Chlamydia tends to hang around the cervix or the fallopian tubes, so if it is going to let you know it is there (and it may not), your symptoms will usually relate to these two areas. The condition resulting from infection in the tubes is known as pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID.
The most common symptoms include a brownish, bloody discharge, even like light bleeding between periods. This may be more obvious after having sex. You may notice that having sex becomes painful. Symptoms with chlamydia are usually mild, can be moderate (pain, discharge, and perhaps unwell with a temperature) or, less commonly, severe (sick, in hospital on a drip).
Even if it does not cause obvious symptoms, the problem with PID is that it may produce scarring which can really mess up your tubes. It can place you at a significantly higher risk of problems such as ectopic pregnancy and infertility. Each episode of infection (silent or otherwise) carries with it potential tubal damage. The amount of damage tends to increase with the severity and number of episodes. Generally, there is about a 10 per cent chance of infertility with the first episode, 30 per cent with the second, and 75 per cent with the third infection. After an infection some women want to know if there is damage to the tubes, and will sometimes request investigation. However this is usually only done as part of an investigation for infertility, after a couple has had trouble conceiving, or as part of an investigation for chronic pelvic pain. A laparoscopy and dye test is usually performed to diagnose tube blockage and, as it involves a general anaesthetic, and is a surgical procedure, it is usually not undertaken unless mere is a good reason for doing it.
A man may have chlamydia living in his penis and not be aware of anything more than occasional discomfort when passing urine, if that. He may have the more noticeable symptoms of ‘nonspecific urethritis’ (NSU), or ‘nongonococcal urethritis’ as it has also been known. This means that he may notice a discharge and some pain at the rip of his penis.
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