Do I need an STD test?

LegacyUser

I'm not 20 yet and have had sex with 34 birds do you think I would need to get an STD test? What does an STD test involve? My mate was shocked when I told him I hadn't had a test with that amount of birds

Silverfish

I'd say it'd be no harm to be honest.

Always good to get them regularly enough if you have had a few partners.

Well with that amount of inter-species relations, I'm sure there's all sorts of diseases you could pick up.


yes, get an STD test, probs for the best.

Nevyn

Even if you use a comdom every time there are still std/i that you can get when having sex with someone. I sugget you look at the stickie at the top of this forum for the contact information for private and public sti screenings.

Barracudaincork

Im pretty sure birds dont carry std's, so id say your pretty safe but id back away from that frozen chicken now if i was you, just to be on the safe side!


Yes you should get a test, if anything for your own peace of mind, aslong as you have always used protection etc you should be ok, but its better to know for sure than not know at all. Some STD's dont have symptoms so you wont know you had one without getting tested.

I_am_Jebus

if you have always used condoms and used them consistently and correctly you really shouldn't have any major worries. The problem is, people don't always use them correctly and consistently. Assuming the number, but not knowing your age I][U]edit - just noticed the age - my next statement is defo true so[/U][/I, I imagine the vast majority of the girls have been one night stands. Typically, with alcohol (though may not be a factor here) and / or the passion of the moment it is easy to incorrectly use a condom.

If you have used condoms correctly 100% of the time the onlybig fears you should have are:

HPV - not particularly a big deal (for men particularly) and you can't test for it anyway. HPV causes genital warts and you should (bit not always) notice these. But again, usually no big deal.

Herpes (HSV) - generally most people would notice this and have noticable outbreaks - though some do not. Without symptoms, there is no test in Ireland and nothing you can really do about the virus anyway so I guess testing isn't really an issue on this.

Edit - Syphillis - it is quite rare especially in heterosexuals, but it is out there and while most people will have obvious symptoms, some do not. This can be tested for with a simple blood test and while quite easily treated, if left untreated has serious health consequences.

Honestly, you should get yourself tested. There is always a chance you could have picked up something along the way. Early treatment, even for the serious STDs can have a huge impact (positive) on your life and the managment of the STD and furthermore it helps minimise the risk of passing it onto others.

Definitely get tested please.

PeakOutput

I_am_Jebus wrote: »

HPV - not particularly a big deal (for men particularly) and you can't test for it anyway.

i thought hpv would come up on a blood test?

edit; if your sexually active i personally think you should get tested once a year it is free after all and no big deal

it involves a physical exam a blood test and a urine test

also i assume you hav had some sort of oral sex with at least some of these 'birds' condoms dont protect your mouth

I_am_Jebus

No. I think there are some clinical trials in America at the moment for such diagnostics technics but there is no approved testing available.

HPV, just isn't an issue for men to be honest (with the exception of the wart causing strains).

For women, cervical screening is a must. Certain strains of HPV *can* lead to the growth of cells that can lead to cancer. I can never stress enough the importance of cervical screening. regular - annual, bi-aunnual screens. It is so so important. Like some cancers, it is very very treatable if it can be got in time and testing is easy.

And as for Gardasil vaccine... well its high up on my list of grievances with this government... not rolling this out to children...

jayteecork

Barracudaincork wrote: »

Im pretty sure birds dont carry std's, so id say your pretty safe but id back away from that frozen chicken now if i was you, just to be on the safe side!

Still can be dangerous, didn't building site workers in Spain find a corpse under collapsed scaffolding of a man with a chicken wrapped around his bell?

Or probably just another urban myth.

Oh to be young, 34 "birds" by 20.

I_am_Jebus

PeakOutput wrote: »

i thought hpv would come up on a blood test?

edit; if your sexually active i personally think you should get tested once a year it is free after all and no big deal

it involves a physical exam a blood test and a urine test

also i assume you hav had some sort of oral sex with at least some of these 'birds' condoms dont protect your mouth

Agree 100%, if you have had more than one partner in a year, it is in your best interests to be tested. Cheap and fairly easily accessible too. Should be part of a routine check up, if you ask me.

The oral membrane is quite hostile to such viruses and tranmission, generally is much less efficient but agreed, oral sex performend on a girl can cause infection also. As can oral sex (unprotected) on a guy.

Nevyn

Syphillis is currently on the rise in the young hetrosexual population.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Def get tested given the number of partners you'reve had but don't stress about it as if you've only had sex with women, in all likelihood you're only at risk of curable stuff and herpes/warts, which you'd probably have noticed symptoms of and they're not life threatening.

jayteecork

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

you've only had sex with women, in all likelihood you're only at risk of curable stuff and herpes/warts,

Lol.

Yeah, you're lucky you didn't have sex with men as you're gtd to have AIDS.

(Ps: I'm taking the piss out of the above poster in case anyone's wondering.)

kmart6

I think the ''Lol'' made that obvious!

Nevyn

jayteecork banned for 1 week.

Unhelpful and off-topic posting will get you banned from this forum.
Do take time to read the charter which contains the rules and abide by them.
Have a nice day.
Thaedydal

messygirl

hey op

for a guy the std test is fairly straight forward (i know a bloke who goes for one every year just to get checked out to be safe). They take a blood test and a test on you penis (from what i heard anyway) apparently they take a swab around the head of the penis. Its supposed to be uncomfortable but better than finding out you have to tell your future love of your life she has to get tested for herpes. not all stds have symptoms (chlamydia doesnt have any symtpoms and can cause infertility if untreated)

i think they cost about 150 for the complete test. it takes about 3 weeks to get everything back,

I_am_Jebus

messygirl wrote: »

hey op

for a guy the std test is fairly straight forward (i know a bloke who goes for one every year just to get checked out to be safe). They take a blood test and a test on you penis (from what i heard anyway) apparently they take a swab around the head of the penis. Its supposed to be uncomfortable but better than finding out you have to tell your future love of your life she has to get tested for herpes. not all stds have symptoms (chlamydia doesnt have any symtpoms and can cause infertility if untreated)

i think they cost about 150 for the complete test. it takes about 3 weeks to get everything back,

Jesus,

there is no test for Herpes in this country unless you have symptoms and even then, a swab of the Herpes lesion is not a particularly accurate test and must be done with in a couple of days of them showing up.

Chlamydia does have symptoms. Some times, like all STIs there may not be symptoms but usually there is.

Presence or lack of symptoms should not be a feature in this guys case. He should just get tested, period.!

He doesn't have to pay €150, he can get tested for free at public GUM clinics!!!! He can go private if he wants to and pay.

I_am_Jebus

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Def get tested given the number of partners you'reve had but don't stress about it as if you've only had sex with women, in all likelihood you're only at risk of curable stuff and herpes/warts, which you'd probably have noticed symptoms of and they're not life threatening.

Only have sex with women puts an individual in a lower risk category but does not mean they're safe.

It's not who you sleep with, it's the activities and related precautions that you take/do not take that poses the highest risk. If he hasn't used condoms with all or some the women then he is at a high risk for STIs. He does have a theoretically low risk of HIV however,

Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HPV - Gentle Warts Strains (to an extent), Syphillis, HEP A, molluscum contagiosum are curable. HEP B - is russian roulette, you could be lucky and fight the infection naturally... or not.

HSV (herpes) and HIV and HEP C are managable but not curable.

messygirl

I_am_Jebus wrote: »

Jesus,

there is no test for Herpes in this country unless you have symptoms and even then, a swab of the Herpes lesion is not a particularly accurate test and must be done with in a couple of days of them showing up.

Chlamydia does have symptoms. Some times, like all STIs there may not be symptoms but usually there is.

Presence or lack of symptoms should not be a feature in this guys case. He should just get tested, period.!

He doesn't have to pay €150, he can get tested for free at public GUM clinics!!!! He can go private if he wants to and pay.

i just used herpes as an example, sorry

again meant to say sometimes doesnt have symptoms my bad! (typing in a rush)

i paid 150 and i know a student who was told it would be 130 because she was a student, we weren't told about any free testing clinics so had to fork over the 150.

no offence but i was just trying to explain what i heard the procedure for guys was, i made a few mistakes but my point was you dont always know what you or do not have, and that it is simple to get tested

I_am_Jebus

messygirl wrote: »

i just used herpes as an example, sorry

again meant to say sometimes doesnt have symptoms my bad! (typing in a rush)

i paid 150 and i know a student who was told it would be 130 because she was a student, we weren't told about any free testing clinics so had to fork over the 150.

no offence but i was just trying to explain what i heard the procedure for guys was, i made a few mistakes but my point was you dont always know what you or do not have, and that it is simple to get tested

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh towards you.
A lot people read these boards and I feel info should be as accurate as possible particularly in these kind of cases (the caveat being that noone should rely on this info alone and should seel professional medical advice).

Public GUM clinics - St James' Street Hospital - are free - there are drawback to this of course (see STI Sticky at top).

Most importantly, we agree, that free or paid, public or private this guy needs to get tested and start looking after his sexual health. That's the most important conclusion to this thread.

LegacyUser

Hi Op,

What you don't seem to have thought about is the number of sexual partners the 34 "Birds" had, if you were to add them all together, could run into hundreds so yes you need screening fast. The number of STI's in Ireland is on the increase big time. Chlamydia can cause infertility in women and often no obvious symptoms are noted, usually detected when young women find that they are having difficulty becoming pregnant. Basically if you were to carry Chlamydia and pass it on to one of these girls, god only knows who it could effect or how many in the long term. BTW you must be a bit of a stud with that track record, personally if I heard a fella call a girl a bird that would be enough to put me off no matter how charming he was. Good luck with test though.

Bottle_of_Smoke

I_am_Jebus wrote: »

Only have sex with women puts an individual in a lower risk category but does not mean they're safe.

It's not who you sleep with, it's the activities and related precautions that you take/do not take that poses the highest risk. If he hasn't used condoms with all or some the women then he is at a high risk for STIs. He does have a theoretically low risk of HIV however,

Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HPV - Gentle Warts Strains (to an extent), Syphillis, HEP A, molluscum contagiosum are curable. HEP B - is russian roulette, you could be lucky and fight the infection naturally... or not.

HSV (herpes) and HIV and HEP C are managable but not curable.

What did the first ten words of my post say? I don't think he's at a risk of HIV/Hep strains and I think the fear of them is what puts most people off getting tested. Hep C is actually often curable by the way

ladhrann

messygirl wrote: »

i paid 150 and i know a student who was told it would be 130 because she was a student, we weren't told about any free testing clinics so had to fork over the 150.

no offence but i was just trying to explain what i heard the procedure for guys was, i made a few mistakes but my point was you dont always know what you or do not have, and that it is simple to get tested

If your friend is a student she could attend her medical/gp unit in the college for free medical care.

There are GUM clinics (Genito-Urinary-Medicine) attached to the main public hospitals in each region. The tests are free and anonymous

You take a number on their open day and while waiting you fill in a sexual + medical history sheet. They'll take a blood test and two swabs, the swabs are taken from the urethra so that means the swab is placed inside the penis.

It stings a bit, thats all. Then a few weeks later you call in for the results they won't post them out or give them out over the phone for obvious reasons.

I_am_Jebus

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

What did the first ten words of my post say? I don't think he's at a risk of HIV/Hep strains and I think the fear of them is what puts most people off getting tested. Hep C is actually often curable by the way

Sorry, didn't mean for my post to sound like I was disagreeing with your assessment. Was meant to act as complimentary information. But the problem is that we dont know anything about his sexual activities or his partners. I would be somewhat worried if has had unprotected anal sex with a sex worker or an IV drug user. Unfortunately, one glove doesn't fit all.

You are quite right in what you say regarding fear of testing. This really needs to be addressed at a basic level in our education institutions. Fear of a HIV testing should not be allowed prevail. To anyone and all out there, HIV testing does not give you HIV, but it can give you two important things - 1. Peace of mind that you are healthy (sexually) and 2. if positive, gives you the chance to live and manage your condition head on.

with Hep C, I meant chronic hep c. Hep C is curable but it is very difficult and is often russian roulette. Although, it is generally not considered a risk for heterosexual encounters. with the exception I suppose being unprotected anal sex.