PID is the term that you should have come across generally in the discussion of sexual transmitted diseases.
PID is short for Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which is an infection of woman’s reproductive organs.
It is estimated that nearly one million women are affecting with PID every year.
You can get infected with pelvic inflammatory disease through several different organisms, but the most commonly involved bacteria for the cause of pelvic inflammatory disease are neisseria gonorrhoeae and chlamydia trachomatis.
When this bacterium migrates from your vagina to your uterus and upper genital tract, then infection occurs to genital area and you will acquire pelvic inflammatory disease.
Pelvic inflammatory disease can injure the fallopian tubes and tissues in and near the uterus and ovaries.
Thus, the bacteria infects the fallopian tubes and cause inflammation. PID when left undiagnosed and untreated can cause very serious consequences such as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and chronic pelvic pain.
The longer you leave the pelvic inflammatory disease without treatment, the higher your risk of experiencing health complications. So, if you experience any of these complications then it is important to seek treatment immediately.
Generally, the treatment involves oral or injectable antibiotics to fight against a wide range of bacteria. Therefore antibiotics are the standard treatment for PID.
As said earlier, the bacteria infect fallopian tubes (responsible for fertilization). With this, the normal tissue will become scarred and obstruct the regular passage of an egg. Thus, infertility occurs and you will become infertile.
Pelvic inflammatory disease is the most common cause of infertility in the United States. Nearly, one out of five women acquires infertility with pelvic inflammatory disease.
On the other hand, when the fallopian tubes are blocked partially then the egg may embed outside the uterus and leads to a risky condition called an ectopic pregnancy, which can direct to internal bleeding and even death.
You may also have pelvic pain due to the development of scar tissue at some other place in your abdomen. This pain may last for months or years.
To overcome these complications, it is better to consult your doctor for treatment where he/she may prescribe a combination of antibiotics, at first. These antibiotics may be altered once your test results are known. Your doctor may also prescribe a painkiller and advise complete bed rest.
It is better to advise your sexual partner to get examined and treated in order to prevent re-infection of PID. It is highly recommended to avoid sexual intercourse till the period you complete your treatment and also your test results shows that the infection has cleared in you and your partner.
However, when you experience severe symptoms or have not responded to oral medications then you may need hospitalization where you may receive intravenous (IV) antibiotics subsequently oral antibiotics.
Although these antibiotics are helpful in killing the pelvic inflammatory disease, they cannot heal the damages already caused by the disease.
You may be recommended for surgery when you don’t respond to treatment. However, surgery is recommended in rare cases where severe scarring to tissues, an abscess ruptures or threatens to rupture occur.
