Treatment For Gonorrhea

What Are My Options To Get Treated For Gonorrhea?

Gonorrhea can be treated and cured with a combination of medications. The Center For Disease Control has issued guidelines for treatment being a single dose of 250mg ceftriaxone (injection), coupled with a 1g oral azithromycin tablet. You may experience slight discomfort with the intramuscular antibiotic, but due to gonorrhea’s ability to resist a wider array of antibiotics this dual prong approach is needed.

Gonorrhea Treatment In Men & Women

In general, males have a simpler path from identification of a gonococcal infection to its successful treatment and cure. Often, a single dosage of antibiotics of 1-2g will rid the body of the infection.

Due to their anatomy, females are at a much higher risk of suffering long term damages from difficult to treat gonorrhea infections. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is a dangerous condition that could put a females life at risk as well as severely limit her fertility and chances of producing offspring. Clinics and physicians report high rates of reinfection among female patients due to improperly following treatment guidelines. Because of this increased risk, a physician may move to more aggressively treat female patients with gonorrhea.

How Long Does Gonorrhea Treatment Take?

If you catch the gonorrhea infection early, a single treatment should clear the bacteria from your body within 7-10 days. It is critical to abstain from sex during this time period and too often patients fail to rid themselves of the infection by continuing sexual contact with an infected partner.

Gonorrhea infections cause serious damage to the internal organs of both men and women. Untreated gonorrhea infections will eat tissue and leave scars on ovaries, inside the urethra and anywhere else it spreads. Treatment for gonorrhea only helps to kill the bacteria, once the damage has been done it will not be reversed by treatment. This is why catching a gonorrhea infection early and follow all of the treatment steps closely is so important.

Can I Be Allergic To Treatment?

Gonorrhea treatment does sometimes reveal an allergy to penicillin in some patients. There are multiple types of treatments available so your health care professional will be able to find a suitable alternative to cure you.

How Much Does Treatment Cost Without Insurance?

A gonorrhea test online will cost you around $100, although due to the fact that chlamydia and gonorrhea are often co-diagnosed you will most likely want to get a chlamydia test as well.

How Effective Is Gonorrhea Treatment?

Some patients ask “what if treatment doesn’t work for me?”. Gonorrhea has shown resilience to a wide array of penicillin strains and it continues to adapt to treatment options scientists create. Because of this, your healthcare professional will be very measured in what treatment they prescribe to you. If the initial treatment is ineffective and you test positive for the infection on your re-test, you’ll be prescribed a different and more concentrated medication.

Are There Any Side Effects?

Like many medications, the intramuscular injection of ceftriaxone comes with potential side effects such as rash headache, itching, pain, redness at injection site and nausea. Although normal, please alert your healthcare physician if you are experiencing any of these symptoms after or during your treatment period.

Treatment Options Available For You

Depending on where you are, there will be a variety of treatment options available to you. In the United States, you’ll need a positive identification of the infection before a doctor will prescribe treatment. Your options include college campus health centers (for students), local health clinics, your primary care physician or direct to lab services, such as STDAware.com.

If you think you may have a gonorrhea infection contact our health counselors today and we’ll be able to help you find a solution