- What are the most used antibiotics
- Possible complications of PID
- Signs of improvement
- Signs of worsening
Treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease, also known as PID, should be started as soon as possible to prevent serious consequences for a woman's reproductive system, such as infertility or the possibility of having an ectopic pregnancy, due to the development of lesions in the fallopian tubes.
Usually treatment is done with antibiotics, but depending on the severity of the disease, it may be necessary to perform a surgical procedure to treat inflammation or drain abscesses, for example.
PID is an infection that begins in the vagina or cervix and is more frequent in women who are sexually active or who have the intrauterine IUD device. Find out what are the main causes and symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease.
What are the most used antibiotics
The treatment for acute pelvic inflammatory disease consists of the use of antibiotics, oral or in injection, for about 14 days or according to the medical prescription. The main antibiotic recommended by the doctor is azithromycin, but some others that can be recommended include:
- Amoxicillin; Ceftriaxone; Doxycycline; Metronidazole; Levofloxacin; Gentamycin; Clindamycin.
During treatment it is important for the woman to be at rest, not to have intimate contact, to remove the IUD if she uses it and to take medication to relieve pain such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. In addition, the partner must also be treated, even if there are no symptoms, to avoid recontamination or manifestation of the disease.
72 hours after the start of antibiotic treatment, the woman should be evaluated again by the gynecologist to see if the treatment chosen has had good results. If there is no improvement in symptoms, hospitalization may be necessary to undergo vein treatment.
If the disease worsens and there is a possibility of rupture of abscesses in the tubes, surgical intervention may be necessary to clean and drain abscesses.
Possible complications of PID
When treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease is not started quickly, the disease can develop and cause various types of scarring in the female reproductive system, which can result in various complications such as:
- Ectopic pregnancy: it happens because the presence of scars in the tubes can prevent the egg from leaving the uterus, which ends up being fertilized by the sperm, generating a pregnancy in the tubes; I infertility: depending on the places where PID scars develop, the woman may have infertility; Ovarian abscesses: scarring can result in the accumulation of pus, which causes abscesses in the reproductive tract to develop. These abscesses can eventually open up and cause bleeding or generalized infection.
In addition, women with pelvic inflammatory disease who are not undergoing any type of treatment also experience chronic pelvic pain, which ends up decreasing the quality of life.
Signs of improvement
The signs of improvement in pelvic inflammatory disease usually appear a few days after the start of treatment and are related to the reduction of pelvic pain, regulation of menstrual losses and relief of fever, if any.
In cases where the woman did not have any symptoms, signs of improvement can be observed by the gynecologist through tests such as ultrasound or laparoscopy.
Signs of worsening
Symptoms of worsening PID usually happen when treatment is not started in time and, therefore, scars appear in the reproductive system that can end up causing bleeding outside the menstrual period, fever and even increased pelvic discomfort, with pain to urinate and during intimate contact.
