It usually takes about 48 hours to get results. To test for gonorrhea, your doctor will usually take a swab from your vagina or do a urine test. This includes discharge, itching, soreness, bleeding, and painful bowel movements, according to the CDC. Yep, gonorrhea can be transmitted through anal sex, meaning unpleasant symptoms can show up in your anus. Your best bet is to talk to your doc about it to get an accurate diagnosis. However, if it’s the only symptom you notice, there are a slew of other things can cause irregular periods-like uterine fibroids, PCOS, or even just stress. That’s why some women with gonorrhea notice spotting or bleeding in between periods. When the cervix becomes inflamed, it bleeds easily, explains Farid. If you’re infected there, you might notice symptoms when you pee, such as pain, burning, or feeling like you have to go but not being able to (all things you also might notice if you have a urinary tract infection), says Dr. It burns when you peeĪn infection from gonorrhea can also occur in the urethra, the duct that carries urine from the bladder. “Normally, touching the cervix will not be painful, but in a woman with gonorrhea, this would be very painful,” she says. If you have gonorrhea, an ob-gyn’s physical exam with their fingers might hurt, too, she says. Painful sex? Struggling to put a tampon? That could be a sign that your cervix, where the infection can occur, is inflamed, says Dr. When in doubt, call your doc to figure out what the issue is. Just note if your vagina is itchy but smells more fishy, that could be a sign of bacterial vaginosis. It’s often accompanied with an itchy feeling, too. When gonorrhea infects the cervix, it causes an inflammatory response that produces the substance, she explains. Women who have symptoms with gonorrhea first tend to complain of a thick, yellow vaginal discharge, says Dr. If you notice any of the following red flags, don’t hesitate to make an appointment with your ob-gyn. So what can you do to protect yourself? Other than preventing the STI in the first place through safe sex practices (always use a condom, people!), there are subtle signs of gonorrhea to keep your eyes peeled for so you can seek treatment ASAP. Problem is, when left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease-a condition where bacteria travels up from the cervix and urethra to the uterus and fallopian tubes-which can cause a severe infection and ultimately lead to infertility, says Huma Farid, MD, an ob-gyn at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In fact, there is only one class of antibiotics (known as cephalosporins) left as a recommended treatment. That means antibiotics that used to do the trick simply can’ t kill the same bacteria now. What’s more, the STI has become an “urgent public health threat” because it has developed antibiotic resistance to nearly all of the medication used for its treatment in the past. While incidences of gonorrhea did hit an all-time low back in 2009, the number of reported cases have increased by nearly 50 percent as of 2016, according to the CDC. Roughly 820,000 infections pop up every year, and more than half of them affect people ages 15 to 24.
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