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Diagnosis & Treatment Of PID
By peace | June 14, 2006
Diagnosis Of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
PID can be difficult for a health care provider to diagnose because symptoms can be subtle and mild and are like those of some other diseases. If you think you might have PID, you should get medical care promptly because early treatment can limit long-term complications such as infertility.
If you have symptoms such as lower abdominal pain, your health care provider will perform a physical exam, including a pelvic (internal) exam, to find out the nature and location of the pain. Your health care provider also will check for
- Abnormal vaginal or cervical discharge
- Masses near your ovaries and tubes
- Tenderness or pain of your abdomen, cervix, uterus, and ovaries
You should get laboratory tests for chlamydia, gonorrhea, urinary tract infection, and if appropriate, pregnancy. Your health care provider also might test you for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and syphilis.
If necessary, your health care provider may do other tests such as an ultrasound (sonogram), endometrial (uterine) biopsy, or laparoscopy to distinguish between PID and other serious problems that can mimic PID. Laparoscopy is a surgical procedure in which a tube is inserted through a small incision near your navel. This allows your health care provider to view the internal abdominal and pelvic organs and to take specimens to examine in the laboratory.
Treatment of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
According to CDC, health care providers should start treatment in sexually active young women and other women at risk for STIs if they have motion tenderness of the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, or cervix.
If you have PID, your health care provider will prescribe antibiotics that can kill bacteria suspected of causing the disease. Many different bacteria may cause an episode of PID. Therefore, your health care provider will prescribe antibiotics (generally two at once, by injection or by mouth) that are effective against a wide range of bacteria, including those causing chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Even if your symptoms go away, you should finish taking all of the medicine. You also should return to your health care provider 2 to 3 days after beginning the medicine to be sure the antibiotics are working.
Your health care provider may recommend going into the hospital to treat your PID if you
- Are severely ill
- Are pregnant
- Do not respond to or cannot take oral medicine
- Need intravenous (in the vein) antibiotics
- Have an abscess in your fallopian tube or ovary
If your symptoms continue or if an abscess does not go away, you may need surgery. Complications of PID such as chronic pelvic pain and scarring are difficult to treat, but sometimes they improve with surgery.
Your sex partner may be infected with bacteria that can cause PID even without symptoms. Indeed, many women with PID caused by STIs have sex partners who have no symptoms and don’t know they’re infected. To protect yourself from being re-infected with bacteria that cause PID
- Your sex partners should be treated even if they don’t have symptoms
- You should not have sex with a partner who hasn’t been treated
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