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What is gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is a sexually
transmitted diseases (STD). It's also called GC, clap, or drip. It
usually causes pain in your lower belly and a change in the color and
smell of your vaginal
discharge. But many people have gonorrhea and don't even know it
because they don't have any symptoms. Gonorrhea can lead to serious
illness and can cause problems in your ability to have children later
in life.
How do you get gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is caused by bacteria
that infect your reproductive system. You can catch it if you have any
kind of sex with an infected person — oral,
vaginal, or anal. You don't have to have actual intercourse to catch
gonorrhea.
Can I get gonorrhea from a public
toilet?
You might have heard a rumor that you can catch gonorrhea from
swimming pools, towels, toilet seats, or water splashing on you from
the toilet bowl. No need to worry. You can't get gonorrhea from any of
those things. back
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Who can get gonorrhea?
Anybody can get it, but the people who are more likely to get it are:
- teenagers
- people who have many sexual partners
- people who've had sexual intercourse for
the first time at a young age back
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What can I do to avoid gonorrhea?
You can lower your chances of getting gonorrhea and other sexually
transmitted diseases by using a condom.
A condom prevents the bacteria in semen
from getting into your vagina and infecting you. But the best way to
avoid getting gonorrhea or any sexually transmitted disease is to not
have sex or intimate sexual contact at all. back
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How do I know if I have gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea can show up in your body in a bunch of different ways.
Here's what you might notice if you have it:
- Pain or irritation when you pee. Gonorrhea
affects the urethra,
the tube that leads from the bladder
to the outside, in men and can in women also. An infected urethra can cause you to have pain
when you pee. You may also feel like you have to pee often, or you
might get a strong urge to pee but not much comes out.
- Abnormal vaginal
discharge in women. Since gonorrhea infects the
cervix,
you may notice blood coming from your vagina (that's not your period
) or a change in the smell or color of your regular vaginal
discharge.
- Irregular periods. Gonorrhea can cause
your periods to stop coming regularly every month. If you suddenly
begin having irregular periods after they've been regular for a
while, you may have gonorrhea.
- Pain in the lower part of your belly. Gonorrhea
can spread from the cervix to the rest of your reproductive
system, through the uterus
to the fallopian
tubes and ovaries.
When it spreads, it becomes a condition called pelvic
inflammatory disease (PID). PID usually causes lower belly
pain and fever.
- Pain in the upper right part of your belly. Gonorrhea
can infect your liver.
This is called Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome, and causes nausea,
fever, and pain in the upper right part of your belly over your
liver.
- Sore throat. Gonorrhea can be spread to
the mouth by oral
sex.
- Rectal pain. Gonorrhea can spread to the rectum
either by anal sex or because the discharge from your vagina
infects the tissues of your rectum. If your rectum gets infected,
you can feel pain, start bleeding, and get constipated.
- Fever. Both PID and Fitz-Hugh-Curtis
syndrome can cause fever. In addition, gonorrhea can cause disease
throughout the whole body, which will show up as fever, rash, and
joint pain. back
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What should I do if I think I have
gonorrhea?
Remember, you can have gonorrhea without knowing it. You may have very
mild symptoms or none at all. If you think you might have caught
gonorrhea from someone, make an appointment with your health
professional to get tested. A test called a urethral or cervical culture will tell your health professional if you have gonorrhea.
This test is done during a genital exam.
During the exam, your health professional will take a sample of your discharge. The lab will test it to see if you have gonorrhea. It
should take about 24 to 48 hours after your visit to find out. Your
health professional will call you or write you a letter to tell you
the results of the test.
Sometimes your health professional can tell if you have gonorrhea just
by looking at a sample of your discharge under the microscope.
It may be possible to see the gonorrhea bacteria inside the white
blood cells in your discharge. If there are gonorrhea
bacteria, your doctor will tell you right then and give you some
medicine to start fighting the infection. back
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How do I get rid of gonorrhea?
If you have gonorrhea, you take antibiotics
to cure it. In most cases, you can be cured with one dose of
antibiotics taken in a pill or a shot. You should also be treated for chlamydia.
That's because many girls who have gonorrhea also have chlamydia,
another sexually
transmitted diseases. If you also have chlamydia, you will need
two separate drugs because the medicine used to treat gonorrhea
doesn't work on chlamydia.
If you have a more serious case of gonorrhea, such as PID,
you may have to go to the hospital for a few days. In the hospital,
you will be given antibiotics through an IV
to help clear up the infection. back
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How do I know if the medicine
is working?
A week after you finish taking the medicine, you should go back to
your health professional for another test, which will prove that
you've been cured by the antibiotics. back
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Should my partner be treated
for gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease, so if you have it, it is
very likely that your partner also has it. They should see their health
professional to get tested and treated. If you've had sex or any kind
of intimate
sexual contact with more than one person, you should tell everyone
you were with so they all can get treated. back
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Can I have sex while I'm taking the
medicine for gonorrhea?
You're cured of gonorrhea after one dose of antibiotics, but you
shouldn't have sex with your partner or anyone else until you've had
follow-up tests to prove it. Otherwise, you may just give the disease
back to your partner or they could give it back to you. back
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Who should I talk to if I think I
have gonorrhea?
You should call your health professional whenever you have a discharge
from your penis or vagina that looks or smells funny or if you have pain in your lower
belly. If you're a woman, remember to have a pelvic exam once a year, especially if
you're sexually active. During the pelvic
exam, your health professional will do a test to check for
gonorrhea. back
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What if I have gonorrhea, but I
don't do anything about it?
If you're a woman with gonorrhea and you don't get help for it, you could develop
pelvic
inflammatory disease (PID). PID is an infection of part of
your reproductive system. The infection starts in the cervix, and
travels through the uterus
to the fallopian
tubes and the ovaries.
PID can scar your reproductive organs, which can affect your ability
to have children later in life. A person who has PID can usually be
cured with antibiotics, but sometimes it's very serious and requires a
hospital stay. back
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