ABUSE MAGAZINE
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“Where Growing is the Nature of our Business”
We are proud to be a drug free
workplace, and we proudly support our
youth in their efforts to remain drug free!
get it handled…right? Well again, nobody
ever told me that Gonorrhea and Chlamydia (the two most common STD’s for
high school students) have no symptoms
most of the time or that you can still get
herpes or HPV if you use a condom. The
no symptoms part is what burned me the
second time.
A couple of years
later I was dating a
great guy, we were
taking things slow,
but eventually we
did get together. A
few weeks later he
broke things off and
started a rumor that
I had given him chlamydia. I got tested
just to prove him wrong and found out that
it wasn’t a rumor. I did have chlamydia and
I have had it for some time; burned again.
I got treated and was grateful that I didn’t
have something worse. That was a pretty
dark time in my life; I definitely was in
agreement with the two out of three sexually experienced teens who wish that they
would have waited longer before having
sex. I found out later that depression
runs so high in sexually active teens that
doctors are being advised to automatically screen sexually active patients for
depression. My one good thought was that
at least I was done being burned by that
stove, but that wasn’t the case; not yet.
Fast forward a few years. I finally met
“the one” and we were married and eventually we wanted to have kids. I did have a
positive pregnancy test a couple of times
but each time it was an ectopic pregnancy
(yes it’s a real thing, you can Google it).
At one point the doctor actually asked me
if I have had chlamydia, I told him yes,
but that I had been treated. He said the
damage to my fallopian tubes was a result
of PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease) and
that I was part of the unlucky 15% who
become infertile. Long story short, I can’t
have kids; big big burn.
There are so many “if only” moments in
my life when it comes
to love, sex, and STD’s.
If only I had waited. If
only I had been tested.
If only someone had told
me. That last one is the
reason I tell my story.
Today, in the next 24
hours, more than 10,000
teens will find out that
they have an STD. If you
have had sex, please
get informed and get tested, even if you
don’t have any symptoms. If you have
not had sex yet, please do yourself, your
future self, your future family a favor
and wait. You won’t be alone. 57% of high
school students have not had sex yet. Your
future partner for life deserves to have
all of you and not have to share you with
anyone in your past. Don’t let touching a
stupid beautiful stove decide how you can
or can’t live your life. Get informed, get
tested, and get peace of mind.
Sumner
Municipal Light Plant
“We are proud to LIGHT the way
towards a drug free future!”
P.O. Box 267 - Sumner, IA
563-578-5611
1685 Independence Ave.
Waterloo, IA
319-232-3954
Life
Is Good!
Iowans for L.I.F.E
Defending human life
since 1972
www.Iowansforlife.org
[email protected]
800.727.2435
facebook.com/
IowansForLife
twitter.com/
ChildnotChoice
“We are proud to be a drug free
workplace & support our Iowa youth!”
333 Rock Island Ave. - Waterloo, IA
319-235-6411
We are proud to be a drug
free workplace!
Warren Transport, Inc.
210 Beck Avenue
Waterloo, IA 50701
800-526-3053
www.warrentransport.com
abusemagazine.org | Iowa Fall/Winter 2013-2014 |
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