Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

What does ‘Pelvic Inflammatory Disease’ mean?

Pelvic inflammatory disease is a condition that affects women.

It means that your reproductive organs (your womb/uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries) have become inflamed (red and swollen.) They become inflamed because they are infected with bacteria (germs.)

Pelvic inflammatory disease can be called PID (P-I-D) for short.

How do you get PID?

Bacteria (germs) infect your reproductive organs (womb/uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries,) and cause them to become red and swollen. When this happens, you are said to have pelvic inflammatory disease (PID.)

In most women, PID starts when a sexually-transmitted infection spreads from their vagina to their womb and fallopian tubes. Sexually transmitted infections are bacteria that can be passed from one person to another during sex or intimate contact. The most common sexually transmitted infections that cause PID are Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea.

It is also possible to get PID after having surgery (e.g. after having an abortion,) or after giving birth or having a miscarriage.

What symptoms might I get if I have PID?

The symptoms of PID are:

  • Pain in your tummy. The pain is usually low down in your tummy, below your navel.
  • Pain when you have sex.
  • Discharge from your vagina.
  • Changes to your periods. You may notice that you bleed between periods.
  • Feeling unwell. You may have a fever (high temperature,) feel sick or have diarrhoea.

However, you don’t have to have all of these symptoms to have PID. Some women with PID have no symptoms. They may not even know that they have PID. Other women may have only mild symptoms.

If you experience any of these symptoms, you should speak to a doctor as soon as possible.

How will the doctor know whether I have PID or not?

Your doctor will need to examine you and do some tests. If you want, you can ask to speak to a female doctor – the receptionist will not ask you for a reason.

The examination is always carried out in a private room. The doctor will ask you to go behind a curtain. You will be given a sheet or some thick tissue paper to cover yourself up with. The doctor will wait on the other side of the curtain until you tell them that you are ready.

When you are ready, the doctor will come behind the curtain. When you are comfortable, they will gently insert a small plastic instrument into your vagina to hold the walls apart. They will then use a long cotton bud to take a sample of the fluid inside your vagina. This is known as taking a ‘swab.’ The cotton bud will be sent to a laboratory to look for bacteria (germs) such as Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea, which could be causing your PID.

It is important that you let the doctor know if you feel uncomfortable during the examination, or if you feel any pain. The doctor will stop the examination immediately if you ask her to. 

You may also need to have a blood test or a scan to look for PID.

How is PID treated?

Your doctor will give you antibiotics (drugs that kill bacteria) to treat the infection.

If you are very unwell (e.g. you have a fever or you are being sick,) you may need to go to hospital to be treated.

You will need to tell your partner if you have an infection such as Chlamydia or Gonorrhoea. Your partner will also be given antibiotics to treat the infection. If your partner is not treated then you may be re-infected and have to be treated again.

What are the complications of PID?

There is a chance that a complication could occur if you have PID. The longer you have PID, the more likely it is that a complication will occur.

Complications include:

  • Getting an abscess. An abscess is a bubble of infected fluid inside your body. It will need to be treated urgently with antibiotics or surgery, as it can make you seriously ill.
  • Having pain in your lower tummy. For some women, the pain in their tummy does not go away.
  • Having an ectopic pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy is one where the baby grows outside your womb. In most cases, the baby grows in the fallopian tubes. This can be life-threatening. You are more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy if you have had PID in the past.
  • Being unable to get pregnant. Your fallopian tubes can be blocked by scar tissue if you have had PID. This means that the eggs from your ovaries will not reach your womb. PID one of the most common causes of infertility (being unable to get pregnant naturally.) The longer you wait before you get treated, the more likely you are to become infertile.

Because of this, it is really important that you see a doctor if you think you might have PID.

How do I protect myself against PID?

Use a condom every time you have sex to avoid catching a sexually transmitted infection. If you have unprotected sex (sex without a condom,) ask to be tested for sexually transmitted infections at your local sexual health clinic.