Sexual health is sometimes a subject some young people are embarrased to talk about

Contraception
There are many different forms of contraception available to use. The most common methods are:

• male/female condoms
• pill
• contraceptive injection
• contraceptive patch
• Implant

It is very important that you realise that the "withdrawal" method does not work. This is where the penis is taken out of the vagina before ejaculation occurs. It does not work as a small amount of semen comes out of the penis when it becomes erect.

Emergency Contraception
The morning after pill can be used up to 72 hours (3 days) after sex, although it is more effective the sooner it is taken. You can obtain this emergency contraceptive pill free from:

• GPs
• family planning clinics
• Brook centres (for under 25s)
• NHS walk in centres
• most sexual health/GUM clinics
• some pharmacies
• some A &anp; E departments

The cost of this pill is £24.00 if you wish to buy it. Women over 16 years old can buy it from most pharmacies.

Pregnancy
If you are worried that you may be pregnant, you can buy a home pregnancy test from most stores. Most tests work as soon as your period is late. It is very important to know that some girls still experience periods when pregnant, they may just be lighter or shorter.

Periods can be late due to reasons other than pregnancy. They may be late because of:

• stress
• change of diet
• weight loss
• health condition

STIs
It is important if you think you may have an STI or have had unprotected sex that you are checked for STIs. This is extremely important as some of them can lead to infertility in both men and women and can also have uncomfortable side effects.

Someone may have an STI but be unaware of this as they have no symptoms, although when symptoms occur they could be:

• Unusual discharge from the penis or vagina
• heavy periods or bleeding between periods
• pain or burning sensation when peeing
• rashes/itching or tingling around genitals or anus.

Treatment for STIs: Go to your local GUM clinic.

Avoiding STIs: condoms
STIs can be caught during oral sex as well as vaginal or anal sex. An interesting fact is that you can get pubis lice, scabies or thrush without even having sex.