Five things many people don't know about STIs

If you received a rather dodgy or inadequate sex education at school you’re probably carrying around a lot of baggage about STIs. From getting taught that if you had sex without a condom your bits would turn green and fall off to nothing at all, many of us are still in need of some sexual health education updates.

We’ve listed five things many of us still don’t know about STIs.

1. Not everyone gets symptoms

Pain when peeing and lots of discharge might be what springs to mind when you think about with STIs but nearly 60% of people don’t show those symptoms or any symptoms at all.

If you have an infection, you’ll probably notice something different, or feel something is a little ‘off’. The best thing you can do is pay attention to your body and learn to recognise when something feels different. It’s far better to get tested and know whether you have an infection or not than to leave something that may get complicated.

No one will be upset with you or think you’ve wasted their time if your tests results come back negative. Sexual health staff are there to help and support, not judge.

2. Testing for STIs is quick and simple

Gigantic cotton buds shoved into sensitive places? Terrifying little metal umbrellas to ‘open things up’? Let’s ditch these school playground rumours.

If you have a penis, it’s your pee that will be tested for things like gonorrhoea and chlamydia. All you do is pee in a pot and the clinic will test that.

If you have a vagina/front hole the nurse or doctor will do a swab to test for gonorrhoea or chlamydia. Swabs make sure that possible infections in these deeper areas aren't missed.

If you have oral and/or anal sex, swabs will be taken from your mouth/throat and bum to check for infection.

If you're a bit reluctant about other people doing this, ask the nurse or doctor doing the tests if you could swab yourself and they will guide you through what to do.

For other infections like syphilis, hepatitis B and C or HIV it’s usually a simple blood test. If you're being tested for syphilis and have a sore that’s being investigated a swab will be taken from that as well as the blood test.

3. You can test at home

Kits to test yourself for STIs at home have been a game-changer for many people - no more travelling to appointments and waiting around! Some home tests check for a single infection like gonorrhoea but many test kits cover a range of infections. If you're showing symptoms it’s up to you whether to get tested at your local clinic, which also gives you a chance to talk with the healthcare staff, or do the tests yourself at home.

4. Infections take a while to show up in tests

You won’t get a result to show you if you have an infection the day after you've had sex. The time between possibly getting an infection and it showing up on a test is called a ‘window period’. For things like chlamydia and gonorrhoea it can be between two and three weeks to get a result you can trust and with things like syphilis and HIV it can be up to three months (90 days).

If you have any worries or concerns talk with healthcare staff at your local sexual health clinic.

5. Treatment is simple

For the majority of STIs treatment is quick and simple. For things like gonorrhoea, it’s a couple of tablets. For others like syphilis, it’s an injection into your bum.

Avoid having sex with anyone else while you could still be infectious or are being treated. You are usually asked to wait around a week to 10 days before having sex again. Of course, you can still have fun on your own.

HIV can’t currently be cured but there is very effective treatment to manage the virus. With effective treatment (often just one pill a day) people living with HIV can expect to lead long and healthy lives. When on effective treatment, people living with HIV know they cannot pass on the virus to any partners.

If you think you’ve picked up an STI the best thing you can do is get tested and, if you have an infection, get it treated. People can leave things because it may be difficult to get an appointment, or they feel guilty or ‘dirty’ because they may have an STI.

Testing and treating STIs is doing the responsible thing for yourself and your partners, and you should be proud of that.

Find out more about common STIs

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