POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Strontian68 on August 26, 2012, 06:45:11 am
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can you catch anything from sharing a sex toy?
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Strontian,
I removed the post you left in someone else's thread. If you read the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) before posting like you're supposed to, you will have read the following posting guideline:
Only those Moderators and members who are authorized to answer questions in the Am I Infected? forum are permitted do so. Unauthorized responses may be deleted without permission of the poster. Repeatedly posting replies of this nature may result in a Time Out or permanent ban, at the discretion of the Moderator Team.
Please consider yourself warned!
It is conceivably possible to pick up some of the easily transmitted bacterial STIs such as chlamydia or gonorrhea when sharing sex toys, but not hiv. This is why it is recommended that you either put a condom on the toy and change the condom when going from one partner to the other, or that you wash it before using it on someone else.
Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is primarily transmitted INSIDE the human body, as in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse where the virus never leaves the confines of the two bodies.
Once outside the body, small changes in temperature, and pH and moisture levels all quickly damage the virus and render it unable to infect. For this reason, hiv cannot be transmitted from objects in the environment and that includes sex toys.
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.
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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we did use the condom on the toy and then put in dishwasher as they recommend but not sure whether the dishwasher complete its cycle and if it can kill the hiv? what are the chances? I had the sex toy - a black mamba - in my mouth and arse before and then a guy had it too, we switched. was drunk at the time so dont remember exact details but just woke this morning with a very dim recollection.
also concerned whether i can catch hiv from semen splashed on the bedsheet, if i fell onto it and rubbed my genitalia by accident against the semen (undry) would this be a cause for concern?
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also want to add i live in the london borough of camden, it have quite a high hiv prevlance so does this increase my chance of catching hiv after the risks describe?
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also i have OCD and take anti-psychotics.
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Strontian,
You don't have to rely on a dishwasher to kill hiv on a sex toy. Re-read my first reply to you. Once hiv is outside the body and in the environment, it becomes damaged and cannot infect. Washing sex toys is to prevent the transmission of bacterial infections. Hiv is a fragile virus.
No, sheets are also objects in the environment and you're not going to become infected through cum on sheets - or doorknobs, or floors, or whatever.
People - or areas - are not high or low or no risk, ACTIVITIES are high or low or no risk. It's not who you do, it's how you do it. Provided you use condoms correctly and consistently, you won't need to worry about hiv no matter where you are having sex or who you're having sex with.
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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If there is HIV positive cum on the sheets, how many minutes would it stay intact? I worried when guy masturabte themselves and cum on ther hands and then put the red hands near me, particular my nether regions. If there be cum contains HIV, surely it would be possible for even a drop of this to drip onto the genital region and cause an infect or no?
I worry about the infection coming to me somehow as Camden Town, where i live, it is a crazy area. I always use the condom for oral and have never had the anal but have been horrified by the guys asking for the bareback, it is an abomination, they ask me when i was in the bar last night and getting the Tube home. I felt very unclean because of this requestings
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Strontian,
I've already explained to you that you're not going to get infected from cum on sheets or anywhere else in the environment. Sexually speaking as a man you're only going to get infected if you take an hiv positive load into your rectum or get some hiv infected fluid into your urethra while you are INSIDE someone else's body.
Where adults are concerned, hiv is transmitted by:
Unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse.
Sharing drug injecting equipment.
And that's it.
If people asking you for sex makes you feel "unclean" when all you have to do is say "NO THANKS", then that's something to take up with your therapist. We cannot help you with your emotional problems here.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE!!!
If you read the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) before posting like you're supposed to, you will have read the following posting guideline:
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
Please consider yourself warned!
Ann