Notes on Guest Speakers
Speakers:
Julie Tucker-Trainum, Health education and prevention coordinator at Youth Services of Tulsa
Kurt Sterling, Health education and prevention specialist at Youth Services of Tulsa
1. "Prevention means you can stop them from spreading by practicing abstinence and not having sex. That
is 100 percent effective. ... Condoms are your next best protection ... and that is correct use of condoms, if
they're used correctly every time." — Julie
2. "You find out you have STDs primarily through testing, especially for females. Sometimes people can
catch (STDs) and are aware of symptoms ... but there are a lot of STDs that don't have obvious symptoms."
— Julie
The #1 STD in Oklahoma is chlamydia. The only way to find out you have it is to get tested. HIV doesn't
have symptoms.
3. Herpes spread through skin-to-skin contact. Makes blisters and small lesions wherever it touched.
HIV: There's no way to tell you have it without a test. With a rapid test, you can find out within 20 minutes.
It's a screening test for antibodies. Sometimes gives false positives, but if it says negative, it's certain. A
confirmatory test has a two-week turnaround. "Window period" of 3 months: HIV spreads immediately, but
it won't show up on any test for three months after you catch it.
4. Latest rates for STDs in Oklahoma: 2010
STD rate in Oklahoma is higher than the national average.
Oklahoma has a 76 percent teen pregnancy rate. (WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? NEED TO RESEARCH.)
Nationally, one in four youth ages 12 to 24 have an STD each year. Oklahoma has a higher rate of teen
pregnancy and of people having sex without using condoms, so the STD rate is higher.
STD rates in Oklahoma:
Chlamydia: 405 out of 100,000 people have it.
Gonorrhea: 143 out of 100,000 people have it.
Syphilis: 2.4 out of 100,000 people have it.
In Tulsa County:
542 out of 100,000 people have chlamydia.
249 out of 100,000 people have gonorrhea.
50 percent of all new cases of STDs nationwide occur in people ages 12 to 24.
HIV rates:
5,335 people reported to be living with HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma in 2010.
1,338 people reported to be living with HIV/AIDS in Tulsa County in 2010.
They believe 40 percent of the people who have HIV/AIDS do not know they have it, so the number of
people with HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma is probably closer to 9,000.
HIV is not a gay disease, and it is not an old person's disease. Heterosexual couples are the highest numbers
gaining. (SO IT'S INCREASING FASTEST AMONG HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES?)
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV leads to AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome.
Human — means you can only get it from other humans. Can't get it from a mosquito. Can't get it from
animal bites.
Immunodeficiency — means it messes up your immune system.
KURT: The No. 1 segment of the population acquiring HIV nationwide is women ages 16 to 24.
Between 17 and 18 percent of HIV/AIDS cases nationwide are women.
Rate is higher among men partly because it spread rapidly among gay men in the beginning, so a lot of the
older cases are men. HIV has been around since the early 1980s. Started on the East and West Coast and
moved inward. Was primarily spread through male-to-male sex. The way it spreads has changed. Spreads
through IV drug use. Spreads through heterosexual sex. Spreads through lesbian sex.
HIV does not know your sexual orientation. It just spreads through unprotected sex or IV drug use.
Sharing needles or drug paraphernalia can spread it. Example: Snorting drugs through a straw can cause a
bloody nose. If you use someone else's straw, you're putting blood into a mucus membrane. Can spread
through tattoo needles and ink if they're not new. Make sure tattoo artist uses a new needle and new ink for
you.
HIV spreads through four fluids: Semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk, and blood.
8. Babies share the immune system of their mothers initially. If mother is HIV-positive, baby will test
positive for one to one and a half years. When they develop their own immune system, only 1 in 4 babies
get HIV from their moms. Can lower the risk by mom taking antivirals, having a C-section, and not
breastfeeding. That lowers the risk to a 1 percent chance of the baby getting HIV.
12. Back in the '80s, a mysterious illness affected gay men. Called GRID — Gay Related Immune
Deficiency. Doctors couldn't figure out what it was.
AIDS — The syndrome is the diseases you get when your immune system can't fight them off. Early
patients had higher syphilis rates, pneumonia, and a type of cancer called Karposi's sarcoma. Doctors
discovered a virus was causing AIDS. HIV does not kill you. It kills your immune system. No cure. If it
develops into AIDS, it has attacked your immune system so much that your T-cell count is 200 or less.
(WHAT ARE T-CELLS? WE NEED TO RESEARCH THAT.) What kills you is the related illnesses that
you can't fight off.
13. A lot of teens think you have to have parents' permission to get birth control. If 13 or up, law says you
can get birth control and HIV tests without parental consent. Some teens don't know where to get birth
control, or they're afraid parents might find out. If you go to the Health Department or wherever to get tests,
birth control, etc., they have to honor the HIPAA laws. They can't tell your parents or anybody else. Parents
sometimes find out because kids leave paperwork or pills out where parents can see it.
14. Different methods fail for different reasons. Pill: Very effective if used correctly every time. Condoms:
Very effective if used correctly every time. If you take the Pill, you have to take it at the same time every
day. If you don't, it lowers the effectiveness. Have to keep hormone level at the right amount.
Pill is 92 percent effective if used correctly. Average use is probably a little lower. Condoms are 95 to 98
percent effective if used correctly every time. In practice, they're 85 percent effective.
Make sure condoms aren't expired. Keep them at room temperature — not in your car or your wallet. Keep
them where they can't get poked. If in a purse or backpack, keep them in a container that protects them
from punctures. Never keep them in a car because of temperatures. Keep package sealed. Leave room at the
end so it doesn't break. If condoms are breaking all the time, it usually means they've been exposed to heat
or air. Take it off correctly — don't spill, get it on your hands, etc.
"Sometimes you can make promises to not have sex ... but promises actually break easier than condoms, so
it's really smart for you to know how to use them." — Julie
15. If you're on antidepressants, they could interact with the Pill. Talk to a doctor about the right kind for
you. Some people may be sensitive to certain kinds. "Is it bad for you? Generally, I would say no, because
they wouldn't prescribe it if it was bad for you, if it caused problems." — Julie
Smoking while on birth control puts you at a higher cancer risk. "It's not the birth control that's bad for you;
it's the smoking." — Julie
16. Not all women gain weight on the Pill. Some actually lose. Depo-Provera, a progesterone shot, has the
hormone women make when pregnant. Appetite increases when pregnant, so certain kinds of birth control
can cause that.
"You kind of have to say no to the chips and yes to the apples and carrots and the healthy stuff so you don't
gain weight." — Julie
17. It won't necessarily show up on a pregnancy test the next day. Has to be at least two weeks since you
had sex. Better if you miss a period for two weeks and then get the test. Can get pregnancy tests at the
Dollar Tree for $1.
18. "To sustain a baby, our hormones have to change. ... Some people get moody on certain types of birth
control." Hormone levels go up to support a pregnancy. "That comes out in weird ways, whether they're the
kind that cry or the kind that snap and get angry." — Julie
19. Have to be careful with antidepressants, but that's the only real way to treat postpartum depression.
Can't breastfeed while on antidepressants.
20. "I think that's a personal kind of thing, but some people like to take risks. ... Unfortunately, it is a risk,
because if you're sexting and it goes to the wrong person or if you're sending pictures (of somebody else),
you could get arrested."
22. (INFO FROM KURT) "For sure, all guys don't get caught up in lust. That'd be the first thing I'd have to
say about it." — Kurt
Hormones are "skyrocketing" as teenagers. Do guys have a harder time saying no? "In a way, I think that is
probably true. ... They'd be feeling pressure ... from their friends and from peers." — Kurt
JULIE: With the youth YST has worked with, there's actually a slightly higher number of girls having sex
than guys.
23. "Guys just aren't educated about it. Most guys probably know about a condom, but they don't know
how to use it." — Julie
Some think it might take away some sensation. They don't think about the risk. "Guys need to think about
how's that STD gonna feel if I get that STD?" — Julie
24. Money. Female condoms cost $2 apiece. They used to cost $3. Hard to find. Might be scary or
intimidating because it's so big — they're bigger than condoms for guys. More effective because there's
more coverage. Condoms aren't 100 percent effective for STDs.
25. "You want to stay away from novelty condoms." The colored kind is OK, but the ones from dispensers
and stuff say on the package that they're not meant to be used to prevent disease. Ribbed are OK. Colored
are OK. Flavored are OK, but don't use them for vaginal sex because the risk of infection is higher. You
could get a yeast infection because of the sugar in them. Avoid glow-in-the-dark. Avoid the ones with
things glued on them, because that stuff could come off inside you.
28. Sometimes younger people might think older people are more mature, or they want more experience, or
they think it's cool that an older person likes them. KURT: Girls mature faster, so a guy that's older might
look more mature or more appealing. Boys may see older girls as more experienced. Dating an older person
puts you at higher risk for having sex, getting STDs, etc.
EXTRA QUESTION: Is it bad to douche? Yes. If you do it after sex, "all it does is give the sperm a wave
to ride on." Also creates an imbalance and can cause bacterial infections.