A GP’s Top Tips for Looking After Your Sexual Health in Leeds
As part of The Sex Sessions, we invited Leeds Student Medical Practice GP Kate Armitage to talk, share and dispel myths about sexual health. Here are a list of the top tips she gave us, and more information about how you can get the most out of the services in Leeds. Just a warning, this article contains mentions of sexual assault, so skip number 4 if you might be affected by this.
1 — Make sure you actually go to the doctor! So many people won’t go and get themselves checked out, but there’s so many reasons as to why you should. GP’s see literally everything, so don’t worry about being embarrassed or scared to go in — they’re the people in the best place to help you.
2 — Check who is the right person to speak to in your practice! Whenever you go to the doctor, make sure you’re speaking to the person who can help you the most. Most practises have someone that specifically looks at Sexual Health so it’s worth checking who this person is in order to make sure you’re getting the most out of your appointment.
3 — Use the Leeds Sexual Health website! This website has so much useful information on it about all the services offered within Leeds, can help you locate the closest place to you to get the morning after pill and will give you loads of information about different types of contraception. It’s a super easy to use website, so check it out!
4 — If you’ve been sexually assaulted but don’t want to go to the police, there are many more ways to get help and support. You can go to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre, where you don’t have to speak to the police to access the service, or contact charities such as SARSVL
to get emotional support. These services can help you with finding emergency contraception or STI blockers. If you need any help, you can go to LUU’s Help and Support services for further information and advice.
5 — If you’re wanting contraception, make sure you know which type is best for you! There are loads of different kinds, which all come with their own benefits depending on the lifestyle you lead. Make sure you do some mythbusting first though, as there are loads of random
facts floating around about contraception that just aren’t true — you CAN get the coil even if you haven’t had a baby, who would have believed it.
6 — Don’t model yourself on what you see in porn. So many people go to the Doctors believing there is something wrong with them because of what they see in porn, but none of that is true. Your body is your body, you know it best so if something feels wrong then go and get checked, but don’t compare your body to those of others.
And there we go! Those are the top tips for looking after your sexual health from a GP at Leeds Student Medical Practice. I hope you’ve learned a lot about sexual health, but remember if you have any more questions you’re welcome to come and talk to LUU Help and Support where our trained advisors will be happy to support you.
