CAN STDs PREVENT CONCEPTION?

Q:

I’m 25 and in good health, I think, but we’ve been trying for a year and so far haven’t fallen pregnant. Nobody knows we’re trying. The other day in the office – I work with a lot of women – I heard my colleagues talking about something called adnexitis. It sounds like a venereal disease without many symptoms, but it also affects fertility. I’d never heard of it before, and now I’m worried that I might have it, because I was certainly no angel when I was younger and had unprotected sex with a variety of partners. I don’t have any other STD that I know of, because I would have had symptoms by now. Can men get it too?

A: Dr Peter Koll answers: The adnaxae are the structures on either side of your uterus, your fallopian tubes, ovaries and the structures that support them.

Adnexitis refers to inflammation of these structures. It can be caused by a number of things.

There are many other and far more common reasons for not falling pregnant within a year – including that you just need more time.

Routine check-up for infertility would detect these possible causes.

Your regular healthcare professional would deal with the simpler causes, and the more complex causes would be dealt with by a fertility specialist.

But it’s important to realise that not falling pregnant after trying for a year, especially at the age of 25, does not necessarily mean that there is a problem. It’s not a cause for alarm.

But it would be appropriate – and I think most healthcare professionals would agree with me – to start preliminary investigations.

Both you and your partner should visit your doctor for a check-up.