Serious Questions about possible STDs...

[surfdevl02]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello future Doctors-

So i have a female friend that called me crying today saying she found bumps and what looks like genital warts on her region. She is seeing a doc in a couple days but thinking that i was already a doc (i'm starting med school in the fall) she called me asking questions about what are some tell-tale signs of an STD. Unfortunately, i have no clue what one would look for. Does anyone on this forum that has experience with this stuff know any tell-tale signs of possible STDs on women? I know this might be a vague question but she is scared sh$%less and i don't know what to tell her. I told her it might just be a random infection that can be cured with antibiotics but that is a bullsh$% answer cause i'm ignorant. Any help is appreciated.

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by surfdevl02
Any help is appreciated.

Let her doctor figure out what she has.

There are a variety of STD's, and each has its own set of signs/symptoms.

 

[dirtybob]

she can go to the berkeley free clinic tomorrow. they are known as an STD clinic

 

[Castro Viejo]

The Georgian Geek is right. There are just so many signs and symptoms associated with all the different STDs that giving you a laundry list would do you absolutely no good.

I understand the desire to wanna appear as Superman to this person since you'll be starting med school, but even if you were already done, you wouldn't be able to give her an answer without knowing the full story and being able to see what she's talking about.

Since she's seeing a doctor in a few days, let him or her decide what's going on with your friend's bumps.

 

[surfdevl02]

thanks for your response guys and yeah, i kinda agree now that i shouldn't tell her anything else and just wait for her to see the doc. I just hate hearing her freak out and crying but there's nothing i can do about it. As for dirtybob, i would tell her to go to the berkeley clinic but she lives in NYC, not the bay area. Thanks for the advice anyhow!

 

[manta]

grr...i tried to pm this to you. 🙂

the advice that other people have given is great. i just wanted to share our unofficial STD diagnosis criteria we use until the test results are back...
- does it hurt? could be herpes, secondary syphilis, infected hair bump
- if it doesn't, could be warts, hair bump

we see a lot of hair bumps. 🙂 so, considering that even in a STD clinic, it's very difficult to diagnose just by looking at it, i would definitely not try to diagnose by her description. i would tell her that it's not necessarily a STD.
if she does end up having warts, i think the best thing to tell her is to get a pap smear done every year. it's also good to remember that considering how high the incidence of HPV is (~50% in college-age women), the risk of any one person developing cervical cancer is very low.
most of the time, there are no symptoms at all - this goes for all STDs. Except for gonorrhea in males, but they still only get symptoms 60% of the time.
i hope it turns out to be nothing. good luck to both you and her. 🙂

 

[surfdevl02]

Thank you so much for your time Manta! I really appreciate it! I hope all is well for her but i can understand how it can be a bit scary. Are you a resident now??

 

[doc05]

surfdelv02,

a word of advice:

if your friends or family start asking you for medical advice, just say no! they probably don't realize you know absolutely nothing. I'm sure you want to be helpful, but as medical students (or almost-medical-students) our knowledge is reallllly limited, you may very well end up scaring the crap out of your friend with your differential diagnosis.

enjoy your summer

 

[Brewster]

Someone once told me this in reference to medical students who have finished second year and are studying for the boards (in paraphrase):

"The scariest people in the world are second year medical students...they know everything, but have no clinical judgement."

 

[pathstudent]

if the "bumps" are multiple and painful, it has gas got to be herpes, but a full exam needs to be done first. Does she have history possible exposure in the last 14 days (I think Herpes has a 10-14 day incubation)?

Do a Tzanck test dude!

If they are multiple and painles they are probably warts.

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by pathstudent
Do a Tzanck test dude!

And follow the cardinal rule with your friend: No mo' hanky panky (just in case you had a friend with benefits).

 

[manta]

i'm MS-0. 🙂 i do HIV/STD counseling and disease investigation for the local health department.
and i'm STDed out. i'm so ready to start med school in the fall. my fiance is tired of wathing movies with me - during every make-out scene, i feel compelled to tsk tsk and bring up herpes or something. 🙂

 

[Tamomo]

Tell your friend, Mary Jane Rottencrotch, to stop being such a filthy, f*ucking, dirty *****.

 

[jekel]

Originally posted by Tamomo
Tell your friend, Mary Jane Rottencrotch, to stop being such a filthy, f*ucking, dirty *****.

Will this be your advice to future patients?

 

[DrMom]

surfdevl,

your pm mailbox is full. could you please clear it out and send me a pm?

Thanks

DrMom

 

[tBw]

Part of the reason you should just not say anything and leave it to the doctor is that this really could be anything. I mean if she 'shaves' in the region she might just have something as benign as ingrown hairs (depending of course on *exactly* where the bumps are which you weren't specific about - inside? outside?)! Or if she has suddenly started up exercise she may just have blocked sweat pores, or boils incited from a combination of shaving and sweating. She may be wise enough to know the difference but she also might not be and we can't tell....so don't be tempted to give her a full run down of everything or anything and just tell her a physical exam is necessary...

(the reason I say the above is just because most of the cases of 'bumps' we get at the STD clinic I work at are just benign things that people are worrying over...)

 

[pathstudent]

That is true about the shaving. Ask her if she recently got a "Brazilian". THat is where you wax ALL the hair off. Incredibly popular with today's girls.

That is definitely in the differential.

In fact "do you have a Brazilian" should be added to the review of systems questions as shaving and waxing are so common now a days.