Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
Anasia Cyrus 12/4/14; period 4
Definition of the disease
Symptoms and Treatments
Signs/Symptoms
You may not realize you have PID because your symptoms may be mild, or you may not experience any symptoms. However, if you do have symptoms, you may notice:
- Pain in your lower abdomen;
- Fever;
- An unusual discharge with a bad odor from your vagina;
- Pain and/or bleeding when you have sex;
- Burning sensation when you urinate; or
- Bleeding between periods.
Treatments
If PID is diagnosed early, it can be treated. Treatment won't undo any damage that has already happened to your reproductive system. The longer you wait to get treated, the more likely it is that you will have complications from PID. While taking antibiotics, your symptoms may go away before the infection is cured. Even if symptoms go away, you should finish taking all of your medicine. Be sure to tell your recent sex partner(s), so they can get tested and treated for STDs, also. It is also very important that you and your partner both finish your treatment before having any kind of sex so that you don’t re-infect each other. You can get PID again if you get infected with an STD again. Also, if you have had PID before, you have a higher chance of getting it again.
Prognosis and Who's affected
Prognosis
In 85% of cases, the initial treatment succeeds. In 75% of cases, patients do not experience a recurrence of the infection. However, when there is a recurrence, the likelihood of infertility increases with each episode of PID. Potential complications from PID include:
- A tubo-ovarian abscess
- Fallopian tube obstruction, which can result in ectopic pregnancy or infertility
- Chronic pelvic pain
- Sexual dysfunction
Population Affected
People with the following conditions or characteristics are at risk for developing PID:
- Frequent sexual encounters, many partners
- History of sexually transmitted diseases or previous history of PID
- Young age (14 - 25 years old), particularly early age at first intercourse
- Vaginal douching
- Previous episode of gonococcal PID
- Intrauterine devices may increase the risk of PID during the first 20 days after insertion
Citations
"PID"PID Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 01 July 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.