How Do You Know If You Have Gonorrhea?
STD: Gonorrhea Infection
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted disease. According to the latest reports in 2010 from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) around 309,341 people we reported to have Gonorrhea. It's important to note that not everyone that has it, reports it. Therefore, CDC estimates that over 700,000 people contract the disease each year. This statistic shouldn't just be a number to you, but a warning about how easy it is to contract.
It's important to know that STDs, including Gonorrhea, are contracted from any type of sexual contact and can pretty much infect anywhere that is soft and moist, including the throat and eyes.
Gonorrhea Symptoms
If you've ever read anything about Chlamydia, then you'll know the symptoms are about the same, which makes trying to guess yourself fairly impossible. If you sense you may have something wrong, go see a Doctor to have them test you. Further, lots of people don't even show symptoms of this STD which makes curing it harder, and passing it to others easier. That should explain why Doctors recommend getting checked for STDs every year if you are sexually active.
The common symptoms for Gonorrhea are:
- Pain and/or burning during urination
- Increased feeling and desire to urinate
- White, yellow or green discharge
- Red swollen tip of penis (men)
- Tender or swollen testicles (men)
- Pain in the stomach, abdomen (women)
- Pain during intercourse (women)
Also, if you let the infection spread to your bloodstream, the follow can also occur:
- Fever
- Rash
- Joint Pain
Gonorrhea Complications
Like Chlamydia, if left untreated Gonorrhea can cause many complications to the health:
For men, it can cause:
- Scarring of the urethra
- Scarring and absses around the tip of the penis
For women, it can cause:
- Scarring of the fallopian tubes
- Infertility
- Ectopic Pregnancies
- PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease)
If spread to the blood stream, the disease can also cause:
- Joint Infections with arthritis like pain
- Meningitis
- Heart Valve Infection
Also important to note, if a pregnant mother is infected, the disease can be passed to the child during birth which can infect the child. If it infects the child's eyes, it can cause blindness.
Treatment of Gonorrhea
Treatment is easy and safe. Gonorrhea can be cured. All you have to do is take a course of antibiotics and you'll be cured. The trick is to not have sex while taking the medicine and to make sure you don't have unprotected sex with the same person you got infected from. A better idea would be to inform the person who infected you and have them get treated also.
The only real way to avoid reinfection is abstinence. If you're only having sex with one person (you're in a monogamous relationship) and you both do not have any STDs, then you're also safe from any reinfection.
The most common antibiotic used is Amoxicilin, the same medicine used to cure most other types of common infections.
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Having STDs can be an embarrassing thing, but compared to all the STDs, treating and curing Gonorrhea is very easy. It's not a big deal. Just go get it done and it'll be all over. Obviously, the best thing to do is use protection (meaning condoms) even if the other person is on birth control. Birth control does not prevent STDs.