Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffIf you have signs or symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease, make an appointment to see your doctor or other health care provider.
Appointments can be brief and there's often a lot of ground to cover, so be well prepared for your appointment. Here's some information on what you can do to get ready and what to expect from your doctor.
What you can do
- Be aware of any pre-appointment restrictions. At the time you make the appointment, ask if there's anything you need to do in advance.
- Write down any symptoms you're experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to the reason for which you scheduled the appointment.
- Make a list of all medications, as well as any vitamins or supplements, that you're taking.
- Write down questions to ask your doctor.
Some basic questions to ask your doctor include:
- What kinds of tests do I need?
- Do I have a sexually transmitted disease?
- Should my partner be tested or treated?
- Should I abstain from sexual activity during treatment? How long should I wait?
- How can I prevent future episodes of pelvic inflammatory disease?
- Will this affect my ability to become pregnant?
- Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing me?
- Can I be treated at home? Or will I need to go to a hospital?
- Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take with me? What Web sites do you recommend?
- Under what circumstances should I plan for a follow-up visit?
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions, such as:
- Do you have a new sexual partner or multiple partners?
- Do you always use condoms?
- When did you first begin experiencing symptoms?
- What are your symptoms?
- Are you experiencing any pelvic pain?
- How severe are your symptoms?
- Pelvic inflammatory disease fact sheet. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/PID/STDFact-PID.htm. Accessed March 31, 2009.
- Hemsell DL. Gynecologic infections. In: Schorge JO, et al. Williams Gynecology. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3150553. Accessed April 1, 2009.
- Pelvic inflammatory disease. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp077.cfm. Accessed April 1, 2009.
- Pelvic inflammatory disease: Frequently asked questions. The National Women's Health Information Center. http://womenshealth.gov/faq/pelvic-inflammatory-disease.cfm. Accessed March 31, 2009.
- Trigg BG, et al. Sexually transmitted infections and pelvic inflammatory disease in women. The Medical Clinics of North America. 2008;92:1083.
- Livengood CH, et al. Clinical features and diagnosis of pelvic inflammatory disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 31, 2009.
- Livengood CH. Pathogenesis of and risk factors for pelvic inflammatory disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 31, 2009.
