Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and its Possible Effects on Conceiving

Just what is Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or PID? That is a very good question, as PID can cause various problems inside of your body.If you are planning on trying to get pregnant, these issues can sometimes become a very serious roadblock to your chances of conception.

So, PID stands for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. And put quite simply, this is an infection of a woman’s reproductive organs by bacteria, which affects the ovaries, womb, cervix and fallopian tubes. This can be done in several ways although the most common is usually when bacteria has traveled up from the vagina and infected the organs, after having had a sexually transmitted infection, especially gonorrhea or chlamydia, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease is caused by bacteria that enters through the cervix, causing it to become infected, which then allows the bacteria to affect the other reproductive organs, which can then cause infertility. Here are some additional things that can also cause the possibility of this occurrence, though the types of bacteria may differ. They include:

*Sexually transmitted infections (most often Chlamydia and Gonorrhea)
*Having bacterial vaginosis
*If you have had PID previously
*Douche
*If you have recently had and IUD inserted
*If you have undergone an abortion in the recent past
*If you have multiple sexual partners

Many women wonder how they can tell if they have this infection and what the symptoms may be. In some cases, it is true that a woman will have some idea if she has been infected with this rather insidious problem, but, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Here is a list of symptoms that you can be on the lookout for, and they are:

*Pain in your lower belly, usually described as dull and steady or somewhat crampy and often tends to increase during bowel movements. This is most often the main symptom.
*Nausea and/or vomiting
*Unusual vaginal bleeding. For example, bleeding after sex, heavy bleeding or spotting in between menstrual cycles.
*Fever or chills
*Vaginal discharge that will have an unpleasant type of odor to it, or perhaps be brown, green or yellow in color.
*Pain or burning during urination
*Pain in the lower back, which in some cases will also spread downward into either on or both legs.
*Pain during sex which can often be very deep.
*A sensation of pressure in the pelvic region.

If you are concerned that you may have PID, here are some of the tests that may be performed on you in order to find out. They may include:

*A physical exam that will include a pelvic (internal) exam and will check for things such as: abscesses near both your tubes and ovaries, pain or tenderness in any of your pelvic organs, or abnormal discharge that is coming from your cervix or vagina.

*Endometrial (uterine) biopsy-in this procedure, a doctor will remove a small piece of the endometrium (inside lining of the womb) and then test it.

*Your doctor will test you for urinary tract infection, pregnancy, STI’s, and will include HIV and syphilis.

*Laparoscopy-this is where a doctor will insert a small, lighted tube through your abdominal area, in order to exam and look at your pelvic organs.

*Ultrasound-this test uses sound waves in order to take pictures of the pelvic area.