Diagnosing Pelvic Inflammation
Your doctor will provide tests to determine whether you have pelvic inflammation. Such tests include pelvic examination to check your pelvic organs, cervical culture to check for infections and urine tests to check for signs of blood, cancer and other things. If your doctor then determines that you have pelvic inflammation they might run more tests to check the damage. These tests can include a pelvic ultrasound which sends sound waves to create pictures of internal organs, endometrial biopsy, where the doctor removes a sample of your uterus lining, or a laparoscopy where an instrument is inserted into your abdomen and takes pictures of pelvic organs.
Antibiotics
Most often you will be prescribed with antibiotics to help treat pelvic inflammation. You might get two types of antibiotics to make sure the bacteria are affected. Make sure to tell your doctor if you’re pregnant as some types of antibiotics shouldn’t be taken during pregnancy. The time period for antibiotic is usually for fourteen days and sometimes starts off with an antibiotic injection. You have got to complete the entire course of antibiotics to make sure the infection is cleared, even if you might feel better after one week. Sometimes, if the infection is severe you might have to have an intravenous antibiotics (IV) in the hospital. For those who have pain in their abdomen or pelvis, you can take paracetamol or ibuprofen while you take antibiotics. For the two week duration of oral antibiotics you may be prescribed:
- Ofloxacin
- Metronidazole
- Ceftriaxone
- Doxycycline
After the Antibiotics
Sometimes the doctors may want to check that the antibiotics are working and so will ask you to come into the practice three days after you started the antibiotic treatment. If they seem to be taking effect on the infection, you will most likely have another follow-up appointment once you have finished the course of antibiotics just to make sure the treatment has cleared the infection completely. In the case that the antibiotics haven’t been working within three days, it’s likely your doctor will advise you to go to hospital for further treatments and test.
Sexual Partners
It’s important that any sexual partners you had six months before you started showing symptoms are tested and treated to avoid spreading the infection further. Pelvic inflammation can occur in long-term partners as well and it’s important to wait until the infection has cleared completely before having sex again.