General questions

Does a urine test pick up everything?

I gave a urine sample and that was the whole appointment. Reading here it sounds like other people had swabs taken as well. Did I get a lesser version of the test?

apple_crate 2 months ago

NoteMember experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.

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third_shift 2 months ago

A urine sample is good for chlamydia and gonorrhoea at the genital site, and that is the main thing it is for. It does not tell you anything about the throat or the rectum, and it does not cover HIV or syphilis, which need blood.

So whether you got a lesser version depends entirely on where you have had sex.

back_porch 2 months ago

This is the single most common gap people discover here. Infections at the throat and rectum are often completely silent, and a urine sample cannot find them at all.

If oral or anal sex is part of your life, go back and ask for those sites to be sampled. It is a short conversation and they will not be surprised.

paper_lantern 2 months ago

In some services you can take the extra swabs yourself in the bathroom rather than being examined, which makes asking a lot less daunting than it sounds.

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