Thank you
I actually LOL'd at point number 3. Thank you for making me laugh.
Are you a professional or is this based on a real life experience, if you don't mind me asking?
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Any Doctors? Very worried: HIV Exposure.
- Thread starter GossipGirl
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Thank you
I actually LOL'd at point number 3. Thank you for making me laugh.
Are you a professional or is this based on a real life experience, if you don't mind me asking?
Thank you
I actually LOL'd at point number 3. Thank you for making me laugh.
Are you a professional or is this based on a real life experience, if you don't mind me asking?
Both
Agreed. HIV is a pretty hard virus to catch, and it sounds as if it is unlikely your partner is infected. While I would recommend that you follow up with testing at 3 months, I would also try to chill a bit. Your chances of being infected given the info you have posted, is extremely small. But you are making yourself miserable at this point worrying about it. Try to listen to those of us that have tried to reassure you here and relax. And learn a lesson from this - you know that safe sex is only second to no sex in HIV prevention. And you know how you react when you have less than safe sex - it turns you into a head case until you can be sure you are uninfected. So the next time you decide to have sex, protect yourself and avoid all this excess stomach acid generation, in addition to decreasing your risk. And before you ask, yes, I'm a doc but I don't take care of you people (males) - I'm an obstetrician.
This is all good advice.
As for the veracity of the p24 test, it is generally pretty reliable. The tests themselves are, on the whole, pretty reliable. I wouldn't worry too much past that.
As for trusting someone's word implicitly, I would recommend always to encourage that person to seek testing, for peace of mind for the both of you. Encourage trust in a relationship by making this step together. People have an innate desire to believe in the honesty of others, but unfortunately this trust is not 100% galvanized by the truth. Always, always make sure to check your contacts (and perhaps their recent contacts) for the sake of completeness.
I'm not your doctor, and I don't know all the facts, so it is wrong for me to speculate that you will be fine. However, based on the advice given in this forum, and the story as you relate it, you can probably come to a conclusion about your personal risk.
I do hope things turn out well.
GG, you really must stop with the worrying. You are just going to make yourself ill. The majority of the advice that's been given is very good. You have taken the right approach to your situation, but the anxiety is doing you no favours. Yes, the tests can take up to three months to be accurate, and I'd suggest tests every six months thereafter. As well, to play safe if always the best idea. Easy to say, but in the heat of the moment the best of intentions can be forgot. I know, hell, some of my at risks have been with dear friends who are no longer on this mortal coil, taken way too soon to Aids. I'm still well and have a precautionary test every six to nine months. I'd certainly recommend that you do as too.
Just take a few deep breaths and relax. I am sure that with the information that you have given, that you will be fine. As with a lot of the gay regulars on MR feel free to PM or email if you wish.
Take care, and play safe.
KGB
Just take a few deep breaths and relax. I am sure that with the information that you have given, that you will be fine. As with a lot of the gay regulars on MR feel free to PM or email if you wish.
Take care, and play safe.
KGB
LMAO... This is so true. Even if you are practically certified OCD (like me), when u get horny enough sometimes fear disappears.
But now seriously... I see the guys here encouraging GC to alleviate his fears, but lets be realistic. HIV maybe statistically difficult to catch, but the figures are rising thus when it comes to such diseases.... complacency can never be an option. People need to stop saying unprotected sex in such a scenario is safe.
I am going to be real as possible, although the likelihood that you are infected is very low given all that you have said, what happened still carries a strong risk. Penetration does not need ejaculation to cause infection, precum is enough. Although I dont honestly believe you are infected given what your boyfriend has said, your best and only bet is to wait for your 3 month test results. If you are clear there, then there is no need to worry afterwards, forget about it and move on. There is also the 6 and 12 month tests aswell... but as far as I am aware those tests are pointless if you have already been confirmed as HIV- at 3 months, especially given the advances made in diagnosing the disease. However if you are sexually active...then taking regular 6 month tests should become the norm for you.
The next time you mess up like this, go to your local HIV clinic and request something called PEP. Its a treatment (or virtual cure) that is capable of destroying HIV the moment it enters the body. On the downside it has to be administered within 72 hours to work...and its an on going treatment that will totally screw with your immune system for the next 6 months, making you too tired for work, study or anything. BTW my uncle is a GP who taught me all of this stuff .
On a side point...and I hope I dont get flamed or cause offence... but why the pre-ccupation with anal sex amongst gay men? Is penetration absolutely necessary, given the other risks it can cause? Honestly, the human body is not really equipped for that kind of trauma. I am sure oral sex and frottaging (google it)
can be just as pleasurable and is a billion times safer. People need to be more creative when it comes to sex, now ...more than ever.Anyway...back to my
obsessions...
I didn't say that. Yeah, I had a few slip ups in my younger years that made me RUN to the clinic. That was back in the 80's and you were pretty much the walking dead if you got HIV, not to mention you'd lose your job, etc. I had a few stupid moments, but I was lucky and OK. Now, I NEVER have those moments. Always keep plenty of rubbers around. Do not ever have sex without them.
I don't think anybody has said that, but the OP's situation in particular seems to involve such a low risk, and his panic level is so disproportionately high, that the reaction rises to the level of a real problem about an imagined problem. There has to be a distinction between encouraging the OP to take stupid risks in the future, which nobody is, and trying to assuage his obsession and panic over his current risk, which is both justified and immediately relevant.
If anything, I'd say the fact the OP is aware of the risks seems transparently obvious. He hardly needs that lecture.
When you're a little older (post-count-wise) there is a whole series of threads in PRSI involving this sort of question.
To be honest, I think I'm fine.
For the first time, I've become scared - after everything I've been taught about HIV to be put in a situation which could possibly compromise my health was horrible.
My partner was and is a lovely guy - he has no reason to lie to me. He has nothing to gain, we are no longer romantic, but still maintains hes been tested and is honest. Under UK law, if he was lying about being HIV-, he could be punished under law.
I just got scared, over reacted, and somehow separated my 'partner' from the 'partner' I slept with - even though they are the same person.
I painted the person who got carried away with me as some diseased monster (without being offensive), when in everyday life he is nothing like that.
I've freaked out, assumed the worst in my head, and I trust that I am fine.
I will have a test on June 8th, which I am sure will be negative, then another 2 months later.
For the first time, I've become scared - after everything I've been taught about HIV to be put in a situation which could possibly compromise my health was horrible.
My partner was and is a lovely guy - he has no reason to lie to me. He has nothing to gain, we are no longer romantic, but still maintains hes been tested and is honest. Under UK law, if he was lying about being HIV-, he could be punished under law.
I just got scared, over reacted, and somehow separated my 'partner' from the 'partner' I slept with - even though they are the same person.
I painted the person who got carried away with me as some diseased monster (without being offensive), when in everyday life he is nothing like that.
I've freaked out, assumed the worst in my head, and I trust that I am fine.
I will have a test on June 8th, which I am sure will be negative, then another 2 months later.