There was a great song in the late 1960's free love era (songs often reflect the politics and social norms of the times)---"If you can't be with the one you love, baby, love the one you're with".

Oh, BAD Advice!!

But what did we know? We all felt so free because making love was better than making war (Vietnam) and we had birth control pills so we couldn't get pregnant and having sex was an OK way to express yourself (as long as your parents didn't find out!).

Ten years later we had almost 30 year old baby-boomer princesses trying to get pregnant without success, or suffering from painful pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) or worse yet, experiencing a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy - because of scar tissue on the fallopian tubes.

Why?

CHLAMYDIA!

The most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease (STD) and 50% of males and 70% of females who have it HAVE NO SYMPTOMS! Which is, after all, why it is the most common STD. Let's face it, if you feel crummy you don't feel like having sex!

If you are lucky enough to have symptoms, worry if you experience:

1. urinary tract infection symptoms - frequency and not emptying, internal pain on urination.
2. bleeding after intercourse.

If you have no symptoms and feel fine, worry if:

1. you have a new partner
2. he had a new partner
3. you have doubts

There are an estimated 3 million cases every year in the US, and it is most common in age groups 15-24. One out of 10 adolescent girls tests positive for this infection!

Please protect yourself- the treatment is a simple antibiotic.

Lynne Fiore, NP