Sexual Health

You’re not the only person confused by this term, so let’s see if we can’t clear it up for everyone once and for all. When healthcare professionals ask that question, they are asking from a sexual health perspective. In other words, what they are wanting to know is if a patient or client has…

If what you are having is, in fact, an allergic reaction, then you can treat it like any other allergy. You can take a general allergy medication, like a Benadryl tablet. In terms of your genital symptoms and soothing them fast, I’d suggest a cool, bubble-less bath. You might try adding oatmeal to…

There has been no reliable data to indicate that the hormonal birth control available today causes infertility (contrary to what certain groups of individuals who wish to limit women’s reproductive choices may say), no matter how long one is on it. So there is really no science to support the idea…

If you took your pregnancy tests two weeks after your last risk, you can feel pretty confident in the negative results you got. If you did not wait that long, you’ll want to retest when it has been two weeks since your last risk. It would be early to have pregnancy symptoms already from a risk two…

Condoms are designed and tested – each and every one of them, by every manufacturer – to be able to withstand ejaculation (what you’re calling “erupting”) as well as to contain a single ejaculation: the amount of semen a person with a penis emits when they ejaculate. They test them by blowing…

Hi there, I am so sorry you had such a negative experience for your first PAP test. I promise you, it is not always like this, and it certainly doesn’t HAVE to be like this. First off, your doctor TELLING YOU that you have to have a PAP test is wrong. A nurse practitioner (NP) cannot tell you what…

Hi Kayla, While you can be sure that YOU have been faithful, there is no absolute way you can know that your partner has been faithful. Has your partner been tested for gonorrhea or chlamydia in the past? If not, there is no way for you to know that he didn’t have it when you started dating. If your…

Delilah: what you’re describing is most likely a completely normal physiological response to being sexually aroused. Part of female sexual arousal, much like erection for men, is swelling of the genital tissues due to blood pooling in the pelvis: the clitoris (both externally as well as internally)…

How about something like this: “Hey, I know we should have talked about this before, but since we’ve been having sex without condoms, I need us to talk about safer sex now. I don’t want either of us to be taking risks when we don’t have to, or when we should reduce them, so can we talk about this a…

As a product of the withdrawal method myself, you can imagine why I’m not too excited about it. But even if I wasn’t, what I know is that it’s one of the least effective methods in typical use (only 73% effective), and that even with perfect use (96% effective), it’s still less effective than most…