Flossing prevents gum disease, and research is starting to show that gum disease can lead to cardiovascular problems or even a problem during pregnancy called preeclampsia.
Your doctor may think he or she doesn’t need to give you annual pap tests if you say you’ve never had an STD, and missing these tests could mean letting a new disease go without detection. Previous STDs can also lead to pregnancy problems.
There can be serious interactions between drugs and alcohol. If your doctor knows you drink, he or she can try to prescribe you drugs that don’t interfere with alcohol. Also, denying your drinking habits can be a symptom of an addiction.
Having several partners increases your risk of STDs. If your doctor knows your habits, he or she can try to catch any infections early before lingering problems occur.
Diet and exercise can help with blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. It may be “easier” to take a pill for these problems, but the accompanying price and side-effects aren’t worth it.
Smoking causes an increased risk for sinus and upper respiratory infections, emphysema, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer. But it can also cause blood clots and strokes in women who use hormone-based contraceptives. If you light up, even once a month, you smoke.
Skin cancer rates have risen significantly since 1980. If you admit to frequently forgetting your sunscreen, your doctor can screen you for problems more frequently, and therefore catch them earlier when they are easier to treat. Your doctor can also be sure not to prescribe you medications that make you photo-sensitive.
Using drugs incorrectly can make you even sicker. For example, if you tell your doctor you’ve finished your antibiotics when you have not, he or she will prescribe you a new antibiotic. This will make the bacteria resistant to the medication, and could lead to a much more serious problem than the one with which you started.
Any medication, even Tylenol and ibuprofen, can have an effect on other drugs. Your doctor can prescribe you the proper drugs, or at least the proper amounts, only if he or she knows everything you are taking at a given time.
There are so many different kinds of birth control available, there is one out there appropriate for you and your lifestyle. If, for example, you constantly forget to take your pill, you doctor can suggest a better alternative.
According to Redbook…
if you have already decided to have sex.
1. Practice Safer Sex Every Time You Have Sex
2. Get Tested Regularly, and Encourage Your Partners To Do The Same
3. Have Sex Only Within A Mutually Monogamous Relationship
4. Know Your Limits
5. Talk To Your Partner
6. Don’t Drink Or Use Drugs Before Having Sex
7. Be Comfortable Saying No
8. Be Responsible For Your Own Protection
9. Know How To Please Yourself
10. Remember That Your Brain Is Your Most Important Sex Organ
According to STD.About.com, June 26, 2007.
1. Unprotected Sex
2. Multiple Partners
3. Being Under 25 Years Old/Early Age of Sexual Onset
4. Alcohol Use
5. IIllegal Drug Use
6. Trading Sex For Money / Drugs
7. Living In a Community With a High Prevalence of STDs
8. Serial Monogamy
9. Having an STD
10. Using Birth Control Pills As Your Sole Form of Contraception
According to STD.About.com, June 21, 2007
According to About.com’s Women’s Health, these are the Top 10 Contraceptive Myths, regarding Birth Control and other age old myths.
1. I Won’t Get Pregnant Having Sex On My Period
2. Breastfeeding My Baby Protects Me From Pregnancy
3. He Always Pulls Out Before He Ejaculates, I Won’t Get Pregnant
4. I Use Vaginal Douches After Sex To Keep From Getting Pregnant
5. I Won’t Get Pregnant The First Time I Have Sex
6. I Won’t Get Pregnant or Get STDs, I’m On The Pill
7. I Had Unprotected Sex Only One Time
8. I’m Too Old To Get Pregnant
9. I Don’t Have Sex Often Enough To Use The Pill
10. I’ve Had Lots Of Female Problems, So I Don’t Think I Can Get Pregnant
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