Women's Health

Desperate - do you think I am sterile???

02/27/2007

Question:

Hello, thank you for providing this wonderful service. I am 30, female, married. Any help to any of the many quesitons would be greatly appreciated. 1) Can you have an STD, unknowingle for many years, then get tested for STD`s years after having STD, and have it no longer show up in tests?? Do they finally clear on own? Or once you have one it will stay in your system, and show up on tests until it is treated? (2) Have you ever heard of syptoms such as these after an abortion. At 17 I had abortion, I immediately was in intense pain, almost fainted from pain, I could feel my insides literally exploding, popping in my belly. Did not get it checked out. I am so worried I may very well be sterile, because in 13 years of I have not become accidentally pregnant (not trying), all we used was pull out method. I do not have med. insurance so can`t have fertility testing. I might have had PID, or abortion problems, that caused sterility. also does PID always have syptoms? I have heard conflicting answers. Thank you so much for any help you can provide. I am always filled with regret and sadness since the abortion 13 years ago, and now I`m afraid I will be haunted forever, never being able to have my own children.

Answer:

Here are my best attempts to your questions.

#1 - For certain types of STDs (example - chlamydia), it is possible that a woman can get infected and eventually be cured without knowing that she has that infection; however, that certainly is not the norm. It usually is the other way - a woman gets infected, doesn't know she's infected, and years later finally gets tested and it comes up positive (e.g., herpes, human papillomavirus, chlamydia).

#2 - it sounds like you may have had a complication from the procedure, or an infection that occurred afterwards; that is not necessarily bad nor does it doom you to never being able to get pregnant. Your personal ability to get pregnant is hard to judge at this time because it sounds like you have not really been trying to get pregnant.

Infertility is defined normally as an inability to get pregnant after a year of actively trying to get pregnant. If and when you want to get pregnant, I would encourage you to share your fears with your physician - he or she will be able to perform a test to see if your tubes are open (which would then allow you to get pregnant).

You are not alone as you feel the regret and sadness from the abortion - some women suffer from a "post-abortion" syndrome. If you are interested, one source of readings that you may wish to review are found from the Focus on the Family web site: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/

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Response by:

W. Fred Miser, MD
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
Department of Family Medicine
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University