By Samar Post Jamali, Family Nurse Practitioner
To quote the forever amazing Salt-N-Pepa: “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby.” As a nurse practitioner at USM’s Student Health, I am psyched to talk about the sex you’re having and how to make sure it’s safe. Aaaaaaand, if you or your partner don’t want to be pregnant in the next twelve months, we should probably talk about birth control options.
Let’s start this talk here. A caveat that it’ll be a bit one-sided on the page. To dialogue you can do the following:
Stop by a Sexpert Panel on Monday, APRIL 8 in Lower Brooks, 7:30PM, hosted by Huskies for Reproductive Health.
Check out some resources I’ll list below.
Call 207-780-5411 or stop by Health Services to make an appointment with any of our awesome non-judgmental nurse practitioners or docs to talk about sex some more, either in Portland or Gorham.
Jumping into the nitty gritty: if you’re having sex you should be tested at least once for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It’s super easy. You make an appointment and come in. We high five you and then we ask questions about your sexual history, like which body parts are touching which body parts.
Below are some of the questions we may ask. We ask everyone these. Nothing is too weird.
Have you been sexually active in the past year? Do you have sex with penises? Vaginas? Both?Do you put your mouth on a vagina? A penis? Do you put your penis in a vagina? An anus? A mouth? Does your partner put a penis in your vagina? In your anus? Do you put your vagina on a vagina? How many people have you had sex with in the past year? For every 10 times that you have sex, how many times would you say that you use a condom?
Have you ever been tested for sexually transmitted infections? Do you want to get pregnant in the next year?
Depending on your answers we’ll want to test certain areas. If your mouth is on someone else’s genitals, we’ll swab your throat- –or you can swab your own throat. People with penises pee in a cup and individuals with vaginas do a self-swab with a big Q-tip. The only part of collecting we have to do is the blood test for HIV and syphilis.
After a few days we call you with the results and answer any questions. If needed we can call in antibiotics without prescription for you. If you should see a specialist, we will personally make that connection for you. Basically, we are here to support you in your overall wellness and that includes sexual wellness.
We want to make sure you’re taking care of yourselves and getting the care you want. If that means antibiotics for an STD, we’ve got it. If it means figuring out a birth control that works for you, we’ve got it. If it means different condoms, we’re happy to look around online with you. If it means figuring out how to get your partner tested, we’re excited to get creative and brainstorm ideas. As long as no one is getting hurt, it’s confidential.
Here are a few resources and another plug to come to the SEXPERT PANEL, April 8, Lower Brooks, 7:30PM
RESOURCES:
www.bedsider.org
http://www.itsyoursexlife.com/
https://stayteen.org/
http://www.positive.org/