Chlamydia and guys

[Sophie]

Do women get symptoms with this STD? I was treated for it but didn't have all the things going on my partner did. Why is it different for girls?

[cyeo]

Women do get symptoms, but they are different in guys and girls. But with both sexes, it's possible to not have any symptoms until later, when the symptoms can be really bad.

[cyeo]

Originally Posted by cyeo

Women do get symptoms, but they are different in guys and girls. But with both sexes, it's possible to not have any symptoms until later, when the symptoms can be really bad.

I realized that my last post didn't really answer the question. Let me go just a bit more in detail...

One thing is though the disease tends to affect women more so than men, men are just as likely to contract the disease and spread it on to their partners. In fact, since men are less likely to ever show any symptoms from the infection, they often walk around unaware that they have the disease, and women then become more frequently re-infected due to their sexual partners not being treated. Men are, usually, more asymptomatic than women are.

Another point is that while complications among men are rare, untreated Chlamydia can cause irreversible damage in women, including chronic pelvic pain, infertility, and potentially-fatal ectopic pregnancies (pregnancies that occur outside the uterus). Women who are infected with Chlamydia are also more likely to contract HIV if exposed. In order to ensure early detection and prevent an untreated infection from causing irreversible damage, regular screening is important and recommended for all sexually active adults.

Symptoms are as follows:

Women: Once untreated Chlamydia progresses from the cervix to the fallopian tubes, it can cause a painful condition called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). There are many serious health complications that can be the result of PID, including: chronic pain in the pelvis, infertility, and also putting an infected woman at higher risk for an ectopic pregnancy which can be potentially fatal. Additionally, those women infected with Chlamydia are as much as 5 times more likely to contract HIV, compared to uninfected women. Because of the potential for serious, and life threatening, complications from untreated Chlamydia, the CDC recommends all women be annually screened for infection.

Men: Long-term complications from an untreated Chlamydia infection are rare among men. However, there are cases where Chlamydia infection can spread to the Epididymis (the tube that carries sperm from the testicles), which can manifest itself as pain, fever, and even sterility.


So...I guess to answer your question directly, women do get symptoms, and usually more often than men. It is different for girls than guys because our reproductive systems are different, and much of the time sex can be experienced differently for guys and girls. The good news is that it's very treatable, and can, in many cases, be easily cured with a single treatment of antibiotics.

Hope that helps a little bit more.

[Nico]

I tested positive for both gonorrhea and chlamydia a few weeks ago, and my symptoms were never really that bad. Because I recently had a new partner I guess I was more likely to think about STDs so I got the tests, but it wasn't like my symptoms were really bad. I'm glad you can get these kind of tests done pretty easily these days without breaking the bank, because otherwise you really don't know!