[bm3175]

I went to see a doctor for some issues I've been having (strong smelling urine, light brownish/pink discharge, and cramping pains after intercourse with my husband as well as soreness inside during intercourse kind of like poking a bruise) and without even listening to me or checking anything he insisted I had an infection and prescribed me a medication and sent me on my way.

So I went for another opinion today to a different doctor and this woman actually took the time to test my urine (everything tested fine), give me a pap test (said everything looked good but she'd send it away for more tests to be sure), and then proceeded to put her fingers inside of me and push upward while pushing down somewhere below my belly and it REALLY hurt! She then moved around with her fingers, which also really hurt and she told me that she had moved my cervix around a bit.

So anyway, she then told me that she *thinks* it is an infection (she mentioned Pelvic Inflammatory Disease) and prescribed me TWO antibiotics. She told me that if it doesn't clear up with those, that I should come back and they would do an ultrasound. My issue is that after researching the drugs online (Doxycycline and Metronidazole), they don't look like anything I really want to take. I haven't taken drugs of any kind in over five years because I seem to be especially sensitive and tend to get every side effect on the list. I really prefer natural health care and try to avoid drugs as much as possible.

I don't understand why the doctors don't do the ultrasound first or more tests to be sure before just handing out drugs. It seems to me that instead of figuring out what is really wrong, they want to just try treating every possible condition one at a time to rule them out and then move onto the next drug for the next possible cause until they get the right one!

I'm also wondering if the soreness sounds familiar to anyone and what other possible conditions would cause it? I'm still feeling sore and crampy since she pushed around inside me today.

[caterpillar79]

I don't understand why the doctors don't do the ultrasound first or more tests to be sure before just handing out drugs. It seems to me that instead of figuring out what is really wrong, they want to just try treating every possible condition one at a time to rule them out and then move onto the next drug for the next possible cause until they get the right one!

I'm with you on this one. They make guinea pigs out of us!

Have you started taking your medications yet? I don't like taking medicines as well. Maybe you can demand to be examined more thoroughly when the pain dissipates a little. If they will be doing ultrasound, most likely, it will be intra-vaginal and it would be very uncomfortable if you are still feeling raw almost.

Lay off of sex for now and wait till it clears up. I've had burning and pain during intercourse before, but it's not because of PID. It's because I have a retroverted uterus and yeast infection. I was given a pill to clear up the yeast, the retroverted uterus was supposedly "fixed" by my OB-GYN when I last had a baby. I still feel the pain, but not as much anymore.

Just to help clear that up faster, include probiotic yogurt in your diet as well as unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. Drink a sufficient amount of water and rest well. stress can aggravate the situation.

If you can go back to the doctor sooner, demand to be examined thoroughly (ultrasound, etc.). It may also help if you include a urologist to check your urine. I had high oxalate in my urine which irritates me more, so when we got that under control, things just got better. I hope you find your cure soon.

[ItsASecret]

I don't understand why the doctors don't do the ultrasound first or more tests to be sure before just handing out drugs. It seems to me that instead of figuring out what is really wrong, they want to just try treating every possible condition one at a time to rule them out and then move onto the next drug for the next possible cause until they get the right one!

They do not opt for other procedures because it takes too much time when so many diagnoses are cleared up with general prescriptions. You have to get the machine available, which could be in use with someone with a cancerous tumor already or in the middle of an E.R with a patient with ripped apart insides, then you need the tech around, then you need the paperwork, then you need to make sure you can use it quick enough to get a diagnosis while still having it on the ready incase it is needed in a big medical emergency elsewhere in the hospital. Medical doctors are not talk-therapy doctors, they just do not have the time to devote long hours per patient they are medical doctors who diagnose based on symptoms and use a flow chart type diagnosis method to treat. If you have symptoms A,B and C you get drug X because that is how it works. It can be rushed yes but that is the way medicine works. One thing you can do though is see a specialist and not the regular GP doc. The specialists have a bit more time on their hands for patients. You can ask for a referral for a gyne or a urologist and they can send you off for labs and ultrasounds but again they will be diagnosing at all times based on a flow chart method.

As for the infection, the antibiotics are what you will be prescribed each and every single time (maybe different antibiotics if the current ones do not work). The thing with infections is you cannot 'will' them away, they are infections caused by invading bacteria and will not just go away if you drink some water or eat some foods. However at the same time so many people misuse antibiotics that now the bacteria causing infections are incredibly resistant to the drugs given so you could be cleared up with the first dose or it could have no major effect.

[bm3175]

I haven't started the drugs yet, no. And the pain isn't constant. It only happens during and after intercourse, and even then not every single time. But after the doctor pressed around on me, I was sore for the rest of the evening. She must have pressed harder.

I'm not doubting that the antibiotics would work *if* I have an infection. I haven't taken an antibiotic since I was a child. I just don't want to take the drugs for no reason when it could turn out not to be an infection at all. It makes more sense to me to hold off on the drugs, go back in a week and tell her the issue is still there and let her do whatever further testing she wanted to do next. Then if they don't find anything I will go home and actually take the drugs. But if they do find something else then I've saved myself the trouble of having to take unnecessary drugs.

[ItsASecret]

It makes more sense to me to hold off on the drugs, go back in a week and tell her the issue is still there and let her do whatever further testing she wanted to do next.

I understand that, I am completely pro-medication and pro-medicine in any and all regard because I am a science student who wanted to be a doctor however that said I rarely seek out medical attention or take antibiotics (only time I do is if my throat is clearly full of puss from a strep infection lol) because I know it can be useless to take medication unless you need it. There is the factor that taking unnecessary antibiotics actually increases the resistance of bacteria-it is complex as to why but this is a form of misuse of the drug itself. However if it is an infection then the problem of not taking the antibiotics is there. If you do not take the medication then the infection can actually become worse because nothing is there to prevent it from spreading and increasing in intensity. It can be a difficult situation if you feel strongly about the fear of medication, either take the drugs and feel better (if there is an infection) or leave it alone and risk the chance of an even more aggressive infection due to no medication trying to stop it.

[Chili]

HI there, I am surprised that your doctor was so quick to suggest PID, which can be very serious, without doing any further tests. Do you believe you may have come into contact with gonorrhea or chlamydia?