Take a test lately?

Want to know your results be sure to answer the call!

Been to the doctor lately? Had some tests done at a clinic or the Emergency Department of your local hospital? If you answered yes to any of these then you may be awaiting test results.

If so, usually you don’t receive test results in the same visit and the healthcare provider will notify you by phone in a few days, to a week, to two weeks depending on the type of test.

Many people are afraid or nervous of receiving test results. You may think you don’t want to know because the result will be bad or something you don’t want to hear. But what if it’s good? You would want to hear that right? And if it’s not so good, then you need to know as well and can then start taking immediate action to address the test result.

So, let’s say for example that you went last week to a community clinic because you had unprotected sex with someone over the weekend that you did not know very well.

Or, just maybe you have been friends since third grade and you decided to check each other out but you forgot to get yourselves checked out first. Whatever the connection, you decide to get tested for STDs. From the minute you leave the clinic you are wondering and nervously anticipating the test results. What if I got something? What if it is life-threatening or life long? How will I tell the other person?

Why didn’t they tell me?

It generally takes THREE business days to receive results back for STD testing. So on the fourth day after testing, you get a call. You see the number but don’t recognize it so you don’t answer it.

The next day you get a call from that same unfamiliar number. You don’t answer it. Two days later you receive a certified letter and it just happens to be from the clinic. You are scared because it is a certified letter and you do not call.

You may think not knowing is better and then you won’t have to deal with the stress of bad news. Actually knowing can be a good thing and can take away a lot stress. If you end up testing positive for a STD, then you can get treated and notify your partner so they can seek out testing and/or treatment right away.

The longer you wait to get treated or notify your partner the more complications or serious effects can occur such as severe symptoms, if there are any symptoms, damage to reproductive organs or possibly even infertility. If you have a good test result then you can breathe a BIG sigh of relief and know to be more careful next time.

But it all starts by answering the call, the text, the email, the letter and sometimes even the front door!