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Author Topic: I messed up...  (Read 9943 times)

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Offline jorg

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I messed up...
« on: August 01, 2006, 01:35:16 am »
Sorry to bother everyone but i dont have anyone else to talk to about this.  I had a risky encounter with someone a few weeks ago.  I dont know if he was poz or neg, but judging from his behaivor i wouldn't be suprised if he was poz.  Immediatly after (about 36 hours) i went to my doctor and started PEP with combivir.  Since then i've had frequent headache's that are probablly the drug side effects.  I'm 26/m if that matters much. 

Today is my last day of PEP...then i'll be waiting a few more weeks and go get test.  It's just the emotional stress is killing me.  I start crying sometimes.  I really dont have too many close friends so i keep it all inside.  I dont have an excuse.  I just did something stupid...

 :'(

-joe

Offline jkinatl2

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2006, 02:52:10 am »
Quote
I dont know if he was poz or neg, but judging from his behaivor i wouldn't be suprised if he was poz.

You realize how offensive that statement is, right? I mean, judging by YOUR actions, one might make the same assumption.

To consent to unprotected vaginal or anal sex is to consent to the possibility of contracting an STD. Period.

Since we do not know your risk, I venture that making a risk assessment is rather difficult. However, assuming it was unprotected penetrative vaginal or anal sex, you should know that PEP is very effective at preventing HIV infection, but it extends the testing window to three months past your very last dose.

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline DancerBoy

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2006, 02:56:12 am »
I dont know if he was poz or neg, but judging from his behaivor i wouldn't be suprised if he was poz. 

What behavior indicates someone's status.
I'm sure you weren't trying to be offensive.  But it was.

You got on PEP and I find it ridiculous that you were given PEP btw when you didn't know that the person was positive.  Regardless, be thankful that you got it and learn from this experience.  I hope the side effect that we deal with every day for the rest of our lives will remind you to USE A CONDOM EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!
Boys are Stupid

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2006, 03:22:27 am »
i'm sorry i didnt mean to offend..please dont read deeply into what i say i didnt mean it that way.  im a mess right now so i'm not going to catch every possibly interpretation of the things i type..  from his behaivor i meant that he didn't want to use a condomn and i did...and we ended up using one but he took it off and that was my mistake, to let it go on..

 :(

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2006, 03:34:02 am »
and you're right it's not his behavior its mine and if im pos i deserve it.. like i said i have no excuse really what excuse is there to have. 

Offline jkinatl2

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2006, 03:40:54 am »
No one deserves to be HIV positive. There are no innocent victims, no guilty ones in the sphere of consensual adult sexual activity.

Thing is, you had unprotected penetrative sex with a partner of unknown status. And now  you have one more day of PEP, then a 13 week testing window. I urge you to read the lessons in the Welcome Thread regarding HIV transmission. And I hope that in addition to an HIV test you get a full STD panel at the appropriate time. Your sexual health is yours to protect, and yours to monitor. You have the right to determine what goes into your body, and under what conditions. If you do not exercise that right, you are abdicating personal responsibility and consenting to the possibility of a sexually transmitted pathogen.

I certainly hope that this past month of difficult treatment has been of some use to you, above and beyond the obvious chemical interaction.

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline Andy Velez

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2006, 09:07:40 am »
I just want to chime in to reinforce what Jonathan has said to you.

It's great to have sex with a responsible person but first and foremost and ultimately YOU are the person who needs to be in charge of protecting your own health. That means if you want to stay healthy you will make sure that whoever is the insertive partner during intercourse is always wearing a latex condom. No exceptions and no excuses. That's the deal.

Hopefully you will make it through safely this time. But you need to learn from this experience. And that includes not making remarks about how you judge someone's HIV status by assumptions that you make.

Incidentally, none of the symptoms you described were in anyway suggestive of HIV, but then neither the presence nor the absence of symptoms is ever the way to know anything accurately about your HIV status. Only an HIV test taken at the appropriate time can give you that answer.

Good luck with your test.
Andy Velez

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2006, 03:26:27 pm »
I didnt go to work today.  I took my last PEP pill around 8PM last night and went to bed.  Woke up with another headache and sore throat.  The sore throat has mostly went away but the headache persists.  this is not helping me feel any better about possibly being infected.    :-\

edit: and now i have a fever.  102 
« Last Edit: August 02, 2006, 12:44:39 am by jorg »

Offline RapidRod

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2006, 06:59:15 am »
Go to the doctor and have your throat checked.

Offline Andy Velez

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2006, 07:57:53 am »
Despite your dark interpretations there is nothing about your symptoms which is in anyway HIV specific. Going to your doctor about your throat, as Rod suggested, is a good idea. Given your state of mind it's not surprising that you're having "symptoms."
Stress can knock your immune system down like nobody's business.


Andy Velez

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2006, 05:05:30 pm »
I just got back from the doctor.  I thought it could have been strep but i tested negative for that.  So he thinks it's another throat infection and gave me an antibiotic.  I also had an HIV test done which has a 3 day turnaround.  3 F*ING days...it's ridiculous really.  it makes me mad.  I know there are 20 minute oral tests available, and the fact that people have to jump through so much BS to get a simple HIV test is contribuiting to the epidimec.  And why make someone suffer for that much longer?  it just pisses me off.....I know my test won't be conclusive because someone told me PEP makes the window 3 months.  But it at least will give me some comfort.   :-\

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2006, 05:34:38 pm »
..still waiting for HIV test results.  My temp has returned to normal after the antibiotics..so i suppose the fever was due to the throat infection, not a possible HIV seroconversion.  I dont think a sereoconversion would spike up to 104 either..or maybe it would? 

So i have another question: If the results are negative, I should interpret that as i was conclusively negative up until the point where i started PEP, right?  Is it possible that PEP would somehow interfere with that interpretation?

And one more question:  If i get a test 1 month post-PEP, would that be at least somewhat conclusive?  (Perhaps, say, 80% conclusive?)  Or am i wasting my time?

Thanks i appreciate any responses.

Offline RapidRod

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2006, 08:23:56 pm »
The HIV test needs to be taken 13 weeks after the last dose of PEP medication.

Offline jorg

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i messed up big time :(
« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2012, 03:07:28 am »
I had unprotected sex with a guy i met about a week ago.  I was intoxicated and..It just happened.  I was the top.  Now i'm worried sick about being infected.  I asked him if he was poz, and he said last time he was tested (a month ago), no.  But he got irritated that i was asking...so i think he may have been lying. 

Now of course i'm either experiencing symptoms or hallucinating that i am.  I have a slightly elevated temperature..99F.  I woke up the last 2 nights at 5AM, hot and kicked the blankets off.  But that's not unusual for me, it's happened before when i get stressed.  I'm also interviewing for a new job so that adds to my anxiety.  i'm worried out of my mind right now. 

I set up an appointment with the testing center on monday..i'll be taking a PCR test, because it's only been a week since the exposure.  I'm just going through so much emotion right now.  I pray to god i'm negative, not because i'm terribly scared of HIV, but because i have so much in my life i want to accomplish and having to manage this may put a damper on my hopes and dreams...i'm not sure i'm mentally strong enough to move forward.  nothing could be more crushing for me than to be forced to give up what i want to do. 

I know maybe this isn't the right place to spill my heart and mind, but i just need to get it out.  :( 

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: i messed up big time :(
« Reply #14 on: June 02, 2012, 04:36:52 am »
I had unprotected sex with a guy i met about a week ago.  I was intoxicated and..It just happened.  I was the top.  Now i'm worried sick about being infected.  I asked him if he was poz, and he said last time he was tested (a month ago), no.  But he got irritated that i was asking...so i think he may have been lying. 

Now of course i'm either experiencing symptoms or hallucinating that i am.  I have a slightly elevated temperature..99F.  I woke up the last 2 nights at 5AM, hot and kicked the blankets off.  But that's not unusual for me, it's happened before when i get stressed.  I'm also interviewing for a new job so that adds to my anxiety.  i'm worried out of my mind right now. 

I set up an appointment with the testing center on monday..i'll be taking a PCR test, because it's only been a week since the exposure.  I'm just going through so much emotion right now.  I pray to god i'm negative, not because i'm terribly scared of HIV, but because i have so much in my life i want to accomplish and having to manage this may put a damper on my hopes and dreams...i'm not sure i'm mentally strong enough to move forward.  nothing could be more crushing for me than to be forced to give up what i want to do. 

I know maybe this isn't the right place to spill my heart and mind, but i just need to get it out.  :(

Well I think you're worrying unduly. Certainly you've placed yourself at risk of HIV infection but it's not as great a risk as you think.

First up, you should know that PCR testing is not designed for HIV diagnosis. PCR-DNA tests have a tendency to return false positive results. PCR-RNA tests are less prone to this. If you insist on having a PCR test, make sure they use the RNA form.

But the only acceptable test for HIV diagnosis is the antibody test. No matter the result your PCR test returns you are going to have to have an HIV antibody test at some point in the future. The window period is 13 weeks from the date of the unprotected sexual encounter.

You can't get around that window period.

Please note that symptoms are not a guide to your HIV status -- only antibody testing at the right time will answer that question. Many people who contract HIV experience NO SYMPTOMS WHATSOEVER during the acute phase of the infection.

Personally I think you should be more concerned about STIs other than HIV. Gonorrhoea, herpes, genital warts, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B are more much more common and transmissible than HIV. You should arrange to have a full sexual health screen.

As for your emotional concerns, whilst we're not unsympathetic to your predicament we are not a counselling service and it would be better if you discussed these matters with a counsellor or some other appropriate health care worker.

MtD

Offline RapidRod

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Re: i messed up big time :(
« Reply #15 on: June 02, 2012, 04:47:16 am »
Please do not start a new thread every time you have another question or thought - regardless if you think your questions are related to each other or not. It helps us to help you when you keep all your thoughts or questions in one thread and it helps other readers to follow the discussion. Additional threads will be merged.

If you cannot find your thread, click on the "Show own posts" link in the left-hand column of any forum page, under your name.

Offline jorg

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Re: i messed up big time :(
« Reply #16 on: June 02, 2012, 05:34:47 am »
Thx for your response. I will follow your advice. I'll return with my results.. I've calmed down a bit.. And my temp dropped to 98.1. It's amazing what stress can do. I'll try to sleep now. It's hard to let go enough to sleep. I'll return with my results.

Offline jorg

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Re: i messed up big time :(
« Reply #17 on: June 02, 2012, 02:12:59 pm »
One more thing.. You say pcr is not used for diagnosis - why not? Is it not accurate? The testing center advertises it for diagnostic. So in your opinion is a negative pcr test inconclusive? My test date is tomorrow...Thx.

Offline Andy Velez

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #18 on: June 02, 2012, 05:53:29 pm »
I've merged your threads here. In the future please follow our rule as stated in the opening thread of this section and keep all of your entries in this same thread.

If you re-read Matty's response to you, you'll see that he already answered the questions you're asking again. 
Andy Velez

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: i messed up big time :(
« Reply #19 on: June 02, 2012, 06:05:41 pm »
One more thing.. You say pcr is not used for diagnosis - why not? Is it not accurate? The testing center advertises it for diagnostic. So in your opinion is a negative pcr test inconclusive? My test date is tomorrow...Thx.

I explained why in my earlier post. PCR tests have a tendency to return false positive results, especially PCR-DNA tests. Most undesirable. PCR tests are used to monitor the effectiveness of HIV treatments.

HIV antibody tests are specifically designed for diagnosis. They are carried out in such a way to exclude false positive or negative results.

Whatever you do, you will not be able to rely on the result returned by a PCR test. It doesn't matter if that result is positive or negative. At some point (13+ weeks) you will need to have an HIV antibody test.

MtD

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #20 on: June 02, 2012, 07:01:50 pm »
Ugh i swore to god i'd never go through this again and here i am.  I will never drink again.. 

I have a correction.  The center says they conduct nucelic acid amplification test (NAAT), not PCR.  Their website says " nucelic acid amplification test (or NAAT) can detect HIV as early as seven days after exposure."  Is this true? I'm not sure if NAAT is just another name for PCR or a modification of the same test, and therefore still wouldn't be conclusive.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #21 on: June 02, 2012, 07:20:07 pm »
Ugh i swore to god i'd never go through this again and here i am.  I will never drink again.. 

I have a correction.  The center says they conduct nucelic acid amplification test (NAAT), not PCR.  Their website says " nucelic acid amplification test (or NAAT) can detect HIV as early as seven days after exposure."  Is this true? I'm not sure if NAAT is just another name for PCR or a modification of the same test, and therefore still wouldn't be conclusive.

The only definitive diagnostic test is an antibody test.

MtD

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2012, 03:54:20 pm »
So the test came back negative, but since it's only been 9 days since what i'm worried about, it's not conclusive at all. The NAAT blood test and STD panel will take 7 days for results.  Sigh...  And even if NAAT is negative, it's still not conclusive.  sign again. 
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 05:57:44 pm by jorg »

Offline jorg

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2012, 06:02:34 pm »
Testing center says they will do another ELISA and NAAT in 2 weeks.  But is NAAT really necessary at that point?  It appears that ELISA and NAAT won't have much difference in terms of conclusiveness, so why bother sticking me with a needle and increasing costs for the center?  i hate needles anyway...

on an unrelated note, i think the 'symptoms' i'm experiencing are a sinus infection, not acute anything. (lots of coughing and pressure in my head when i cough, and that generally lousy run-down feeling, but no fever.)  so i'm going to get treated for that and if symptoms go away, i'll know what's up and will worry less.  i think.  or not.   :-\

Offline RapidRod

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Re: I messed up...
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2012, 07:05:56 pm »
You can obtain a conclusive negative test result 3 months post exposure. PCR-RNA tests are supplemental tests used in conjuction with an antibody test.

 


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