains. The infection can spread to the baby, resulting in pneumonia, eye infections, and other complications. Due to these risks, pregnant women are routinely screened for chlamydia.
Chlamydia can cause many complications for pregnant women and their babies. When the infection is left untreated, it can cause preterm delivery.
Chlamydia can also cause complications for women who want to get pregnant. If untreated chlamydia spreads to other parts of the reproductive system, like the uterus, those tissues can be damaged. This can cause infertility. Damage to the uterine tubes could also result in an ectopic pregnancy. This means a fertilized egg implants somewhere other than the uterus, usually inside the uterine tube. These pregnancies arent sustainable and may put the mothers life at risk.
There are many myths that are circulating about this common sexually transmitted infection. If youre concerned about chlamydia, see your doctor to get tested.
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How Common Is Chlamydia
Chlamydia is the most common STI caused by bacteria. Nearly 2 million cases of chlamydia were reported to the CDC in 2019. The number of infections is likely even higher. When compared to previous years, 2019 infection rates increased among people of all genders, all races and ethnicities, and in every region of the U.S. Most cases of chlamydia are asymptomatic, which means there are no signs or symptoms of an infection. Many of these cases likely go unreported.
Certain demographic characteristics may make you more likely to get diagnosed with chlamydia. Youre more likely to get diagnosed if youre:
- A teen or young adult aged 15 to 24. More than half of all diagnosed chlamydia cases in the U.S. occur in this age group.
- A cisgender woman aged 15 to 24. Young women in this age group are targeted for chlamydia screenings, and the rate of infection among those who are tested is high.
- A man who has sex with men . Chlamydia infections disproportionately affect men who have sex with men.
- Black and non-Hispanic. Chlamydia infections disproportionately affect non-Hispanic Black populations.
How Often Should I Get Checked For Chlamydia
Sexual health check-ups are recommended for anyone who is sexually active. Frequency of testing also depends on your STI risk:
- An annual sexual health check-up is highly recommended if you are sexually active especially if you are under 25.
- Get checked more often during the year if you frequently change sexual partners.
- Remember, you are at greater risk if you have sex without a condom with 1 or multiple sexual partners.
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What Can Happen If Chlamydia Isnt Treated
Untreated chlamydia can put your health at risk. Make an appointment with your provider immediately if you notice any symptoms of chlamydia, and get regular STI screenings to avoid complications later.
Complications of chlamydia for people with vaginas
Untreated chlamydia can cause:
- Pelvic inflammatory disease . PID is a serious condition that requires hospitalization. It can occur when an untreated STI, like chlamydia, damages your reproductive organs. PID can lead to infertility and chronic pelvic pain. It can also cause an ectopic pregnancy,which is life-threatening for the fetus and potentially deadly for the mother or gestational parent, too.
- Pregnancy complications. An untreated infection can lead to pre-term delivery. Also, if youre pregnant and have chlamydia, you can pass the infection on to your newborn. Babies born with chlamydia may have pneumonia or conjunctivitis that could lead to blindness if not treated.
Complications of chlamydia for people with penises
Untreated chlamydia can cause:
- Epididymitis. Infection can spread to the testicles and the tube that carries sperm to your testicles , causing symptoms like pain, swelling and tenderness in your testicles.
- Reduced fertility. Chlamydia can harm your sperm, negatively impacting your ability to conceive.
Complications of chlamydia that can affect all genders
Untreated chlamydia can:
How Does The Nhs Provide Treatment For Chlamydia
Treatment is available on the NHS at either GP surgeries or sexual health clinics. Chlamydia is easily treated and cured with antibiotics like doxycycline . If you take your treatment correctly, it is over 95% effective for genital chlamydia.
Does it take long to get an appointment? it depends on how busy the clinics or surgeries are. Some clinics also have a walk-in service where you dont have to make an appointment before.
Do I need to pay for tests or treatment on the NHS? no, all tests and treatment are free through the NHS services and the National Chlamydia Screening Programme . You may have to pay a prescription charge fee if you need a prescription for treatment from your GP practice.
Once you take treatment you should notice an improvement in any symptoms quite quickly. Any discharge or pain when you urinate should disappear within a week and any pain in your pelvis or testicles should disappear within two weeks. If your symptoms do not improve despite treatment, then speak to your doctor. You may need further treatment or investigation about any possible cause.
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Home Remedies For Chlamydia
There are several home remedies for chlamydia and a number of websites claim that these home remedies can cure chlamydia. While some of the home remedies have been shown to have antibacterial properties, antibiotics are the only proven cure for chlamydia. It isnt worth the risk of infertility or illness to not treat chlamydia.
If you experience symptoms, some of these home remedies may be effective for symptom relief, but they cannot cure the infection itself.
How Long Can You Have Chlamydia Without Knowing
Chlamydia is sometimes called a silent infection because the majority of people who have chlamydia regardless of gender never notice symptoms. People who do notice symptoms often dont recognize the signs that they have chlamydia until a few weeks after theyve been infected. Because chlamydia cases are often asymptomatic, its easy to spread chlamydia to someone else without realizing it. And its easy to miss out on receiving the treatment needed to prevent the serious complications that can result from chlamydia.
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What Do I Need To Know If I Get Treated For Chlamydia
If youre getting treated for chlamydia:
- Take all of your medicine the way your nurse or doctor tells you to, even if any symptoms you may be having go away sooner. The infection stays in your body until you finish the antibiotics.
- Your partner should also get treated for chlamydia so you dont re-infect each other or anyone else.
- Dont have sex for 7 days. If you only have 1 dose of medication, wait for 7 days after you take it before having sex. If youre taking medicine for 7 days, dont have sex until youve finished all of your pills.
- Get tested again in 3-4 months to make sure your infection is gone.
- Dont share your medicine with anyone. Your nurse or doctor may give you a separate dose of antibiotics for your partner. Make sure you both take all of the medicine you get.
- Even if you finish your treatment and the chlamydia is totally gone, its possible to get a new chlamydia infection again if youre exposed in the future. Chlamydia isnt a one-time-only deal. So use condoms and get tested regularly.
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How Long Does It Take To Show Up On A Test
There are several tests that you doctor might use to diagnose chlamydia:
- Urine test. Youll pee in a cup thats sent off to a laboratory testing facility to see if any chlamydia bacteria are present in your urine.
- Blood test. Your doctor will use a sterile needle to draw some of your blood and send it to a lab to see if antibodies to the chlamydia bacteria are present in your bloodstream.
- Swab. Your doctor will use a cotton round or stick to take a small sample of tissue or fluid that carries the infection, which is then sent to a lab to be cultured so that lab technicians can see what bacteria grows from the sample.
How long it takes for the results to show up depends on the test and on your specific health insurance plan.
- Urine tests take about 2 to 5 days to show a positive or negative result.
- Blood tests can come back with results in a few minutes if the blood is analyzed on site. But they can take a week or more if sent to an off-site lab.
- Swab results take about 2 to 3 days to show a positive or negative.
1 to 3 weeks to show up in people with vulvas.
Symptoms may take up a few months to show up. This is because bacteria are living creatures and have an incubation period that affects how long it takes them to cluster together and become infectious.
This incubation period is dependent on a variety of factors, including:
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Can I Test Positive For Chlamydia And Not Have It
For example, a persons urine test for chlamydia may be positive but theor genital culture negative. Their doctor may recommend a course of antibiotics to treat the possible infection despite the conflicting results. This can occur because no diagnostic test is perfect. False STD test results can and do happen.
How Can I Prevent Getting Chlamydia
Anyone who is sexually active can catch chlamydia. Youâre most at risk if you have a new sexual partner or donât use a barrier method of contraception, such as a condom, when having sex. You can help to prevent the spread of chlamydia by:
- using a condom every time you have vaginal or anal sex
- using a condom to cover the penis during oral sex
- using a dam to cover the female genitals during oral sex or when rubbing female genitals together
- not sharing sex toys. If you do share sex toys, wash them or cover them with a new condom between each person who uses them.
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How Do I Talk To My Partners
Preventing chlamydia begins with knowing more about your sexual partners and establishing safe sex practices.
You can get chlamydia by engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors with someone who has chlamydia. This includes contact with the genitals or other affected areas as well as penetrative sex.
Before having sex, talk to your partners about:
- whether theyve been tested recently for STDs
- their sexual history
- their other risk factors
Talking to your partner about STDs can be difficult. There are ways to ensure you can have an open and honest conversation about the issue before engaging in sex.
Mens symptoms can include:
- discharge from the penis
- changes in the testicles, such as pain or swelling
You may also experience chlamydia away from the genitals.
Symptoms in your rectum can include pain, bleeding, and unusual discharge. You may even get chlamydia in your throat, causing redness or soreness or no symptoms at all. Conjunctivitis may be the sign of chlamydia in your eye.
What Causes Chlamydia
Chlamydia infections spread through sexual contact, when vaginal fluid or semen containing the bacteria that causes chlamydia travels from one person to another. Sexual contact includes all kinds of sex, including sex that doesnt involve penetration or ejaculation. There are lots of ways that the fluids from one persons genitals can transmit the bacteria that causes chlamydia.
- Intercourse. Bacteria pass from one persons penis to their partners vagina or vice versa.
- Anal sex. Bacteria passes from one persons penis to their partners anus or vice versa.
- Oral sex. Bacteria passes from one persons mouth to their partners penis, vagina, or anus, or vice versa.
- Sex involving toys. Bacteria pass from a toy with the bacteria to a persons mouth, penis, vagina or anus.
- Manual stimulation of the genitals or anus. Less commonly, infected vaginal fluid or semen can come in contact with a persons eye, causing an infection called conjunctivitis. For example, this can happen if you touch the genitals of an infected person and then rub your eyes without washing your hands first.
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How To Take It
Always swallow your doxycycline capsule whole and have it with a full glass of water .
You can take this medicine with or without food. However you’re less likely to feel sick if you have it with food.
It’s important to take doxycycline while you’re in an upright position. You can be sitting, standing or walking. This will stop the medicine irritating your food pipe or stomach.
How Did I Get Chlamydia If I Didnt Cheat
You can get chlamydia if your partner had vaginal, oral or anal sex with someone who was infected and then had sex with you. People in relationships may have different ideas about what kinds of sexual contact counts as cheating, and this miscommunication can lead to infections. Communicate honestly with your partner about what sex youre having and what sex theyre having. Practice safer sex to reduce your risk of catching chlamydia, and get regularly screened to be sure.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
It can be embarrassing to talk about anything sex-related with your healthcare provider, including STI prevention. But your sex life is an important part of your health that your provider needs to know about to care for you. Not getting the treatment you need for chlamydia can pose serious risks to your health. Speak with your provider about getting regularly screened for chlamydia and other STIs to reduce your risks of complications. Practice safer sex to prevent the spread of chlamydia.
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