If a partner has told you that they have an STI and you have no symptoms, don’t panic, we’re here to help! Simply follow these steps:
- Send a secure message to your clinician through the patient portal.
- Once you’ve spoken to your clinician, they may decide to prescribe medication or refer you for treatment without sending you for testing, depending on your situation. Even if your clinician doesn’t require you be tested to receive treatment, you may still request a lab requisition if you’re feeling anxious and would like to test anyway.
- If your clinician does want you to get tested (or you request to be), we’ll send a lab requisition to your preferred lab (if you have one). We’ll also send you a copy in the patient portal so you can print or email this to the lab yourself if you prefer.
- If requested, head to the lab and do your tests.
At Freddie, we use a “no news is good news” system. If you don’t hear back from us within 14 days, everything’s ok. If any results come back positive, you’ll get a secure message in your patient portal or a clinician may reach out to you by phone.
If you’ve been exposed to HIV, then read our article on PEP HERE.
Window periods:
The window period for STIs is the time it takes between sexual contact and an STI showing up on a test. A test taken within this time can show up as negative even if you have an infection. For gonorrhoea and chlamydia, this window period can be one to two weeks and for syphilis this can be one to three months. If you’re anxious and would like to test within the window period, we recommend testing again after the window period for the most reliable results.