Pelvic Inflammatory Disease – Detection and Treatment at Nyle Hospital

PID and Its Causes

If a woman is detected with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), it means that her reproductive organs are subjected to infection, that is, development of infection in the upper genital tract.

The main cause for PID includes the sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as gonorrhoea or chlamydia. Most often, this condition reaches severity by the spread of bacterial infection from cervix or vagina to the uterus, ovaries as well as fallopian tubes. Since the infection is caused by many types of bacteria, physicians struggle to indentify the actual culprit. Therefore, PID infected woman are prescribed with two or more antibiotics for fighting against each kind of bacteria. Some of the other causes include:

Previous record of PID

Damage of cervix due to previous miscarriage or vaginal delivery

Situation involving cervical opening, such as uterus inspection, abortion, use of IUDs (coil)

Women at Risk of PID

A woman is at the risk of PID if:

She had recent record of sexually transmitted infection

She had a condition of PID before

She is less than 25 years of age and was involved in sexual activities. Woman belonging to the age of 15 to 24 are more targeted.

She has one or more sexual partners or if her sex partner has more sex partners

She is involved in douching which favours the action of pushing bacteria inside the reproductive organs, thereby causing PID. Douching sometimes does not let the symptoms of PID to show off.

She has an insertion of intrauterine device (IUD) recently. However, the risk is more only for first few weeks of IUD use. Later the chances for occurrence of PID are very less. It is better if she undergoes STIs testing before the procedure of IUD so as to avoid the risk.

Signs and Symptoms of PID

Most of the women never know that they suffer PID because the signs and symptoms may be hidden or occur at extreme cases. However, the symptoms that occur may either be mild or serious. The following are the signs and symptoms of PID:

Pain in areas of lower abdomen

High fever

Foul smelling vaginal discharge

Painful sexual intercourse

Severe pain during passing of urine

Skipped menstrual periods

Pain in the upper area of right abdomen

If the reason for causing PID is gonorrhoea, the PID signs may be extreme abdominal pain along with fever

If PID is not treated at the right time, it can lead to critical problems such as infertility, chronic pelvic pain and ectopic pregnancy. If you suspect PID, immediate consultation with doctor is required as soon as possible because antibiotics is sufficient to cure PID, but other permanent damages of the internal organs caused by PID cannot be treated or reversed.