STDs: What They Are

Here is a general discussion on STDs, which is something that everybody needs to understand, as well as have treated. We will start with herpes. Herpes is terrifying because it doesn’t really have many symptoms with the carriers not really knowing they have herpes to begin with. Herpes is a blister around the genitals or anus. The first time it outbreaks can be the most painful, but additional outbreaks aren’t so bad. The only treatment is antiviral medications that can help repress or prevent outbreaks. Herpes can be transmitted through unprotected sex, although the best cure for not contracting a painful illness like this is monogamy with one partner. Condoms may or may not work since abstinence is more effective than actually infecting somebody with herpes because you can’t keep a lid on it.

Gonorrhea is another nasty STD that nobody wants, with little in the way of symptoms aside from painful peeing. Men have swollen testicles, and women have bleeding in between their menstrual cycles. Untreated gonorrhea can cause infertility if it doesn’t get treated with single dose antibiotics, which prevent the illness from spreading to the blood or joints. In order to have sex again, a gonorrhea patient must avoid sex until the symptoms go away. You do not want to be an STD spreader. That gets you a bad reputation. You do not want to be slutty with these illnesses, because you could wind up with an antibiotic resistant strain of gonorrhea, which can take forever to be cured.

Latex condoms or dental dams can prevent all sorts of STD transmitting. So can outright serial monogamy. Like many sexually transmitted diseases, chlamydia can be invisible except for that discharge coming from your genitals and pain when urinating. Women get lower back pain, stomach pain, nausea, painful sex, bleeding after sex or in between periods. Look out for antibiotic resistant strains of chlamydia, which is also treated by antibiotics, some treating it as a one-hit-wonder. Some require seven days use. This is why some people wait until they are married before having sex. Although there was a statistic that 95% of Americans have premarital sex while the other 5% who are usually religious wait until marriage.

Here’s the kicker: chlamydia can be spread via oral, anal, or vaginal sex, which can in turn cause a massive infection of the anus, mouth or throat as much as the penis or vagina gets infected. Then we come to human papilloma virus also known as HPV or genital warts. Sometimes HPV goes away on it’s own. HPV can lead to cancer in the vagina, anus, throat, and cervix. There are two types of HPV, the kind that causes cancer, and the kind that causes warts. Treatment for HPV is creams, gels, and solutions all available by prescription. Also, liquid nitrogen can help take the warts away but this is all expensive if you have to pay for it. The best way to avoid STDs is not to get yourself into a situation with somebody you don’t know. The warts common of HPV can be treated also by removing them with a scalpel, scissors, or other devices such as a curette or electro-surgery. For those of you who do not know what a curette is, well, it is a very terrifying surgical device that is used in such cleaning procedures as removing HPV style warts. These devices are quite useful but painful.

The worst is saved for last, since HIV/AIDS is by far the worst sexually transmitted disease you can get. As usual, HIV infection doesn’t have many symptoms at first since a person can remain healthy for many years without showing anything obvious. When somebody is taking medication like AZT to control viral outbreaks that is when HIV becomes apparent. HIV turns into AIDS when the symptoms occur. HIV simply means the immune system is damaged. AIDS means that damage comes to light with symptoms such as fever, rashes, lesions, night sweats, and blurred vision. The only way to protect yourself from HIV is by using a condom but at the same time, abstinence works great too. A drug called PEP or post-exposure prophylaxis can help protect somebody just exposed to HIV. The best method to prevent any STD infection is abstinence or outright serial monogamy. You do not want to be the one infecting people with STDs.