Of course safe sex is always the sensible option, but passion can take its course in a less than sensible way – so what happens then? It appears that myths about STIs persist despite health campaigns, so here is what you need to know.
Expert Assessment
First of all, you can’t always tell if you have an STI. The symptoms are not always obvious, and if they were it would make everything a lot easier. Secondly, people still think getting tested is difficult. It’s not, as new tests deliver results quickly and home testing kits can be sent to your home.
Thirdly, people think you can’t catch an STI from oral sex. You can – gonorrhoea of the throat is quite common, and herpes and syphilis can be passed on this way too.
Fourthly, STIs are not related to hygiene. Lots of washing makes no difference when it comes to catching diseases.
Not in Pain
Some people believe an STI will be painful, and this is not true – myth four. People also think antibiotics will cure everything (myth five), but they cannot treat HIV or herpes as these conditions are viral, and even bacterial infections such as gonorrhoea are becoming more resistant to drugs.
The seventh myth is that the Pill helps protect women from catching STIs. It doesn’t. Many young women mistakenly think the Pill will protect them, and a rising number have caught STIs as a result, according to this report in The Guardian.
The eighth myth is that women are less prone to catching STIs, but this is not true either. In the UK the most commonly diagnosed STI is Chlamydia, and far more women than men are affected. Often they have no symptoms, and are not in pain either.
If you want to discover more about the flexibility of private testing for Chlamydia at a location that suits you with home STI kits Greenwich, a sensible first step would be to visit a website such as https://www.greenwichsexualhealth.org/sti_info/chlamydia/.
If you engage in sex without protection, you probably need to be tested. The good news is that testing for STIs is easier than it has ever been, and if you don’t want to go to a clinic, then you can get a testing kit for home.