Knowing your status and being proactive about your health protects you — and there's nothing more valuable than that.
If I get nervous or don't know what to expect despite my experience and advocacy around STI and HIV testing, someone who has never gone through this process before probably feels those nerves much more intensely. Like I was, you might be wondering what exactly getting an STI and HIV test entails, particularly whether or not it hurts. So, let's walk through it step by step.
I set up my testing appointment online via Planned Parenthood's scheduling portal, which isn't available for every health center but the option is expanding to more places. Of course, there are many place to get an STI test — including your primary care physician or other local health centers — so your experience might be different than mine depending on where you go. But, if you do head to a Planned Parenthood where the online scheduling via DocASAP is available, it's fairly easy.
Once I was registered and my appointment was set, I waited about a month before it was time to go for my screening . On the morning of my appointment, I arrived a few minutes early and checked in at the front desk of the clinic. I was asked for information about my insurance, marital status, race, and income level. Then I sat in a pleasant and clean waiting room for what seemed like forever because I had to pee SO BAD.
Here is where I made my first mistake: I thought my STI screening would include a urine test, so I drank a ton of water and rolled up to the clinic with a very full bladder. First I sat smugly, thinking this wouldn't be one of the many times a doctor has asked me to pee in a cup and I couldn't even squeeze out a drop. But as the minutes ticked by, my smugness wore off. The clinic was running a little behind that morning, so I sat in the waiting room for quite a while, squirming.
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