Experiencing Pelvic Inflammatory Disease?

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a condition that occurs when the female reproductive organs become infected. STDs like chlamydia are often to blame for pelvic inflammatory disease.

Symptoms of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Not every woman who develops pelvic inflammatory disease will experience symptoms. In fact, some women don't become aware of the problem until they start having trouble conceiving. Common symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease include: • Pain in the lower abdomen • Pelvic pain • Lower back pain • Thick vaginal discharge (also a common chlamydia symptom) • Pain during intercourse • Painful urination, or difficulty urinating

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and Chlamydia

Untreated chlamydia is a common cause of pelvic inflammatory disease in women. Though chlamydia can be easily cured with medication, the disease often fails to produce obvious STD symptoms. As such, many at-risk women neglect to undergo chlamydia testing and don't learn of their infected status until symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease set in.

Repercussions of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

In addition to causing chronic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease can also result in: • Potentially-fatal ectopic pregnancies • Infertility due to reproductive system damage or scarring

Treatment for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Antibiotics are often used to treat pelvic inflammatory disease. Pain medication may also be administered as necessary to help alleviate the physical repercussions of this condition.

Preventing Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

One of the best ways to prevent pelvic inflammatory disease is to practice safe sexual habits. The proper and consistent use of condoms can reduce the risk of STDs, which in turn can reduce the risk of PID. Limiting intercourse to one sexual partner at a time can also help lower pelvic inflammatory disease risk. In addition, undergoing regular STD testing can help prevent PID. When diseases like chlamydia are caught early on and treated, the likelihood of PID developing is significantly lower than in cases of untreated infection. The CDC recommends annual chlamydia screenings for sexually active females aged 25 and under, and those who engage in high-risk sexual behavior should consider getting tested more frequently. Syphilis Though syphilis was once considered to be an STD on the verge of extinction in the U.S., it has been making an unwelcome comeback in recent years. The problem with syphilis is that it doesn't always present with symptoms, and as such, many people remain infected for years without even knowing it. This increases the risk of long-term syphilis effects for those who have it and also causes many people to inadvertently transmit the disease to their sexual partners.