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Medical Video: Can You Get Pregnant While Using a Condom?
According toWHO, every year there are around 17 million young girls under the age of 19 who give birth from unprotected sex - either from lack of information about contraception, or under duress. About 3 million of these girls undergo illegal abortions every year. Most of these phenomena occur in developing countries, including Indonesia.
Adolescents and adults alike, still cannot be denied safe sex is very important. But there are many other reasons that can cause sex to be unsafe - condoms tear, forgetfulness of doses of birth control pills, spontaneous sex, or just pure indifference.
Having an emergency backup plan is very important, especially if you don't use protection. This is what you need to know to make sure you stay OK after unprotected sex.
What to do after having unprotected sex
1. Direct urination
In the interim, put your concerns aside about pregnancy and infectious diseases first. There is not much you can do for that at this time. Now, it's better to shift your entire focus to reduce the risk of urinary tract disease. About 80 percent of women contract urinary tract infections (UTI) after having unprotected sex in the last 24 hours.
READ ALSO: Why Are Women More Affected by Urinary Tract Infection?
One of the most effective ways for anyone (yes, including men!) To avoid UTI is to urinate shortly after sex. The flowing urine will sweep all kinds of bacteria out with it, so that it clears the urinary tract.
For women, one thing you should never do after having unprotected sex is to clean the vagina by douching or spraying the vaginal cleanser. Douching changes the normal balance of yeast and bacteria in the reproductive tract, which can increase the risk of pelvic infections and other infections.
2. Understand your risk of venereal disease
The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases due to risky sex in Indonesia continues to increase. But, your risk of being infected after unprotected sex is not always 100 percent knock hammer. Determining factors include geographic location (certain regions have a tendency to endemic certain diseases); how well your body's immune system is at that time to combat virus attacks; or whether you have open sores on the vagina, penis, anus, mouth or other areas that have easy access to skin-to-skin contact or exposure to fluids.
READ ALSO: What Happens to the Body When Affected by HIV?
3. Use an emergency birth control pill
If you have just had unprotected sex but also don't use other contraception, take an emergency birth control pill (morning-after pill) a few hours after spontaneous sexual intercourse. Emergency birth control pills are sold freely in pharmacies and it is proven that 89% are effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies when consumed within 72 hours after sex - and 95 percent effective if consumed within 24 hours.
4. Check and check your body
Unprotected sex increases the likelihood of getting a sexually transmitted infection, as well as in men and women. Infection can remain active without showing any symptoms for years. However, note the following general signs that can give you a signal that everything is abnormal with the body after these actions: genital bleeding without cause, pain during urination, pain during sex, rashes and sores on the skin (including in the genital area).
READ ALSO: 9 Gender Diseases You Might Have Without You Realizing
For women, symptoms include vaginal discharge that is different from usual - changes in volume, consistency (for example, liquid and humped), or color (cloudy, milder white, or pink / bloody) - and an unusual smell (fishy, rotten) and feels itchy or painful.
5. Live a sex test
Experts recommend getting venereal disease tests for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis B and C within a few weeks after unprotected sex. For cases like herpes, the doctor must thoroughly wipe the open wound to make sure that it is a lump of herpes, so after the wound heals - it can collapse within a few days - nothing else can be tested.
So if a lump suddenly appears without a cause appearing in the genital area or around your mouth, contact your doctor right away to get a test. If the test results are negative, you will need to come back again in the next six months to run the test again to be absolutely sure.
Note: Regardless of whether you are female or male, gay or heterosexual, if you think there is very little chance that you have been exposed to HIV, immediately notify the medical officer or the nearest emergency room doctor. You may be prescribed PEP, therapy per 28 days that can prevent HIV from controlling your body.
6. Home pregnancy tests
Taking emergency birth control pills does not guarantee you are free from pregnancy. A study was quoted from Health, reported that women who drank emergency family planning still had an opportunity of 1.8-2.6% to become pregnant. If you have doubts about an unwanted pregnancy and your menstruation is a week late in the following month, do a home pregnancy test to confirm your status.
READ ALSO: Causes of Pregnancy Test Equipment Show Wrong Results
But if you want to know for sure - and as soon as possible - schedule an appointment with an obstetrician. Doctors can test your blood to find a marker of pregnancy. Remember, the sooner you find out about an unplanned pregnancy, the better.
How to prevent the risk of having unprotected sex?
With pregnancy, you can breathe freely after your blood test shows a negative result. Unfortunately, you don't have the same guarantee as a sexually transmitted infection. A person can have sex and be infected, but has no real symptoms even after the year. Therefore, it is important to undergo sex tests every year and always use condoms with all sex partners in the future.
Don't be shy to ask - straightforwardly - to your partner to use condoms. There is no shame in insisting on keeping both of you safe. If he doesn't have a condom, you can always be ready with your own condom deposit. Also important to note: If the condom is torn, all the above rules are still valid.
With the shadow of unwanted pregnancy and the potential for infectious diseases, reckless casual sex can be the main weapon for you to blame yourself. But, if rice has become porridge, use it as a motivating factor. All you can do is enrich yourself with all information and learn to be more responsible at other times.
READ ALSO: Signs of Pregnancy that You May Not Suspect
