How can I avoid getting PID?
Knowing that it exists helps. If you decrease your chances of getting sexually transmitted diseases by practicing ‘safe sex’, you decrease your chances of having PID.
You should have any suspicious symptom, such as spotting between periods or pain with intercourse, investigated promptly.
Consider having a test for chlamydia and other STDs if you may have been at risk but have no symptoms. You may choose to do this on a regular basis, perhaps at the same time as your routine pap smear, or more frequently.
If you have a surgical procedure, like any of those listed above, make sure that you are aware of post-operative instructions. If antibiotics are prescribed, take them. Find out if there are specific things you should do or avoid after surgery. If you have any problems at all following a surgical procedure, notify your doctor.
If I have had PID, how can I find out if there is tube damage?
Having a laparoscopy (see appendix 1) is the most reliable test available for tube function. Under anaesthetic, a dye can be inserted and the flow through the tubes can be watched using the laparoscope. However, having a laparoscopy is not a procedure to be performed without a significant season, because it, like other operations, is not without risks. Laparoscopy is usually warranted as an investigation for infertility, or if a woman is suffering from chronic pelvic pain. This means that many women who have had PID (but don’t have chronic pain, or are not currently experiencing difficulty getting pregnant), will not know if they have damaged tubes or not. So unfortunately it is an area of frustration for many women.
This disease can cause a great deal of individual suffering. Some women who have PID may have the double trauma of the initial infection followed by the long-term problems of infertility and chronic pelvic pain. This disease also costs our community money. The arrival of reproductive technology (for example IVF) has helped infertile couples, but it is, and probably will always be, an expensive technology. Some infertility is preventable. If we can work on preventing infertility, we may suffer less as individuals, and as a community.
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