POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Christ_Man on April 21, 2012, 07:18:35 am
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Hello
i came here after an incident that happened a few days ago.
During an evening I decided to have my first male/male appointment with an stranger during the night. We met and I gave him a blow job. Although I did not want to swallow his cum I missed the point where he finished and so I swallowed half the load because I was surprised. I spit out the other half of the load after perhaps 10 seconds.
This was in the night and I went to my doctor approx. 6 hours later in the morning because I was in fear of getting a STD or HIV from this event. He gave me 3x200mg doxycycline (antibiotic) to prevent a bacterial infection but told me, that I have to do an HIV test after 12 weeks.
I looked up the internet for additional information an was glad to find your website. I calmed down a bit after reading your advice in this section. Now I have two questions I would like to ask you:
1. with focus on an HIV infection, do you think it is really not necessary to get tested after this incident?
2. can you explain me, why official sites (also here in germany, where I live) tell the public, that oral contact is a risk factor for HIV and recommend to get tested in such cases? I mean your advice in case of oral contact often is the opposite of the information made available by officials. Are "real world" statistics / "real world" knowledge so clear?
Thank you very much for you time.
Best regards from germany
CM
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CM, theoretically anything other than sex with your own hand is a risk. But in the real world of HIV we know that the only confirmed risks for the sexual transmission of HIV are unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse. Using condoms for those activities consistently provides very effective protection.
I would never say you cannot get HIV from giving oral sex. However, the evidence of several longterm studies does not support it being risky. The extensive studies were of serodiscordant couples, both gay and straight. There was lots of mutual unprotected oral sex and only protected vaginal and anal intercourse. Not one sero-negative partner became infected.
Your saliva contains over a dozen elements and proteins which very effective prevent the transmission of viable HIV.
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Then I can read your answer like "i dont expect you to be the First documented case"?
Thank you very much andy.
Bye
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So, although I hope that I'm only a "worried well" I had a blood sample taken yesterday after 5 weeks - I need this result for my thoughts and will have it next week.
I have another questions I would like to ask you about the symptoms of seroconversion. Stuff found on the internet can be very confusing. Is it right that most of the people becoming positive, will have signs of seroconversion and in most of the cases fever and other serve symptoms are included?
In the five weeks after my encounter I was feeling tired and fatigued sometimes - I think due to the worries I made myself (and also due to the permanent changin weather where I live). Also started to notice a slight chronical inflammation of a molar teeth that I only notice, when I get stressed and my immune system is weak due to the "low energy" - that's my sign of "batteries are empty". It got better after 2-3 days with taking vitamine C + Zinc. In such a stress-situation with "batteries-empty" the absence of any fever or high temperature should be a strong evidence against seroconversion during the weeks after the encounter? Or is this wrong?
Thank you very much for your time and answering my questions!
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So, although I hope that I'm only a "worried well" I had a blood sample taken yesterday after 5 weeks - I need this result for my thoughts and will have it next week.
I have another questions I would like to ask you about the symptoms of seroconversion. Stuff found on the internet can be very confusing. Is it right that most of the people becoming positive, will have signs of seroconversion and in most of the cases fever and other serve symptoms are included?
In the five weeks after my encounter I was feeling tired and fatigued sometimes - I think due to the worries I made myself (and also due to the permanent changin weather where I live). Also started to notice a slight chronical inflammation of a molar teeth that I only notice, when I get stressed and my immune system is weak due to the "low energy" - that's my sign of "batteries are empty". It got better after 2-3 days with taking vitamine C + Zinc. In such a stress-situation with "batteries-empty" the absence of any fever or high temperature should be a strong evidence against seroconversion during the weeks after the encounter? Or is this wrong?
Thank you very much for your time and answering my questions!
CM,
Symptoms are an entirely unreliable guide to diagnosing HIV. The symptoms that some people experience during HIV seroconversion illness are pretty much identical to those cause by any other number of viral infections.
Hence the use of the term "flu-like".
What matters is determining if you've been at risk. There is no evidence that swallowing cum is a risk for HIV infection.
The evidence shows us that HIV is certainly spread in these ways:
Unprotected vaginal and anal sex;
Sharing contaminated injecting equipment such as needles and syringes;
In some cases from HIV positive mother to her unborn or nursing infant.
If you're sexually active it makes good sense to get a full sexual health screen at least once a year. Twice is better. There are numerous other STIs which are spread through oral sex and are much more common than HIV.
IF you're feeling ill, you should see your doctor.
MtD
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Man,
Some people do notice symptoms of seroconversion, but many do not. This is why you can never go by symptoms - OR the lack of symptoms - to know your hiv status. ONLY testing will reliably inform you of your hiv status.
Provided you've not been having unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse that you have not told us about, with anyone, then I fully expect your test result to be negative.
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 DO NOT NEED TO TEST SPECIFICALLY OVER A BLOWJOB, 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!
Ann
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Thank you Ann & Matty for your answers.
I like to apologize for asking all this stuff .. but your own mind can be a powerfull enemy when it comes to fears and worries.
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Man,
You're welcome. Don't apologise for asking questions - that's how we learn. The only time questions bother us is when the same person keeps asking the same question over and over and over again. OK?
Ann