Q: My boyfriend of two years cheated on me while I was pregnant with twins because we could not have sex until eight weeks after they were born. Now he tells me that he has an STD. I have not shown any signs of having anything yet, but his doctor says that it has been too long since the affair for him to have gotten it from her. I have only been with one other person in my life, and even that was a long time ago. Is there anyway that I gave it to him because of having a c-section and a yeast infection after that? I have no idea how long one of these can incubate before a person has any symptoms.
A: I think your boyfriend is either not telling you what his doctor told him, or he needs to find another doctor. Unfortunately, there are many STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) which can have no symptoms in either men or women, and yet be passed on to another. To be honest, there are more people with gonorrhea who have no symptoms than people who do have symptoms. Chlamydia and the condyloma virus (venereal warts) also can be silent (no symptoms), and still be passed on.
These asymptomatic carrying states and transmission patterns are why I encourage all to use a condom every time, if they are not in a relationship which is totally monogamous on both sides. And your boyfriend could well have been infected many months ago, and have been totally unaware of it.
Surprisingly, yeast infections are seldom sexually transmitted. So don’t let your boyfriend off the hook because you had a yeast infection – you probably got your yeast infection from having been treated with antibiotics at the time of your Caesarian.
Most importantly, make sure you and he are both treated adequately for the disease he acquired, and have a repeat culture done after therapy to make sure you are both cured. Remember that silent chlamydia may not give you any symptoms, but can make you infertile – so getting tested and treated really matters.
