health

I’m so sorry that was your almost-first-time sexual experience. If it’s any consolation, you’re hardly alone: a whole lot of people have had this kind of experience with sex and a parent. Ultimately, I’d say your biggest issue right now is earning your mother’s trust back, not finding a way to have…

Talking with your parents about sex can be really hard – even if your parents are really open and start the conversation themselves rather than you starting it – or even if your parents are totally supportive of your boyfriend or girlfriend and your sexual activities. Here are some tips and helps to make it easier on both of you.

You will need to tell new partners about a sexually transmitted infection you have or have had, particularly one like human papillomavirus (HPV) where condoms reduce the risks of transmission, but not as well as they do for other kinds of infections. Putting someone knowingly at risk of an infection…

There sure is! Per your cramps, it partially depends on why you’re having them. So, the first thing you will want to do, especially if they are severe, and if you have other menstrual issues, is to check in with your gynecologist or other reproductive health professional and make sure you don’t have…

One of the most common side effects of injectable birth control is that withdrawal bleeds (remember, you don’t have real “periods” on birth control) may lighten or disappear entirely. A second extremely common side effect is spotting (sometimes called breakthrough bleeding) throughout a woman’s…

Have you seen your health care provider about this problem yet? If not, then that’s the very first place to go. You need to get checked out and make sure that everything physically is alright with you right now. You should also make sure that you tell your health care provider specifically that you…

Was this actually diagnosed by a health care provider as being a yeast infection? If it was, then your provider should have told you how long you should wait before becoming sexually active again. If it was not, then you need to get yourself to your health care provider or clinic to get this checked…

While your risks for STI transmission may be lesser if both of you have not ever been sexually active in any way, it does not totally negate the risk. Not being “sexually involved” can mean lots of things for different people. Some people might only consider “sexually involved” to mean having…

The short answer is that yes, you should always use a condom in order to be as safe as possible. The longer answer is that while being a “virgin” (and remember, since that’s a social construction rather than a medical one, it is defined differently by different people) may reduce your risk, it does…

Unless his sperm came equipped with flame throwers and chain saws, it’s pretty much impossible that it could make it through that many layers of clothing! Sperm can be pretty hearty, but all of those layers are more than they could ever survive through. So no, you have no pregnancy risk from the…