Teen Perspective: Sexuality
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Dr. Ellen S. Rome, MD , Pediatrics, answeredSee All 4 AnswersThere are many types of birth control pills and with different effects. In this video, Dr. Oz and Dr. Rome offer guidelines on the right dosage of birth control pills for teen girls.
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See All 4 AnswersThis is how I explain it to my patients every day. Starting birth-control pills you will have your own hormones and the birth-control pill hormones in your system. That's a lot! It takes about 3 months for the brain (hypothalamus) to get the message that there are too many hormones. So, eventually, the brain stops sending the message to the ovary to make hormones. It is a long process, but worth it. During this time, you may have bleeding unpredictably or a frank menstrual period at anytime. You may have nausea as well. These are the most common complaints during this 3-month transition onto the birth-control pills. But after the 3 months, you will not have bleeding or nausea. It's worth it for safe, effective, affordable contraception.
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredA condom prevents pregnancy by capturing the sperm cells in the ejaculated male semen or “cum.” This prevents the sperm from reaching the egg in the female fallopian tubes and fertilizing the egg.
If a condom falls off or breaks inside the woman, then the sperm can quickly travel into her uterus and tubes and the protection from pregnancy is lost. A small drop of semen contains thousands to millions of sperm cells. This means even the tiny drop of pre-ejaculate found on the tip of an aroused male penis is enough to cause a pregnancy if it gets into the female vagina.
Condoms work best to prevent pregnancy if the man puts it on his penis before he gets anywhere near his partner’s vagina and if he removes his penis from the vagina as soon as he orgasms and ejaculates so that no sperm cells can escape. -
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredTrichomoniasis is spread through intimate contact. This means not only sex, the penis in the vagina, but any touching of genitals or sex toys from the infected person to a partner, can spread trichomoniasis.
Trichomoniasis is a single-celled orgranism with a flagella, or tail, that can move through the secretions of the vagina and penis. It can be seen on a microscope at an office visit. It causes a fishy odor, discharge, itching and sometimes redness. There are other things that can cause similar symptoms, so it needs to be checked and diagnosed by a health care provider. It is treated and cured with specific antibiotics. -
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See All 2 AnswersThe best way to prevent pregnancy at any age is abstinence, which is not having sexual intercourse. However, if you choose to be sexually active, there are methods to prevent pregnancy, such as correctly using birth control methods including condoms, birth control pills, IUDs, patches, NuvaRing or hormone shots. All of these birth control methods have a small risk of pregnancy even if used correctly. Abstinence has no risk of pregnancy. Talk to your physician about what method is best for you. -
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredTrichomoniasis is a microscopic organism. It is a single cell with a tail-like structure called a flagella that allows it to move through liquid. Trichomoniasis lives in the genital tract, the vagina of women and the penis of men. It is spread from one person to another through sex.
The symptoms include a watery discharge that causes burning and itching. There may also be swelling. You must see a health care provider for an examination to be sure the symptoms are in fact caused by trichomoniasis. The infection is cured with antibiotics. -
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredIt takes a certain amount of self -respect, or liking yourself, to control your sexuality and help you make healthy decisions about having sex. This self-respect is something that hopefully gets stronger and better as you grow and mature.
It also takes basic information about sex and pregnancy to prevent pregnancy. It is easier to find and to understand this information when you are older. A girl who goes through puberty early, at age 9 or even older, has a body that may be able to get pregnant, but doesn’t always have the information or ability to protect herself from the sex that causes pregnancy.
We all need to work together to protect young girls from the harm that having sex too early can cause. If you have a friend who is physically mature, but doesn’t seem to have the help and support she needs to be safe, get the help of a responsible adult. This adult might be your parents, your health care provider, a counselor at school, a minister or other religious person, or a close and trusted friend. -
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredHPV stands for human papilloma virus. There are over a hundred different strains of HPV, some of which are known to cause changes in the cells of the cervix that are detected as abnormal pap smears. If left untreated, these changes can progress into cervical cancer. Other strains of HPV cause genital warts.
HPV is transmitted through sex and intimate contact such as genitals touching genitals. You can also get HPV in other tissue called mucus membranes such as the mouth and anus. The virus is very, very common in humans. When women in their 50’s were tested, 80% of these women showed signs of at least having been exposed to HPV at some time in their lives.
Health care can cure the symptoms of HPV, the abnormal paps and genital warts. But because it is a virus, there are no medicines that can cure HPV. Yet we now think that more than 80% of people who get HPV either cure it or suppress it enough to prevent problems through their own immune system.
Using condoms helps reduce the chances of catching HPV. It is also important to stay healthy so that if you catch HPV, your immune system will be strong enough to cure the virus. One of the most important changes you can make to prevent problems from HPV is to not use tobacco. -
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredSee All 3 AnswersA sexually transmitted infection is spread from person to person by close contact of the genitals to genitals or sometimes genitals to mouth. These are also called sexually transmitted diseases. They include the specific infections of chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphillus, genital herpes, pediculosis or lice, trichomoniasis, genital warts, lymphogranuloma venereum and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
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Patricia Geraghty, NP , Women's Health, answeredGenital herpes are caused by a virus called Herpes Simplex Virus. There are several strains of this virus. Genital herpes is almost always caused by the strain of herpes called type 2. This virus is very common.
When a person has an active blister, the person is the most contagious but the virus can also be spread even when there isn’t a blister present. The best ways to avoid spreading or catching the virus is to not touch active blisters as in kissing or having sex. Using condoms for sex reduces the risk of spreading the virus.
There are oral tablets that can be used to make the symptoms go away more quickly. You need a prescription from your health care provider for these tablets. A person that keeps getting outbreaks of blisters very frequently may use the same tablets on a daily basis. This not only prevents or reduces further outbreaks, but also reduces the amount of virus they have to spread and protects their intimate partners.