My Experience: Getting Tested Down There During Shark Week
Okay, so let’s talk about something kinda awkward but super practical. I remember this one time I needed to get an STI screen done. You know, just a routine check-up, keeping things safe. Booked the appointment and everything.
Then, wouldn’t you know it, the day before my appointment, my period decided to show up. Like, full force. My first thought was, crap. Can I even go? Will they be able to do the tests? Is it going to be messy and weird? I honestly had no clue.
I didn’t want to just cancel, because rescheduling can be a pain, and honestly, I just wanted to get it over with. So, I picked up the phone and called the clinic. Felt a bit weird asking, but I just went for it.
“Hey,” I said, “got an appointment tomorrow for STI tests, but I just started my period. Is that… like, okay? Can you still do everything?”
The nurse on the phone was super chill about it, thankfully. She told me, basically, “Yeah, most of the time it’s fine.”
- She explained that urine tests? No problem at all.
- Blood tests? Obviously, period doesn’t affect that.
- Swabs? Okay, this was the tricky bit. She said sometimes heavy bleeding might mess with certain swab results, like for chlamydia or gonorrhea, or definitely a Pap smear if I was getting one (which I wasn’t that time). But often, they can still do it, they just work around it.
She said the best thing was just to come in, let the doctor or nurse doing the test know, and they’d figure out what could be done then and there. Worst case, they might ask me to come back just for a specific swab if needed, but usually, it wasn’t a big deal.
So, I went to the appointment. I told the nurse when I got in the room, “Just letting you know, I’m on my period.” She just nodded, totally unfazed. Said it happens all the time.
They did the urine cup thing, took some blood. When it came to the swabs, the nurse was careful and quick. She mentioned that for their specific lab, it wasn’t usually an issue unless the flow was extremely heavy, which mine wasn’t too bad that day.
Got my results back about a week later, everything came back clear, no issues with the samples. It was way less of a big deal than I had worked it up to be in my head.
My takeaway? Don’t just assume you have to cancel. Give the clinic a quick call first. Most standard STI tests like blood and urine are totally fine. Even swabs might be okay. They’ve seen it all before, seriously. Just be upfront about it when you get there. Saved me the hassle of rescheduling, that’s for sure.
