Untreated Chlamydia: The Hidden Dangers for Your Health and Fertility
Doctor explains the serious complications of untreated chlamydia for men, women, and unborn babies, including infertility, chronic pain, and life-threatening conditions. Learn why early detection and treatment are crucial.
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Topic Breakdown
The complications that can result from untreated chlamydia can affect everything from your fertility to chronic tummy pain. In this blog post, we're going to explore the complications that can affect men, women, and even your unborn baby. Each section of the video is time-stamped, and if you do learn something new, I'd be grateful if you could like the video and subscribe to the channel.
Let's start off by covering complications of untreated chlamydia for women and people who are assigned female at birth. The first complication is something called pelvic inflammatory disease, also known as PID for short. PID is a serious condition that can occur when an untreated STI, such as chlamydia, damages your reproductive organs. It can lead to infertility and long-term pelvic pain. It can also block the tubes and may lead to an ectopic pregnancy. This is where a fertilized egg implants outside of the womb, which can be life-threatening for both the fetus and potentially deadly for the mother too.
The symptoms of PID include things such as pelvic pain or pain around the pelvis and lower tummy, discomfort or pain during sex that's felt deep inside the pelvis (known as dyspareunia), pain when peeing (known as dysuria), bleeding between periods and after sex, heavy periods, painful periods, or unusual vaginal discharge that isn't normal for you. This discharge could be yellow, green, smelly, or even blood-stained. There's no simple test to diagnose PID, and doctors will often need to take a history, do an examination, and take swabs. However, if it's detected early, treatment with antibiotics can be very effective.
Chlamydia can also cause complications if you're pregnant, including preterm delivery. Also, if you are pregnant and you do have chlamydia, you can pass the infection on to your newborn. Babies that are born with chlamydia might have an increased risk of pneumonia or an infection of their eye called conjunctivitis, which could lead to blindness if it's not treated. If you are pregnant, you should receive testing for chlamydia at your first prenatal appointment.
The third important complication to be aware of is infertility. An untreated infection can cause permanent scarring and damage to your fallopian tubes, uterus, or vagina, making it hard to become pregnant. Another rarer complication of untreated chlamydia is something called Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome. This is a type of perihepatitis that causes liver infection and inflammation, and it can result in long-standing right upper tummy pain, among other things. During the chronic phase, adhesions form between the anterior liver capsule and the anterior abdominal wall or the diaphragm, classically described as "violin string" adhesions.
Complications of chlamydia for men and people who are assigned male at birth are rarer, but the two main ones to be aware of are epididymitis and reduced fertility. First of all, let's talk about epididymitis. This is where the tube at the back of the testicles, known as the epididymis, becomes swollen and painful. Symptoms can include sudden or gradual pain in one or both of your testicles. The bag of skin containing your testicles, called the scrotum, could feel tender, warm, and swollen, and you could have a buildup of fluid around your testicle. This is known as a hydrocele and feels like a lump or swelling. You may have other symptoms depending on the cause, such as difficulty peeing or a white, yellow, or green discharge from the tip of the penis. Epididymitis can usually be treated using antibiotics if it's picked up early.
Finally, like women, men who've got untreated chlamydia can have reduced fertility. Chlamydia can harm the sperm, negatively impacting the ability to conceive. Untreated chlamydia can also spread to the bloodstream, increasing the risk of getting reactive arthritis, which causes your joints to swell and feel painful.
Remember, chlamydia can be treated early with antibiotics if it's detected. Here in the UK, if you've got any symptoms of chlamydia, you should visit your local sexual health clinic as soon as possible. To help you find one of these, the NHS has an easy-to-use section on their website, and I've included a link to this in the description box of the video. If you live in the USA, then please check out the CDC-backed Get Tested website, which helps you find free, fast, and confidential testing near you. Again, I've included a link to this in the description section of the video. If you live in places other than the UK and the US, I strongly encourage you to see your nearest health provider at the earliest opportunity if you suspect you may have chlamydia or symptoms of chlamydia.
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Stay informed, stay healthy, and until next time.
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