General questions

Screening before trying for a baby

We are planning to start trying next year. Is there a sensible set of tests to do beforehand, or is this something people overthink?

kite_and_string 6 months ago

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

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salt_marsh 5 months ago

Not overthinking at all, it is standard advice in a lot of places. Several of these infections matter considerably more in pregnancy than outside it, and finding them beforehand is far easier than finding them at twelve weeks.

Syphilis and HIV in particular are screened in pregnancy everywhere precisely because treatment changes the outcome for the baby.

back_porch 5 months ago

Worth doing together rather than one of you. And worth mentioning that you are planning a pregnancy, because it changes which treatments are appropriate if something does turn up.

first_frost 5 months ago

Ask about vaccination at the same appointment. Hepatitis B and HPV both come up in this conversation and both are better dealt with before rather than during.

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