Heterosexual Female

[bblynn]

This morning I had one of those same day HIV tests from a company called LABSAFE. It cost about 90$ and they got me in within an hour. I guess results come back in 1-2 days. So I'm sitting here worrying. Is this kind of company reliable? I was too scared to wait a week or more for results. I am a female and about three months ago had 2 questionable partners within a couple of weeks. Only 2 times unprotected vaginal , no ejaculation. I was worried mostly because one of the guys is a dancer at a male strip club, he claims to be totally straight and I know he does not use drugs. This man is a good friend and I am pretty sure I believe him. The other man is straight and  does not use drugs either but for some reason I don't trust him. As I said it was only 2 cases and no ejaculation, but I am very stressed out as I have a new boyfriend now. He and I are monogamous and I trust him. He had not had sex for a year before I met him and has since been tested negative as he had some other health problems. I know what I did was stupid and am going insane with guilt, i just want to be in a monogamous relationship with him from now on.

[Coffeechick88]

I looked on their website and Labsafe does the standard ELISA and sends off the sample for a Western blot if the ELISA is found to be repeatedly reactive.  That also happens to be for the same price you paid.  So there is no reason to doubt it.

On a side note:  You can't use gay/bi or drug user to assess your sexual partners.  You do know that totally heterosexual, non-drug using men can have it too, right?  The guy who gave it to me never used IV drugs and never slept with men. 

There are also other STIs that are much easier to get than HIV.  Have you gone in for testing for those?

[Ann]

bb,

As long as your test was done three months after the last unprotected encounter, you can trust your results.

Speaking of trust, I don't care how much you trust your current partner, if you haven't tested for hiv together, you cannot know if he is hiv positive or negative. This virus is mainly spread by people who have no idea they have it - and you MUST use condoms with him until he has tested.

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.

Ann
(who also aquired her infection from a non-drug using straight guy - who had no idea he was infected)

[bblynn]

Thanks, I know it does happen. that is why I am so worried.

[Andy Velez]

As a footnote to Ann's comments, I would also add don't be in such a rush to stop using condoms. Not only do both partners need to test negative at the same time, they also have to be solidly committed to monogamy. Sometimes it takes a while to get to that, and until it is a securely monogamous situation then your guy should be wearing latex everytime you have intercourse. Period.

Cheers,