At Home Testing for STIs (Review)
In November, I became sexually active again and within that time I got two UTIs. I've spoken about my UTI symptoms previously but because of that, it defintely put the seed of doubt in my head and I wanted to ensure that I wasn't or didn't have an sexually transmitted infection. I know it's rare so unlikely to be related, even the A+E doctor said as much, but it was still something tugging at the back of my mind.
I asked my first partner to do an STI test before we got together, as he was my first sexual partner but he had been with 2 other women. I was really hurt when he said no and refused to do one but I guess I trusted him and so went on with life. After we broke up, I did an STI check and it came back negative. I then had a second STI check in A+E when I got admitted with pneumonia, so this would be the third, but my first at home test.
I ordered a kit through the NHS website. You can only order if you have no symptoms, which when I ordered it, I didn't have any symptoms. They have a certain criteria, and there are different suppliers based on where you are located, however most areas in the UK do provide a service.
The kit came with everything it needed in the package. I ordered it and it arrived just a few days later with clear instructions. For women, there is a vaginal swab, whereas for men it is a urine sample container instead. For the blood taking component, it came with three lancets (but luckily I only needed one), a small blood bottle, cleaning wipe, cardboard bottle holder, plastic wallet and clear sealing sticker.The whole testing and sample taking process took about 5 minutes and everything was prelabelled and ready to be sent back. It's important to ensure you write the date of collection on the sample form, but once everything is placed back in the box, you seal it up and I ended up adding an extra piece of tape around the box as was recommended but not essential.
I received the results of my samples back in just a few days. It was a quick process, and the email came through securely. It required me to be signed back into my account to see them and once logged in it was very clear. The results were thankfully clear with a negative blood test for HIV and syphilis and a negative swab result for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.
Overall, the whole process was smooth from start to finish. The instructions were easy to follow and came with both words and pictures. Most importantly, it was really quick with delivery and results all back within a week.
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