Symptoms in women include: vaginal discharge (can have a yeast smell at times), burning/pain when urinating, increased urination, sore throat, painful sexual intercourse, fever, and severe pain in the lower abdomen if the infection spreads to the fallopian tubes.
On the other hand, gonorrhea that is treated will by cured by antibiotics and the symptoms will go away.
Complications of gonorrhea for women include inflammation of the fallopian tubes leading to pelvic inflammatory disease (sever lower abdominal pain). This can lead to severe scars within the area causing future pregnancy complications and infertility. In addition, a untreated inflamed pelvis can increase the risk of an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside of the uterus). In males, a condition called epididymitis can develop leading to pain behind the testes and eventually infertility.
Do not engage in sexual activity till the you are cured of the symptoms, as you may pass it along to someone else. Advise your sexual partners for evaluation and treatment since gonorrhea can go undetected without symptoms at first.
Drink some water before going to the office. Your doctor will take a urine sample to see any white blood cells (immune cells), blood, or hints of infection in the urine. If you are female, a urine pregnancy test may be performed. Confirmatory testing will always be performed. This is an infection that is required by law to be reported to the health department and the CDC.
The healthcare provider will clean the area (usually shoulder muscle) with an alcohol swab and Inject a 250mg dose intramuscularly of ceftriaxone to treat the gonorrhea. This medication is part of the cephalosporin class of antibiotics and prevents growth of the gonorrhea cell wall. In addition your doctor will prescribe you, or give you, a one time dose of 1 gram (0. 035 oz) Azithromycin. A 7 day course of 100mg Doxycycline twice a day can be substituted for the azithromycin to treat for chlamydia[8] X Research source Cybulska P, Thakur SD. et al. Extracts of Canadian first nations medicinal plants, used as natural products, inhibit neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates with different antibiotic resistance profiles. Journal Sexually transmitted diseases. 2011 Jul;38(7):667-71. . Both these drugs prevent important enzymes and structural components of gonorrhea from being formed by interrupting protein synthesis.
