Hi, This is a weird question, but here goes. I am taking penicillin to treat tonsillitis. By licking some pre-ejaculate, is there a chance of pregnancy, seeing as penicillin destroys the healthy bacteria present in the gut lining? Does that mean that sperm present in the pre-ejaculate will not be di...

Hi Sam, Thanks again for your quick response. I bought EC, but finally decided not to take it, coz I figured you're right about reinforcing the anxiety loop (thanks for the insight!) I need to let something off my chest. I recently had a revelation about something behind these pregnancy fears that h...

My counselor works with mindfulness-based therapy, so she gave me some meditation exercises to do. She also told me to bring my awareness back to my breath and my body for 5 minutes every hour. I was having sessions with her through Skype, but I stopped almost two weeks ago. She actually suggested I...

Hi, I am not going to ask a question about pregnancy risks. This is about my anxiety. In late December last year, I had an incident with a guy at a party who was very pushy and wanted to force me into sex, somehow. Thankfully, nothing happened since I was very sober and I had some friends with me. H...

Hi again, I have a rather odd question, not to mention a hypothetical one, but here goes. Can a woman have unprotected sex a few days before her period, get her actual period a few days later, and then miss her period the following month? I know pregnancy is indeed possible if a woman has unprotecte...

Thanks so much for your help, Sam! I really appreciate the work you guys do here at Scarleteen; it's helped me deal with many personal crises.

Also, would you suggest using some form of barrier (condoms for instance) or me being on the BC pill, even if we are only engaging in activities where we are both in our underwear?(occasionally only I have underwear on).

I'm pretty sure that the first scenario doesn't pose any risks of STI's, since I was wearing underwear and he used his hand to rub over my underwear, so no possible fluid sharing. As for the second scenario, the risk level for dry sex says "low risk" with possible infections being public l...

Hi, I have recently become sexually active and have some specific questions. I understand that the activities I am engaging in pose no risks of pregnancy, but may pose a low risk of STI's. Recently, I was at my boyfriend's house and we were making out, when he started to rub my vulva (vaginal area a...

Hi, Yesterday, I engaged in some activities which your website says do not pose any pregnancy risks. I know this from browsing extensively through your website. I think I suffer from some form of anxiety/paranoia/phobia and I have recurrent episodes of OCD, but I am getting psychological help for th...

Also, I used to live in the Netherlands, but I am actually from a quite conservative country where abortion is illegal, which is why I am stressing so much. Although I'm a virgin and the most sexual thing I've done is touching, I can't stop imagining what I would do and how my life would be ruined i...

To be honest, I wish I could say I was better. When I'm not being anxious over some illogical scenario that might've gotten me pregnant (when I actually manage to convince myself that these scenarios are illogical), I am stressing over the fact of stressing out. Meaning that, I become anxious that I...

Can I get an STD by using the same intimate cleanser as someone infected?

I've read on your website that manual sex and pre-ejaculate does not pose a pregnancy risk. However I saw this on the NHS UK website and was quite surprised.. They had in their website specifically: It’s possible for you to get pregnant without having sexual intercourse if, for example: sperm get in...

Thanks so much. I stopped my therapy because I had a very busy week and because it's really expensive, but I should be able to continue soon.

Just for my knowledge, is it possible for a period to be exceptionally light, or to be just spotting, or completely skip a month because of intense anxiety?

Hi again, So a while ago I asked you a question (above) which you answered as not presenting any pregnancy risks (which I understand on a rational, scientific level, but anxiety gets the better of me sometimes). I got my period normally (heavy bleeding etc..) last month, which was two days after I w...

I put it in my carry-on bag when I was traveling, so it definitely has moved around and probably bumped into other items I have in my bag.. Does that damage the test in any way?

Hi, I wanna use a Clearblue pregnancy test tomorrow, but I took the test out of its foil wrap around 3 weeks ago. The test seems ok though, not damaged or anything. I read online that you should use it within 5 minutes of taking it out of its foil wrap. Why is that so? And should I still use the one...

I have spoken to my counsellor about my concern but I hadn't thought that my deeper fear was of the nature of it being non consensual. Thanks for pointing that out. However, I haven't been able to sleep or eat for two weeks now and all aspects of my life are suffering (grades, social life,...) I can...

I realize that rationally, it's definitely not possible to get pregnant that way, but I think I'm still in shock. All in all, it was a very lousy experience and not my kind of people. I still feel anxious about being pregnant, although it doesn't make sense. I am seeing a counsellor atm because of m...

Thanks so much!

Hello, I was making out with a random guy at a party (our eyes were closed). After some time, I realized that I had just touched smthg soft and fleshy. He apparently took out his penis at some point :/ When I realized it was his penis, I almost immediately pulled my hand away. Around 2-3 minutes lat...