Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

The treatment of choice for PID is antibiotics that treat all the potential bacterial causes of the disease. Health care providers would rather treat a woman for PID if there is any chance that she has it, even if the disease cannot be conclusively diagnosed, because the potential consequences of missing the diagnosis are so severe.

Sometimes the bacteria causing PID are not identified, but the treatment is the same whether or not they are identified.

The treatment of PID is the same whether or not it is thought to be sexually transmitted. Most women with PID are treated as outpatients, but about 20 percent of them must be hospitalized. A woman who has severe pain, or who cannot take oral antibiotics because she is nauseated and vomiting, is often admitted to the hospital to allow antibiotics to be administered intravenously. Younger women are often hospitalized to make sure they receive their full course of treatment.

If there is suspicion of a localized area of infection (an abscess) or if there is any question about the diagnosis, a woman is usually admitted to the hospital. Women who are HIV positive and have been diagnosed with PID must receive aggressive treatment for the disease, and this too requires a hospital stay. Women who are pregnant and have PID are also usually hospitalized for aggressive treatment of the disease. Irrespective of the circumstances, any decision regarding hospitalization must be discussed with one’s health care provider.

Some of the medications used to treat PID are ceftriaxone (given as an injection) and doxycycline, or ofloxacin and metronidazole. These medicines are usually administered for two weeks.

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Since it is likely that everyone with herpes infections, whether oral or genital, type 1 or type 2, sheds when they are symptom free at some time or another, one might think “Since practically everyone has herpes, and it’s not clear when it’s safe to have sex, it’s inevitable that I’ll get it if I have a partner who has herpes!” or “I’m going to get herpes anyway, so I might as well give up trying not to get it.” Some people want to do everything they can to prevent transmission of herpes.

Some couples who have been together a while and are planning to remain together may not be as worried about transmitting the virus. In my opinion, it is always a good idea to discuss the question of herpes early in a relationship, before becoming sexually active, so that you can decide together how you want to approach this issue.

Everyone, and every couple, approaches the issue differently. It is best to make decisions based on accurate, current information, not on myths. Likewise it is very important that decisions be made together, as a team. Sometimes the person with herpes thinks it is entirely his or her responsibility, but this is not the case. Facing the question of herpes is often the first difficult decision that a couple makes, and working through this issue can be the first step toward real closeness. Remember: being in a relationship involves confronting thousands of issues over time. Herpes is just one of them.

This section will provide some tools for couples who want to take steps to prevent the transmission of herpes. What can you do to prevent yourself from getting herpes, or how can you keep from transmitting herpes to your partner? The first thing is to know your herpes status. Getting a blood test will tell you your status for both type 1 and type 2 herpes (see the discussion of testing later in this section); you don’t need to be experiencing symptoms to be tested. A couple who know their individual statuses for herpes infections can then make informed decisions about what type of sexual contact is safe and what type is risky. If you or your partner have not had this test performed and thus don’t know whether one of you has herpes, then use a condom to help protect against transmission until you can be tested. As noted earlier, if both partners have the same kind of genital herpes (both have type 1 or both have type 2), then they will not reinfect one another, nor will they trigger outbreaks in one another.

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Any person, male or female, whether sexually active or not, can develop a genital yeast infection. There are no reliable statistics on how many people contract such infections because many people self-treat and never see a doctor about a yeast infection. Men probably have yeast infections less often than women, even though they are very common in men.

It is estimated that 75 percent of women will develop a symptomatic yeast infection at some point in their lives and that possibly 75 percent of those women will experience another symptomatic infection later. Some women have very frequent recurrent symptoms, with multiple yeast infections each year. It is believed that about 20 percent of women are colonized with yeast in the vagina. This means that even though the yeast is there, it is not causing infection or symptoms, such as itching and discharge. These women may remain symptom free or may develop symptoms later.

The following circumstances make a woman more likely to be a yeast carrier and to develop yeast infections: pregnancy, using oral contraceptive pills (particularly the higher-dose pills), using oral antibiotics (because they eliminate the normal bacteria from the vagina and allow the yeast to overgrow), and having diabetes that is poorly controlled. Douching disrupts the normal environment of the vagina and may make a woman more likely to get a yeast infection. Warm weather, too, makes yeast infection more likely. Yeast likes warm, moist areas of the body, such as the genitals, and wearing clothing that is tight and restrictive tends to make a person more likely to develop a yeast infection. Other vaginal irritation, for example from an allergic reaction to spermicide, may also allow yeast to overgrow.

Suppression of the immune system (through such medications as steroids or such infections as human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]) can also make a woman more susceptible to frequent symptomatic yeast infections. However, just because a woman develops a yeast infection does not mean she has a serious medical problem: as noted previously, some women are simply subject to recurrent symptomatic yeast infections.

Men who are not circumcised tend to have more frequent penile yeast infections than men who are, probably because the area under the foreskin provides a warm, moist area in which yeast can grow. (A fungal infection under the foreskin is called balanitis.)

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The challenge of discussing a chronic infection with a new partner can seem overwhelming. Some people decide that they don’t want to discuss the topic—ever—but there are two good reasons for bringing the topic up before becoming intimate. First, most potential partners respond favorably and are glad you cared enough about them to be honest. Few people decide not to pursue a relationship because of this one issue. Second, if partners are not told and later find out, or are told after becoming intimate, they may feel betrayed. Trust can be lost. Telling before you become intimate also allows you both to deal with the issue as a couple, rather than putting all the responsibility for preventing transmission on the person who has the infection. Honest discussion often allows people to develop a more intimate relationship. You may encounter a partner who does not respond favorably, and this can be painful. Consider in advance how you will take care of yourself if you get a negative response.

Before you discuss issues of sexual health and become intimate with a new partner—whether or not part of the discussion involves sharing information about a chronic STD—it is a good idea to establish the groundwork for a relationship first. As you get to know the person better, you may find that you don’t want to pursue the relationship any further, and you don’t want to have sex with that person. In that case, you may have discussed these issues unnecessarily If you get to know a person before becoming sexually intimate, it will be easier to tell the person about your STD. Don’t put off discussing this until the heat of the moment, however, because your partner will need time to process the information. Telling him or her as you are about to become intimate can be very awkward.

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The more you read about prostate cancer, the more it seems that one factor is consistendy underplayed—its lack of early symptoms. This is just one way in which prostate cancer differs from other diseases, many of which have early warning signs. To put it bluntly, by the time a man has symptoms of prostate cancer, it’s probably too late to cure it. Unfortunately, when prostate cancer is in its earliest, most curable stages—before it has spread beyond the wall of the prostate—it is silent; it produces no symptoms.

That’s why so much effort is being poured into screening and early diagnosis. To be sure, our understanding of prostate cancer is expanding every day, and the battle is being waged encouragingly on all fronts: prevention, early diagnosis, effective treatment of curable disease, better management of advanced disease. But despite many advances—at least for the immediate future—it’s not likely that a breakthrough in gene therapy will enable doctors to keep prostate cancer from developing, or that scientists will make major strides in curing advanced disease. Right now, the sad truth is that there is no cure for advanced prostate cancer. Until there is, our best hope of reducing the number of deaths from prostate cancer lies in two tactics—early diagnosis and effective treatment of curable disease.

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