Danni asks :
Hi Lucy,
Right so here I go, I'm one of those people that thinks about things too much, and I slept with someone a little older. After I did it loads of things went through my head about being pregnant, if I had caught anything, I went to clinic and had a pregnancy test which was negative, and I just can't stop thinking that I might have something (not that I've shown any signs of anything). I just always think of older lads as sleeping around with loads people. I want to go and get checked out just to be on safe side, but then I just can't bring myself to go. I feel sick thinking about it thinking I have something and thinking that if I knew then it would just bring me so down, really don't know what to do :(
Hi Danni,
Agony Aunts on Female First
You have had a pregnancy test which has put your mind at ease about that side of things but you need to know if you have contracted an STI too.
Some STIs do not produce any symptoms, such as chlamydia- people do not know they have it because they feel no different.
Not all older men sleep around but if you don’t know this man well then you have no idea about his sexual past- it might only be one woman, it might be a number, but even if he has only slept with one person that woman might have had something. You can never be too careful.
If you book in at the GUM clinic or your local doctors, you can opt to see a female nurse if you wish to make things a little easier. They will ask you when you last had sex, if it was unprotected, if you have had any symptoms and why you think you have an infection. Tests include a urine sample, a blood sample, swabs from your vagina, which you can do yourself or an examination; however it’s usually a urine test. The results should come back within a couple of weeks. If you do need treatment you can make another appointment and if you don’t then you can use this experience to make your next sexual encounter safer.
You will be more ‘down’ if you leave an untreated STI and find you have health problems in future, than you will if you make a trip to the doctors and get a course of antibiotics. Please go and get checked out for your own peace of mind.
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