STD Overview: Gonorrhea Signs, Symptoms & Treatments
Written by Leslie K. Hughes
Fall is here. The air is crisper. The fall foliage is brightening up your walk. Pumpkin spice lattes are at every corner. And, gonorrhea is thriving.
Wait, what?
Yes, you read that right.
Fall is the season for all sorts of great things, but one part of fall we don’t love is the fact that fall brings about more cases of gonorrhea than any other time of the year.
According to a recent study, most infectious diseases (including sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea and chlamydia) ebb and flow depending on the seasons. And it turns out that the high season for gonorrhea is upon us.
One reason for that may be the uptick in flings during the summer months where people aren’t as cautious as they tend to be other times of the year (ah, summer love). Often STIs take a bit to show up for people, so by the time fall rolls around, those summer flings may come back to haunt you in the form of gonorrhea.
The best way to prevent this is to ensure you get regular STD tests. If you are sexually active, this should be at the top of your priority list.
We are here to provide you with information on gonorrhea so that you can either avoid it to begin with or know what to do in case it happens to you.
How to protect yourself against gonorrhea
The only way to avoid getting gonorrhea and other STDs is to abstain from sex. Abstinence guarantees gonorrhea prevention.
However, if you plan to be sexually active, then you need to do it safely. It is important to use condoms to decrease the chances of contracting STDs such as gonorrhea. And it is also key to regularly test for STDs to ensure that you and your partner(s) are healthy.
How you can get gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection that you can get by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the infection.
How to know if you have gonorrhea
This STD does not always show symptoms, so you may not know you have it unless you get tested. However, those who have symptoms typically find they show up between 2 and 14 days after exposure.
Some men who have gonorrhea may show symptoms including:
White, yellow, or green penis discharge
Burning feeling while urinating
Painful or swollen testicles
For women, the risk is greater. This is because most women with this STD show no symptoms. And the symptoms they do show often are similar to those that accompany a bladder or vaginal infection.
The gonorrhea symptoms for women include:
Burning feeling while urinating
Excess vaginal discharge
Vaginal bleeding between periods
It is best to always be safe and get tested at the onset of any of the above symptoms. If not treated, gonorrhea can cause serious complications, especially for women.
How to get tested for gonorrhea
The gonorrhea test is most often done by using a swab to take a sample of fluid from the area that gonorrhea may have entered through (penis, vagina, anus, or throat).
This sample is then tested for the STD, as well as other STDs. Results can take between 1 and 3 days.
If you have this STD, a colony of gonorrhea bacteria will grow from the sample.
How to treat gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is most commonly treated with antibiotics.
In order for the antibiotics to work their magic, you must take the entire dose prescribed by your doctor.
However, you may find that in addition to oral antibiotics, your doctor prescribes you an antibiotic in the form of an injection. That is because strains of this STD exist that are resistant to oral antibiotics, so the two approaches to treatment are often done together.
Even if your partner(s) shows no symptoms of gonorrhea, they should get tested and treated, if necessary.
The long-term effects of gonorrhea
If treated, you should suffer no long-term effects of this STD. However, even after being treated for gonorrhea, it is possible to get it again, so always be safe and get STD tested if you are sexually active.
The problems arise if you let your gonorrhea go without treating it. Men who leave their gonorrhea untreated may suffer urethral scarring as well as a painful abscess that may lead to sterility.
Women who do not get treated for gonorrhea suffer high-risk complications. If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which can not only cause chronic pain but can also majorly damage the reproductive organs. It is possible that women also may suffer from fallopian tube scarring, which could lead to issues with future pregnancies including ectopic pregnancy.
