Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) – Houston
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is an infection of the female reproductive organs. It usually occurs when sexually transmitted bacteria spread from your vagina to your uterus and upper genital tract. It is a term used to describe any infection in the lower female reproductive tract that spreads to the upper female reproductive tract. The lower female genital tract consists of the vagina and the cervix.
Symptoms
Symptoms of PID begin immediately after menstruation more often than at any other time during the menstrual cycle. This may indicate that menstrual blood flows backwards from the uterus into the fallopian tubes, carrying the infecting organisms with it. Symptomatic women may present with a chief complaint of lower abdominal pain, abnormal vaginal discharge , abnormal uterine bleeding, dyspareunia, menometrorrhagia, pain at the time of menses, nausea, vomiting, fever. Symptoms may develop quickly. You can become quite ill over a few days.
How To Prevent
Sex in a permanent relationship where you are both faithful to each other is another way to prevent PID. Even then you can never be totally sure about what the other person might do when you are not with them.
Sexual activity should not resume until all sex partners have been examined and, if necessary, treated. Sexually active women under the age of 25 have the highest risk of developing PID, with most cases occurring in teenagers. This may be because young women are more likely than older women to have multiple sexual partners and practice unsafe sex two high risk behaviours for getting PID. Sexually transmitted PID often causes mild or unnoticeable infection. Women who have had PID (often as teenagers or young adults) may find later in life they are unable to become pregnant.
Doctors aren’t sure why this happens, but sometimes normal bacteria in the vagina spread into the uterus, fallopian tubes and abdomen, causing PID. PID can also occur after certain surgical procedures on the female organs. Doctors suspect the disease if women have pain in the lower abdomen or if they have an unexplained discharge from the vagina and particularly if they are of reproductive age. A physical examination, including a pelvic examination, is done. PID can occur after the insertion of an intrauterine device (IUD), but this isn’t common.
Treating PID early is important to prevent problems later on. Treating partners for STIs is a very important part of treatment. Anyone with PID and partners of patients with PID since six months prior to diagnosis should be treated to prevent reinfection.
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