1) Fear and shame One of the most common reasons for not seeking help is fear and shame. People recognize the negative stigma and discrimination associated with having a mental illness and don’t want to be labeled “mentally ill” or “crazy.”
Can STI complications be prevented?
STI complications don’t occur often when the condition is properly managed and treated. So the best way to prevent further complications is to get tested regularly and start taking proper treatment as soon as possible.
Why don't people tell you when they have an STI?
Here are 10 reasons why people sometimes don't tell their sexual partners when they have an STI. Some of them are understandable; others are not. Sometimes a person will know they have an STI and they should be telling you about it. But they may simply be too embarrassed or ashamed to talk about their infection.
Why is it important to seek medical help for STIs?
This is the reason why many of those affected choose not speak out and seek medical help. However, this is a very dangerous practice as many STIs can cause severe health complications if left untreated. Even when they are dormant – that is, when they don’t manifest any specific symptoms, it is still important to get proper treatment.
Why don’t more young people seek care for STDs?
Many young persons delay seeking care for STDs for a number of reasons. Strategies to improve STD care-seeking include encouragement of symptomatic persons to seek medical care more rapidly, reduction of social stigmas, and improved access to testing options.
What are some reasons why people don't seek treatment for STIs?
Barriers to testing and treatment One of the most common reasons young people don't get tested is that they underestimate the risk of contracting an STI. Some people, especially young men, were afraid of the test procedure itself, imagining it to be invasive and painful.
What can happen if you don't seek treatment for an STI?
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as they are also referred to, often have no symptoms. However, if left untreated there can be serious consequences including blindness and other neurologic manifestations, infertility, mother-to-child transmission or birth defects.
Is treatment of an STD necessary?
Need Confidential & Fast STD Tests Early treatment is crucial to prevent the bacteria from spreading to and damaging other organs. Genital herpes : Once you are infected with genital herpes, the virus remains in your body for life.
Do most STI go away without treatment?
The upshot is that it's possible for some — not all — STDs to go away by themselves, but it's also possible for STDs to persist for months, years, or the rest of your life. If you could have been exposed to an STD, the best thing to do is get tested — not to hope that if you did get something, it'll just go away.
What are 3 possible long term consequences of an untreated STI?
In addition, STDs can cause long-term health problems, particularly in women and infants. Some of the health complications that arise from STDs include pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, tubal or ectopic pregnancy, cervical cancer, and perinatal or congenital infections in infants born to infected mothers.
How does STI affect the community?
Poverty and marginalization. STDs disproportionately affect disadvantaged people and people in social networks where high-risk sexual behavior is common, and either access to care or health-seeking behavior is compromised.
Why is STD treatment important?
Preventing STDs: Why is it Important? While many STDs can be cured or treated with medication, the consequences of untreated STDs can include: infertility, pregnancy complications, cervical cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, birth defects and a 3- to 5-fold increased risk of HIV transmission.
Are STIs treatable?
Effective treatment is currently available for several STIs. Three bacterial STIs (chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis) and one parasitic STI (trichomoniasis) are generally curable with existing single-dose regimens of antibiotics.
Why STD treatment is important?
STD treatment reduces an individual's ability to transmit HIV. Studies have shown that treating STDs in HIV-infected individuals decreases both the amount of HIV they shed and how often they shed the virus (Fleming, Wasserheit, 1999). STD treatment reduces the spread of HIV infection in communities.
What is the difference between STI and STD?
The first difference between STDs and STIs is in the name. STD stands for sexually transmitted disease, whereas STI means sexually transmitted infection. Essentially, the difference is between a disease and an infection. Not all diseases begin with infections, but many do.
What is the most common STI?
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection HPV is the most common STI in the United States, but most people with the infection have no symptoms. HPV can cause some health effects that are preventable with vaccines.
How does syphilis progress?
One of the most dangerous STIs, syphilis progresses through three distinct stages. Ideally it should be treated early on, although treatment is possible even in the latest stage, although it would require hospitalization and most probably, the damage caused could not get reversed. While first two stages are more unpleasant than dangerous, the third stage is marked by severe health complications, sometimes even with a lethal outcome. Some of the documented syphilis complications include critical organ failure, stroke, paralysis, blindness, deafness, heart disease and dementia.
What causes a woman to have a PID?
Fever. General malaise. Nausea and vomiting. According to numerous studies, around 10 to 15% of women affected by chlamydia will develop PID if they don’t seek timely treatment for their condition. Some scientists also speculate that untreated STIs that result in PID can also cause various fertility problems.
What is the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease?
Risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) Infertility as a result of untreated STI. Pregnancy complications: Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. Epididymo-orchitis as a result of untreated STI.
What are the complications of syphilis?
Some of the documented syphilis complications include critical organ failure, stroke, paralysis, blindness, deafness, heart disease and dementia.
Can chlamydia cause PID?
PID can cause an array of uncomfortable symptoms: According to numerous studies, around 10 to 15% of women affected by chlamydia will develop PID if they don’t seek timely treatment for their condition. Some scientists also speculate that untreated STIs that result in PID can also cause various fertility problems.
Can gonorrhoea cause pain in the testicles?
One especially painful complication that can occur in men if conditions such as chlamydia or gonorrhoea are left untreated is epididymo-orchitis, an inflammation and swelling of the part of the testicles that is tasked with producing sperm. The bacterial STIs are especially likely to cause this complication since they tend to infect urethra from where they can easily progress into the testicles if left untreated.
Can STIs cause pregnancy problems?
Aside from problems when trying to conceive, untreated STIs can also cause a number of issues during pregnancy, with some of them being very serious and at times even life threatening, especially when it comes to the health of new-born baby.
What are the barriers to seeking treatment in primary care?
These included the demographic characteristics of the GP, GP attitudes towards later life sexuality, the attribution of sexual problems to ‘normal ageing’, shame/embarrassment and fear, perceiving sexual problems as ‘not serious’ and lack of knowledge about appropriate services.
What is perceived attitude of GP towards older person seeking help for a sexual problem?
The perceived attitude of the GP towards an older person seeking help for a sexual problem was also cited as a barrier to treatment seeking, notably by two men currently experiencing ED. Such concerns were expressed within the context of having built up a relationship with their GP over a number of years.
Do older people have asexuality?
This is particularly true for older people, whose perceived ‘asexuality’ has led to them being excluded from sexual health research.
Why don't people get tested?
One of the most common reasons young people don’t get tested is that they underestimate the risk of contracting an STI. Some people, especially young men, were afraid of the test procedure itself, imagining it to be invasive and painful.
What causes gonorrhoea to develop resistance to antibiotics?
The bacterium that causes gonorrhoea has developed resistance to every single class of antibiotics introduced for its treatment since the mid-1930s. from www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND. Antibiotic resistance arises when an infectious microorganism is no longer susceptible to an antibiotic to which it was previously sensitive.
How many cases of chlamydia are there in New Zealand?
In New Zealand, 67% of chlamydia cases and 57% of gonorrhoea cases are among people between the ages of 15 and 24. This is not solely due to sexual behaviour. Young women, for example, are more vulnerable to STIs as the vagina’s natural defences to infection have not fully matured. Early detection and treatment are crucial if we want ...
What are the antibiotics used for?
Since the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been used to fight the bacterial STIs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis. However, in many countries infection rates remain a serious issue. In New Zealand, rates of some STIs are higher than in other countries.
What is the first line of treatment for gonorrhoea?
The only options for first-line treatment for gonorrhoea are the extended spectrum cephalosporins. However, isolates with decreased susceptibility to cephalosporins have now been reported in several countries, including New Zealand. After this antibiotic fails, there are no more treatment options.
Why is timely detection and treatment important?
Nevertheless, timely detection and treatment is important to prevent future health impacts for the individual as well as the spread to others . Our results imply that making people aware of their own risk and the severity of STIs may be one way to encourage early testing.
Is STI testing free in New Zealand?
In New Zealand, STI tests are generally free to those under 22, but may attract a fee for older people who seek testing through their general practitioner. The biggest challenge, however, is to lessen the social stigma associated with STIs.
Why don't people get tested?
Here are the top 5 reasons as to why 1 in 2 people fail to get tested. The first is education. If you don’t know that you are at risk, then you won’t get tested. The quality of sexual education varies from region to region. From what we have surveyed, most developed countries do teach about HIV and how it is contracted.
What was the only sex education they received before the AIDS crisis?
For older populations that matured before the AIDS crisis, the only sex education they received was from their parents, which was close to none. This population, leaving committed relationships now that their kids are grown, make their debut into dating with poorer information than their kids.
Why is sexual health different from other aspects of health?
Sexual health is different that other aspects of health because it involves what we do with our cloths off with someone else. For most people, sexual intimacy is private and most people would prefer it to stay that way on the giving and receiving end.
Do doctors have to keep patient information confidential?
While, doctors and nurses are required by law to keep patient information confidential, in some regions , when there is positive test, names of previous lovers are taken down and the person being tested is reported to the health authorities.
Abstract
- Gott M and Hinchliff S. Barriers to seeking treatment for sexual problems in primary care: a qualitative study with older people. Family Practice 2003; 20:690–695.
Introduction
- The recently published UK National Sexual Health Strategy identifies ‘protecting, supporting and restoring’ sexual health as a key role for primary care.1 However, in order for this role to be fulfilled, patients have to be willing to discuss their sexual concerns within consultations, which currently does not appear to be the case. Indeed, a survey of the prevalence of sexual problems …
Methods
- In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 women and 23 men aged 50–92 years (Table 1). This relatively wide conception of ‘older’ was adopted because the term has taken on a particular meaning within sexual health research, with ‘older people’ typically defined as those over 50.8–10 All participants were recruited from the patient lists of one general practice …
Results
- Although it was not our aim to recruit older people with a sexual problem, 25 participants reported current, or recent, experience of such a problem. Ten participants reported personal experience of erectile dysfunction (ED) (seven men and three women whose partners were experiencing, or had experienced, ED). Seven older women had experienced reduced vaginal lubrication, and one ma…
Discussion
- This qualitative study has identified that although older people see the GP as the most appropriate professional with whom to discuss sexual problems, they rarely initiate such discussions themselves. These findings confirm and extend previous research, which has identified that a significant proportion of people who experience sexual problems do not seek tr…
Author Notes
- Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing, University of Sheffield, Community Sciences Centre, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK