POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Lonewolf85 on May 14, 2014, 04:36:20 pm
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I am a 29 year old male who had protected vaginal sex with a sex worker a little more than 5 weeks ago. It lasted around 10 seconds and condom looked intact after pulling out. But the catch is that I did not notice her taking it out of a packet - so I am not sure of the brand or if it was the type that is meant to prevent STDs. It was my first experience with penetrative sex and looking at my symptoms over the past few weeks, I can't shake the feeling that I f****d up. The thing with the symptoms is that they are things I have not experienced the same way before. On the 4th day I got a sore throat and it did not go away till 2.5 weeks later. It never converted to a full blown cold with blocked sinuses and colored phlegm(like it usually does) and there were a couple of days I felt weak. I have lost about 4 kgs of body weight. I have a small non aching lump on my left arm which is present to this day. Again this is something new to me. Then small bumps on the inside of my lower lip which keeps recurring - this is also something I don't normally get. Reading this forum has helped me see out the waiting period as I realised I would be classified as low risk here. Tomorrow I am going to take a test for all STDs and hope to return negative
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You have not had a risk for HIV . Sex workers use condoms to to protect themselves not you so an intact condom means no HIV . You did the right thing and used condoms .
Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
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 sexually transmitted infections together.
To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without 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.
Although you did not have a risk and do not need to test for this specific incident , 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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
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Thanks Jeff for the assurance and the advice. I agree sex workers try to protect themselves but what if they are already infected? They still have to continue with their lives - most likely working the same job. Lots of ifs - but I don't want to dismiss my action as a low-risk activity with many threads on this forum reporting a condom failure. In hindsight, it was a relief that the one I used did not fail. Anyway I am not looking for a debate on this as this is not the best place for it.
I did my tests today (for peace of mind) - antibody + p24 antigen (6 weeks after exposure) - they came back negative. I think I will take this as a conclusive result.
Hope this also gives some assurance to other readers who had an experience similar to mine - maybe you could wait 3 months to do the cheaper test.
I am trying to sort out my mental issues (mild depression) which probably made me take the initial step.
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You did not have a risk so its no wonder you test was nonreactive . For future reference , All hiv test must be confirmed at 3 months for a conclusive result .