A service provided by the BC Centre for Disease Control
In the years since SmartSexResource launched, we have developed a library of questions asked by you, and answered by our expert sexual health nurses.
Our answered questions library cover a broad range of sexual health topics and common questions we hear at our clinics.
Hi, thanks for your question. Expired birth control pills can keep working but they may not work as well. When the birth control pills are expired, manufacturers can no longer guarantee that the drug isn’t deteriorating and that the pills will be effective contraception. Because of this, taking expired birth control pills may result in an unwanted pregnancy. You can use the expired pills until you can get a new prescription but in the meantime a back up method of birthcontrol like condoms is recommended. If you do have unprotected sex while using expired birth control pills, then it would be recommended to use Plan B the emergency contraceptive pill to prevent a pregnancy.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, thanks for your question. STIs are not transmitted by vaginal blood contact on fingertips or hand or skin. Because you wore a condom, you can be reassured the tip of your penis was protected from contact with vaginal fluids and the girl can be reassured that her vagina was protected from your sex fluids.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, thanks for writing in with your concerns. Your mom did the right thing by reporting the needlestick and going to the hospital for the recommended testing and immunizations. Transmission of HIV is rare with needlestick injuries. This is because that HIV dies quickly when the blood in the needle is cold and dry. Hepatitis B and C are more likely to remain making it possible to transmit them this way. Now that time has passed ( best right away or within 72 hours) to take the 28 days of antiviral drugs, it is recommended that she do the routine follow up testing. So that would mean testing now to know her own current HIV status ( as you said this was done at the hospital along with hepatitis A, B and C screening) then testing at a month ( the new 4th generation HIV test will cover this) and then at 3 months to be sure. In the unlikely event of HIV being transmitted and the HIV test is positive, then the first steps are redoing the testing to be sure there is not a lab error, checking HIV viral load and immune system markers, connecting with a doctor who is an expert in HIV care and starting on HIV medications right away, and also connecting with support like peer navigators. Usually this would happen within a week of finding out HIV positive result. If your mom lives in British Columbia and has health care coverage, then her testing, visits to doctor and if needed, HIV medications are free. Because of early connection to care and medications, people with HIV can now live normal healthy long lives. As you already probably know, HIV is not transmitted by kissing or hugging or sharing food or clothes.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi
Our clinic is focused on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) so we don’t recommend that people come to our clinic just for a head lice check, but if someone is at our clinic for something that is STI related and concerned that they may have head lice we will check that for the client.
If someone was concerned that they may have pubic lice our clinic would be a good place to come for a check.
Let us know if this did not answer your question or if you have any more concerns or questions.
Health Nurse
Hi
There is some evidence that people who have a short frenulum could see improvements in premature ejaculation times if the frenulum is removed.
It seems with you there could be a change if you tear your frenulum. It probably depends on how much of the frenulum was damaged and if you had a short frenulum to begin with.
I am unsure of your particular situation for example did you tear your frenulum and notice a difference, are you concerned about premature ejaculation and wondering if removing the frenulum would help etc…
If you were a client at one of our STI clinics I would recommend that you speak to your family doctor about this and that they would probably refer you to an urologist (a specialist).
Premature ejaculation is a common concern for many people and there are a range of different causes and treatments. It’s important to see a health professional with experience in this area so that they can recommend a treatment that would work for you. Let us know if you need help finding a health professional in your area.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Each province and territory in Canada has a different program for subsidizing drug costs for their residents. These programs have different criteria for who is eligible for coverage, how much the province or territory will pay and what drugs are covered. The programs may be complicated to understand without the help of your local AIDS service organization. Generally, the publicly funded provincial and territorial drug programs offer coverage for people on social assistance (“welfare”) and for seniors over the age of 65. Some provinces issue cards to show to your pharmacist that prove you are entitled to this type of coverage.
In British Columbia, antiretroviral medications and other drugs for management of HIV/AIDS are provided at no cost to medically eligible patients through the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) Drug Treatment Program. The following criteria are eligible to access medications for treatment of HIV infection through enrolment into the BC-CfE HIV Drug Treatment Program:
Documented HIV infection and clinically meets the current criteria for treatment with antiretroviral medication (as specified in the BC-CfE Therapeutic Guidelines)
AND
BC resident with Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage (active BC Personal Health Number) or Interim Federal Health coverage (e.g. refugee status) or active medical plan coverage from another Canadian Province, for temporary coverage pending active MSP coverage.
If you were to buy antiretroviral medication out of pocket it can range anywhere from $300-$500 Canadian dollars per month which is determined by the market price listed by the pharmaceutical companies.
For more information regarding how to obtain HIV medication in British Columbia please visit the BC Centre for Excellence’s website at http://cfenet.ubc.ca/drug-treatment-program.
Hello, this is quite a common occurrence: you are not alone on this topic.
Before we can get to the matter exactly, there are a few questions one must ask themselves.
1) Have I ever reached “climax” on my own/by myself?
If yes, see question 2.
If no, this may be a good starting point. If you feel comfortable, it may be a good idea to explore your body and see what feels good for you so that you can tell your partner(s). This is great knowledge to
have and share. What stimulates someone to “climax” can also change and evolve over time.
2) How / in what ways, do I stimulate myself to reach “climax”.
3) Am I able to guide my partner, in the same way I stimulate myself, to help me “climax”
It is important for one to know their own body for what feels good and what does not: everyone has their own erogenous zones. By exploring one’s own body, we are better equipped to guide our partner(s) into honing in on those spots and giving us maximum pleasure to “climax” (orgasm). If you’d like to explore some of your options it maybe of benefit speaking to a sexual therapist or counsellor.
Hi, thanks for writing in with your concern. STI testing is confidential and you can find out your own results by phoning in yourself to a results line. It is also possible to test anonymously. It is up to you to find out your own results. If you have provided a phone number whe you test; then you will only be contacted by phone if there has been a problem with the laboratory screening so you need to retest or if there is a positive result and you need to be informed, offered treatment and assistance with contacting partner/s so they can be be treated and tested. Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, and thank you for your question
If the same tests are ordered by both providers (eg. HIV testing is ordered by both the STI clinic and by the care providers in a hospital) then both tests should have the same result.
For example, if a person does NOT have an HIV infection, and has an HIV test done in two different locations (one in an STI clinic and another done at a hospital) then both test results will be negative. It is always a good idea to ask a care provider (doctor or nurse) which tests are being ordered. A laboratory can only run tests on blood that a doctor or nurse has asked them to perform.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, and thanks for your question
We don’t typically see HIV passed from oral sex, and the risk to the person receiving oral sex is considered very low. We more commonly see gonorrhea and chlamydia or infections that are passed through skin-to-skin contact like herpes or syphilis being passed this way. We always recommend routine testing for all sexually transmitted infections (HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea) for any sexually active individual
Our clinic finder can help you locate a clinic near you for testing.
Also check out our Know Your Chances charts. They are sometimes useful in understanding which STIs are passed through different types of sexual contact.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse