I've been seeing my boyfriend for a few months now
and last week we had sex for the third time.
Trouble is the condom split and we didn't notice till afterwards.
What I didn't know is that with his last girlfriend he never used condoms
because she was on the pill.
I guess this could mean I've been exposed to an STI.
I've put it to the back of my mind for the past week
but it's been worrying me.
I don't want to go to the GP as he might tell my mum and dad,
so I've come to the local GUM clinic to put my mind at rest.
I'm not looking forward to this one bit but I guess we'll see.
- Hello. - Hi!
I've made an appointment. I've come to get some tests done.
OK, if you'd like to fill this form out for me
and I'll make some notes for you and you can take a seat.
That wasn't so bad. She seemed friendly.
This one's pretty simple.
I hope I'm not going to be judged for this.
The doctor better be nice.
- Hello. - Hi!
Here you go. Thank you very much.
If you'd like to take a seat now you'll be called by the doctor.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
OK, let's be honest. She did seem nice.
Keeping cool.
I mean, what's the worst that could happen?
Hi, Jo, would you come this way?
Sure.
- Take a seat please. - Over here?
What can I do for you today?
Well, I've come here to get some tests done.
I'm worried I've been exposed to an STI.
I had sex with my boyfriend and the condom broke.
Yeah. Is he well himself at the moment?
- He seems fine. - OK.
- And you're feeling fine yourself? - Yeah.
Any problems in the last two weeks?
Anything you've been worried about apart from what you told me?
No problems.
I just want to quickly go through a little checklist of symptoms
to double check you haven't got any problems
and then I'll ask you a little bit more about...
about what's been going on in terms of your sex life.
Have you noticed any change in your discharge recently from the vagina?
- No. - OK.
- Pain when you pass urine at all? - No.
Have you noticed any problems with rashes around your vagina
or lumps or bumps around your vagina?
- No. - OK.
- Have you had pain in your tummy? - No.
OK, so you're feeling completely fine.
You just wanted to have a check-up today, is that right?
- Yeah. - OK.
And, when was the last time you had sex?
- That was about a week ago. - OK.
- That's with your regular partner? - Yeah.
OK, and when you have sex do you use a condom?
Yeah, I try to.
And how long have you been with your current partner?
- I've been with him a month. - OK.
When you have sex do you use condoms all the time?
Yeah.
Was this time when the condom broke the only time a condom has broken?
- Yeah. - OK.
(THINKS) These questions aren't too bad!
When you have sex with him do you have oral sex as well as vaginal sex?
- Yes. - OK.
- And do you have anal sex as well? - No.
Apart from your current partner,
when is the last time you had sex with another partner?
Six months ago.
In the last three months you've only had sex with your current partner?
- Yeah. - OK.
I want to ask some specific questions about HIV infection.
Everyone that comes to clinic we recommend they have an HIV test.
Have you has sex in the past with someone you knew to be HIV positive?
- No. - OK.
Have you ever injected drugs in the past?
No.
Had any partners who were bisexual as far as you know?
No.
And any partners who come from Africa?
Yeah, yeah.
When did you have sex with your African partner?
Six months ago.
- What part of Africa was he from? - Nigeria.
When you had sex did you use a condom during that relationship?
- Yeah. - OK.
- Any condoms break during that time? - Not as far as I know.
Well, I think it's great you've come in.
It's well worth you having a check-up for sexually transmitted infections
and the infections that you will be checked for are
gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and HIV.
You will be seeing a nurse who will be doing the urine and blood tests.
Before you have those tests, any questions you want to ask me?
Why aren't you testing me for everything?
What about herpes and crabs?
Good question, I mean, I'm testing you for the infections that are easy to treat and cure.
There are some infections that we really only test for
if you've got symptoms of them.
If for instance you'd noticed you had some creepy crawlies around there,
around your genital hair, pubic hair or you're itching there, then maybe you'd have lice
and I'd examine you see if you'd got those and treat those.
If you notice lumps or bumps around the genital area and had warts,
then obviously I'd examine you and we'd treat you for that.
Herpes, again, if you had symptoms of that,
if you had any sores or any kind of discomfort around the vagina,
I'd have a look and do tests but we don't do routine tests for them
because they're things that don't need to be treated if you don't have symptoms.
I haven't told my boyfriend I've come here.
Is it worth getting him to come?
Well, everything that's happened in the clinic is entirely confidential,
that's why we made notes just for you.
I think it's well worth him getting a check-up.
The first thing to say is it's quite likely
the tests we do today for you will be entirely clear.
But you having entirely clear tests today doesn't mean your boyfriend is fine.
If you're concerned about him being at risk of STIs,
then he should come in for a check-up himself.
I've heard horrible stories of having umbrellas pushed up your what's-it.
Is that true?
It's amazing, the umbrella story does the rounds year after year!
There's never been actually!
Even 100 years ago, there weren't umbrellas being used
for testing for sexually transmitted infections.
They've never been used and they're certainly not used now!
Most men who comes in for a sexually transmitted infection check
just have a urine test and blood test just like you are having.
He'd have a urine test for gonorrhea and chlamydia
and a blood test for syphilis and HIV in the same way as you.
The test results should be back in about a week's time.
When you see the nurse she'll discuss how you want to collect the tests
whether you want to collect them by letter or be phoned with the results.
I heard I could get free condoms?
You can get condoms here for free. We can give you some condoms.
Please help yourself to the condoms. I'll give you a packet of them.
Would you like some er, some lube as well?
- Yeah, why not. - OK.
And here's an anonymous-looking bag for you as well.
And a few packets of lube to go with them.
OK. There we are. For you.
Well, that's great.
You can go and see the nurse right now and she can do the tests for you.
Come around please.
The nurse will see you now.
(THINKS) OK, here we go.
OK, Jo Smith. If you want to come with me.
(THINKS) She seems nice.
- If you come and take a seat. - On the chair?
Yeah.
I'm Liz, I'm one of the specialist nurses at the clinic.
I understand from the doctor
that you're just having a routine check-up today.
You're not worried about any symptoms.
Basically, what I'm going to do in a couple of minutes is to give you a pot
and you're just going to pee in that.
That test is going to be for chlamydia and gonorrhea.
We're also going to do some blood tests as well,
which will be for HIV and syphilis.
You don't get any results back today.
It's going to take a week for the results to get back to you.
It would either be that we ring you,
or we can arrange for a letter to be sent to you.
First of all, we'll do the blood test.
I like everybody to lie down for their blood tests.
So, if you hop up on the bed for me.
OK, now I'm going to need this part of your arm.
If you can hold that out straight for me.
It's just one tube we're taking today.
First of all, what I'm going to do I'm going to pop on a little tourniquet.
(THINKS) That doesn't feel so bad.
Now, I need to make sure
that I've got the right details.
So can you give me your name and date of birth please?
Jo Smith, 23rd of August '83.
OK, alright.
It's one sample I'm going to take, a very small needle.
(THINKS) Get it over with.
Just rest your arm down for me.
(THINKS) Not looking, not looking! Is that it?!
I'm just going to pop a plaster on that for you.
I'm going to give you a record of what you've been tested for today,
because when we leave a message if it's all negative.
That's your record of what you've been tested for today.
You need to keep that for your records.
OK, and the next part is, this is the test for gonorrhea and chlamydia.
It's a bit of a small pot so you've got to have a good aim!
It's the first part of your pee.
You need to be able to give us more than 5ml.
Any less and we won't be able to process the sample.
If you go and find a loo, do your sample for me,
and then if you bring that back.
- OK. Any questions? - No problem. Nope!
Thanks!
Good job I drank that litre of pop before I came out!
It's nowhere near as bad as I thought.
They're friendly and helpful
and the tests were...easy!
I don't have to wait long for the results.
I could do this every day!
Let me have a look and check there's enough in there.
Should be!
Oh yeah, plenty. We'll send that off to the lab.
Just to make sure that you do get your results,
or your message on the phone,
you're going to need to hand this slip of paper in to reception.
I'll tick off you want a message left on your phone.
- OK, any questions? - No.
- OK, done. - Thank you!
So that was that!
I don't particularly like needles but I've been through worse!
I'll definitely get my boyfriend to come
and I'll wait for the results I guess!