 A huge welcome to the sexual health series of vlogs. If you don't know who I am, my name is Claire Carmichael. I'm just heading into my third year as an adult nursing student. And if you do know who I am, thank you so much for following me as always. And I'm massive welcome back to you. One of the things I wanted to go over with you is actual sexual health testing. And I'm gonna show you actually how easy it is to do it from the comfort of your own home. You don't need to come into clinic to see anybody. You can do it from your own home if you don't have any symptoms. I'm gonna show you the process to do that. But first, I need to put in, as always, this disclaimer. So I'm just talking about where I work at the Umbrella Sexual Health Services across the whole of Birmingham. So if you live in a different part of the world or different city, town, wherever you live, it might be different. So just look up your local sexual health centres and see how they process and work things because wherever you are, they might not have home kits or self-testing kits that you can do at home. So just have a look and see what they do. I just wanna warn you that because this is sexual health related, so I am gonna be using some sexual health related words such as vagina, penis, you know the stuff. So if you are a little bit, I don't know how to say this word. I don't wanna offend anyone, but if you are a bit shy maybe or you don't like those sort of words, don't like the sound of those sort of words, I'm really sorry, but they are the technical words for those areas and we are talking about sexual health. So just to warn you, I will be saying those sort of words throughout the video. So if you don't have any signs and symptoms such as pain or discomfort, any discharge from down below that you're not expecting, if irregular bleeding patterns, any lumps, bumps, cuts, anything like that, no symptoms at all, then you can do a self-testing kit at home which tests for all of the infections that we test for in clinics, so chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV and syphilis because the blood testing is now part of the home kit service, which is amazing. Firstly, how to order a kit. So you need to go on the Umbrella Health website, I'll put the link below so you can have a look at it. Order your sample and kit online, you just need to put in your details, put in your name, address, just fill out a short form and they will post it straight to your home. They will post it into this completely sealed clear bag nobody's gonna know what is in it, so you don't have to be worried or embarrassed about people finding out because it's here. If you are worried and embarrassed, however, and you don't wanna get sent to your home address, you can send it to your local pharmacy or doctors, don't feel like doing it at home, you can pick it up and do it elsewhere and then post it before you go back home, if that makes sense. So that's that, but I have ordered one, I'm gonna go through the process exactly like you will and show you what's in the box and sort of explain how to do each test. So I have my pack, I'm going to open my pack up and show you what is inside and inside there should be a little brown box, I know because I packed these at work. So inside is your little brown box and you just open it and inside your box you will have all of this. So there'll be instructions on how to do the tests. You will have two swabs, one orange one, which is used for the vagina area, this white one and purple one, the colors might vary wherever you are, is for the oral mouth swab and then you will have some little, what we call lancets, which is a little tiny needle inside, prick your finger to get the blood out and then you're gonna fill up this with the blood and that's to test for HIV and syphilis. Also inside your box you'll have the little sample packet so you put all of your samples in there. Also on this you have labels as well so you're gonna have labels to put onto your samples so you put your label on your samples and put them in there and you will have your enclosed prepaid envelopes you don't have to pay for this, it's all completely free of service, I should have said that at the start. So you put everything in the prepaid envelope and that gets sent back to the lab. You have the testing sample kit instructions so you'll know exactly what to do. So I'm gonna start, I always start top to toe, okay? Anything to do is always top to toe, I don't know why, it's just the way I do things. So let's start with this swab, so the white and purple swab that's in the box, sometimes they might be white, they might be two of these ones, either way they all do pretty much the same thing. So this is the swab and this is gonna be for the oral swab, so anybody that gives oral sex to their partner, female to male or male to male, you have to take a swab from the inside of the mouth so it just goes at the very back of the mouth, on the roof of the mouth and that'll be your oral swab. So if you didn't know this already, you can get chlamydia and gonorrhea orally. So basically anywhere the penis goes, you can get chlamydia and gonorrhea if that person has chlamydia or gonorrhea so it needs to be swabbed and that includes oral, vaginal and rectal. You're gonna need a swab from those areas. So I just wanted to cover the window period. So window period is basically from the time that you have sex until the time that you get tested. So basically things like chlamydia and gonorrhea can take up to two weeks to show in a test. So from the minute you have sex, count two weeks and that's when you should ideally be getting tested. But so if it's too early to test they might test you anyway and then you'll have to just do some repeat tests when it's hit that two weeks or plus mark if that makes sense. I hope that makes sense to everybody. But yeah, so two weeks after sex, get tested. And then for the blood samples, so for things like HIV and syphilis it can take between four weeks and 12 weeks to actually show in the blood. So you will do an initial blood test to make sure that you're completely clear from previous partners before this partner. And then after three months you'll be booked back in and have another blood test to test for things like that. Also we do test for hepatitis A, B and C if you're at high risk of that as well. But it just depends on your sex life, how many people you have sex with, it depends on what country that partner is from, if they're drug users, all of that sort of things that have to take into consideration. And if you're not at risk then they won't test for hepatitis. So the next swab is the orange swab. So this orange swab, these are called nap tests. So what they test for is the bacteria of chlamydia and gonorrhea. And something called TV as well, trichomonas paginosis. But we only test for that if you've actually got symptoms of itchiness, discharge, things like that down there. We will test for that then because then you usually get symptoms with that one. So unless you've got symptoms, we don't test for TV. So yeah, so this one's the vagina swab. And inside, so this is your swab. It's got a fluid in there that needs to stay in the part because that's where your swab's gonna go into and stay in there. So inside this swab you have got a cotton bud. So that just gets inserted just a couple of centimetres into the vagina. And then once you've inserted it you have to give it a really good swirl so it lines all of the vagina walls, gets all of the cells off there for about 10 seconds or so. So take your swab, put it into the part, putting the cotton bud into the fluid and then there's a black line on the stick. There'll be a black line. So take your swab, put it into the tub, snap it off where the black line is and then you're gonna close the lid. Quite a lot of people try and push it through the foil pack because they see the foil pack and they go, oh yeah. So they're trying to push it through but that's actually quite strong and people usually get confused with that one to be honest. And I can see why because I would probably do the same if I didn't know how to do it myself. So that is the vagina swab. The same with the oral swab. So you're just taking the swab from the roof of the mouth at the very, very back as far back as you can go and then the same thing. You put it into the part, snap it off, close the lid, done. And that's literally all we do. These are the exact same tests that we do in clinic. These are no different to any other tests that we do. These aren't special weird ones that you do at home. These are the exact same tests that we do or give to you in clinic to do yourself. So there's nothing different. It's well worth doing it at home if you can do it at home and you've got no symptoms. And the next one is the finger prick test. So to be honest, I find this really, really hard. I do finger prick tests quite a lot at work on other people. And when we first launched these new finger prick tests at home, a few of us actually took a sample home with us and we did the test at home to sort of test them out. And I found it very, very hard. If you look how big that bottle is to actually fill it with blood from a finger but they do give you three lancets. So you'll get three lancets to do the finger prick tests and hopefully fill up your bottle. But if you can't feel it, don't worry. You'll probably maybe get a text message or a phone call just to say that they couldn't take the sample for HIV and syphilis and you might just have to pop into clinic just for purely for the blood test bit. But there's a lot of things that you can do to help the flow of the blood in the hands. So the first thing is have warm hands. So you wanna like rub them. You wanna run them under some hot water, give them a rub, warm hands up. You wanna give the fingers a rub, get the blood flowing. Make sure you've got the good amount. So once you've done that, then you wanna aim sort of towards more to the side of the finger rather than actually the center of the finger because the skin is a lot thinner and the blood flows a lot better. So try it, do it on the side. A lot of people go for the middle though. You wanna do it that way, that's up to you. But that's literally how you do it. So, prick in your finger, this gets opened. You're gonna pour the blood bit by bit into the tub. Hopefully you'll get enough. But it is quite tricky, so maybe if you feel comfortable you could get someone to help you with the finger prick test and if you don't feel comfortable doing it on your own or you're really struggling, you can always get someone to help. And so that is literally it. So you will have, if you give oral sex, you will do the swab from the mouth. Then you'll do your swab from the vagina. If you're a man, you will just do a urine sample. There'll be no swabs on the penis. And then finger prick testing for the blood. And that is literally it. And then once you've done your swabs, label them, put them in the pack, put them in the envelope, post it, done. It's as simple as that. You never know, it only takes one time to catch a sexually transmitted infection without a condom. So one, make sure you're using condoms. Two, if it splits or you don't use a condom or things happen in the moment, these things happen. Nobody's gonna judge you. So if that does happen, get yourself tested and be safe, that is the main thing. And something we always advise people when they come to clinic is if you've met somebody new, you think, oh, okay, this might go a step further. Make, just be sensible. One, again, use condoms until you both know that you're both clear of any infections from previous partners. Then number two, both of you go together and get tested. I know that might be a little bit awkward situation, a little bit embarrassing, but if you're both open and honest about it and just say, you know what, let's be sensible, let's go get tested. Get on contraception so that we don't get pregnant, that get the pill, implant, injection, whatever, your choice of method of contraception is. And then when you've both been tested, you're both negative. On contraception, you're not gonna get pregnant. Then you can both say, okay, we're both in a monogamous relationship and we can remove the condoms and just be with each other. And that's just, if you really don't like condoms, then that is probably the safest and best way to have healthy sex with your partner, if that makes sense. I hope that makes sense. But that's something we always advise with people, just be safe, be sensible, and just get tested because you just never know. And also, I just wanted to end it on a final note. If you do have symptoms or you do wanna come into clinic rather than doing a self-testing kit at home, I'm just gonna advise you that it is 100% confidential. We don't approach your GP. It doesn't go on your NHS number, anything like that. It's nothing to do with your doctor's surgery, anything. It's 100% confidential. Your notes are your notes on that one system and that is it. It doesn't go anywhere else. We're not allowed to tell your family members, your partners, nothing. So it is confidential service. What you come and tell us is completely confidential and those four walls. So please don't panic. And we're really, really friendly. We're lovely and nice. We're completely non-judgmental. No one's gonna judge you for whatever you get up to is your business. We just want you to be safe and protect yourself. And the next thing I want to say is if you do come in, please be warned that we do ask really personal questions about your sex life. We're not being nosy. I swear to God. So you're gonna have to tell us if you have anal sex, oral sex, vaginal sex, any of that and how many partners you've had sex with in the last year, where your partners from, the country. But the only reason we ask these questions, I promise you it's not to be nosy. I've just said this, it's not to be nosy. It's just so we know that we're testing the right areas because we need to swap the places that you've had sex from. And if the amount of partners is the amount of risk that you're taking. So if you've had sex with eight or more partners in one year, you're more at risk for things like hepatitis. So that's when we would add the testing for hepatitis onto the blood tests. Also the country of where your partner's from, there could be more risk of hepatitis as well. So that's mainly why we ask those sort of questions. It's not because we're nosy, we don't mind if you slept with a hundred people, if you slept with however many people, if you have anal sex every weekend, if you have oral sex every weekend, we don't care. It's your life, it's your party, you do whatever you want. But we just wanna make sure that you are safe, protected and sensible about it. That is all. So I hope this video has been really informative. I hope it's put you at ease a little bit about doing these sort of tests because it's nothing, it's honestly, it takes two seconds and you'll be done, you can have a weight lifted off your mind and know that you're 100% clear of any infections. So that's it, thank you so much for watching. This is part one, part two is coming soon. So I've got some, a good few videos on sexual health related stuff coming up and hopefully you'll enjoy it. And yeah, so apart from that, have a great week guys. It's the year 2019, kicking off this year with a bang.