POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: united1 on March 26, 2007, 12:15:07 pm
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Hi to all and well done for the work you do on this forum!
I'll cut to the chase; performed cunnilingus on sex worker. 8-10 days later, had strong symptoms of what seemed like herpes on lips, burning, tingling, itchy etc but no actual blisters. Doctor at the GUM clinic, to be fair, didn't have a good chance to diagnose as by the time i got to see her a few days later my lips just seemed heavily chapped. At this point (12 days after contact), i was HIV tested; understandably negative.
Didn't think about HIV at all until i started to suffer other symptoms (won't go into them as you see it all the time!) Now i have oral thrush confirmed and treated unsuccessfully with Nystatin (back to the doctors tomorrow!) This has me concerned; i know you usually state cunnilingus as very very low risk (more like zero) but if i did indeed contract HSV2 from this encounter what kind of chance is there i acquired HIV too?
Thanks for taking the time to look at this; any comments would be greatly appreciated. Will get tested on May 3rd (three months) but until then the power of symptoms has me pretty convinced and terrified!
Cheers.
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The risk for getting HIV from giving oral to a woman is strictly theoretical. Your mind is going wild on this one, all to no purpose well grounded in HIV science. You should discuss your symptoms with a doctor.
You aren't going to make history by becoming the first to become infected in this manner. Read our lesson on transmission and get the real deal. There's a link to it in the Welcome thread which opens this section
This time you were not at risk and there's no need for testing. We do recommend that anyone who's sexually active ought to have full STD panel done regularly. Annually is good and every six months is even better.
Cheers,
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Thanks for the reply Andy, and for your work on the forum.
Theres a lot of stuff on other sites talking about the enhanced risk with genital sores/diseases but theres just so little certainty when it comes to oral on women.
Thanks once again.
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You're welcome. Glad you found help here. I would also urge you to NOT surf the net any further. Too often readers just find (mis)information that unnecessarily feeds their worst fears.
Cheers,
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Hey all!
I've got to be honest, i'm still really concerned. The symptoms i have experienced are stacking up against me and although i've been told i'm at very little risk i can't see past them.
I understand that they are notoriously unreliable as HIV indicators, but that doesn't stop me worrying, especially since they are really unusual! This, added to the possible HSV2 makes me feel HIV is a likely cause.
If i was to contract HIV from this, would it really be against the odds?
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Uni-
The utter dearth of HIV among the Lesbian population should reassure you. Munching carpet is simply not a vector of transmission.
Good luck with the HSV2.
Brent
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Thanks for the reply Bucko, it's good to hear that.
Stay well.
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I'm rather confused guys. I've read and re-read (oh dear, making myself sound very obsessive) the Transmission lesson pertaining to my situation; it states there have been cases of transmission through cunnilingus. So when Andy says that i'm not going to make history by being the first to be infected this way, is he suggesting that he doesn't trust the cases mentioned in the lesson or simply that they don't count as proof that transmission can happen that way?
Also, is there seriously no need to test over this situation? I will add that i believe totally in the effectiveness of condoms and that this is the only situation in which i would have had a real risk.
Thanks to everyone who's even read this!
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united,
The one or two cases where cunnilingus was thought to have been the source of an hiv infection were discredited when additional information concerning the patients' sex life and drug usage came to light. Cunnilingus is not a route for hiv transmission.
Ann
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United, you're right. In the lesson it does mention 2 (!) cases which were attributed to giving oral to a woman. However, it also mentions that other elements of unsafe sex were not eliminated as a possible source of transmission.
Given how common a sexual activity it is I still say we're talking more theoretical than actual in terms of risk. Could it happen. Theoretically yes, if certain factors come together. But in the real world of HIV experience it just doesn't seem to happen.
And I would not consider this an incident over which testing would be specifically indicated. We do in general recommend that anyone who's sexually active get tested regularly with a full STD panel. That means at least annually and every six months is even better.
Cheers,
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Thanks Andy, Ann.
I'm going to test anyway (at a guess i'd say you probably knew that!) but that is in no way a reflection on your responses, just my personal concerns about symptoms etc. I place great store in your views.
Thanks for taking the time.
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united,
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. As you say you will test regardless, why not get a full check-up and consider it the start of your routine sexual health care program. It's what responsible adults do.
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.
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.
I'm fully expecting you to test negative.
Ann
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Thankyou Ann and all who have responded.
I wish you all the best and thanks again for taking the time to read and respond.
Cheers
Chris
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I'm sorry to be back!
I've tried not to worry about this, but i'm only human i suppose.
The evidence linking herpes with HIV is clear and this mixed with several potential (and strong) HIV symptoms has me concerned. Does anybody on this forum know of any specific information about HSV/HIV co-infection and oral sex/cunnilingus? I'm pretty comfortable, based on what i've read and been told here, with cunnilingus being low risk in ordinary circumstances. But what about in the presence of genital herpes; wouldn't that make it a much higher risk?
Thanks
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Do you have HSV2 of the mouth or are you guessing? If you didn't have HSV2 of the mouth before you went down on a woman then you don't have to worry about an increase chance of contracting HIV. You don't get HIV from preforming cunnilingus.
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Thanks Rod
I don't have a confirmed diagnosis of HSV so i must admit you're totally right when you say i'm guessing (educated guess though!), but the signs and symptoms were severe and accompanied by fever, crazy tingling etc before my lips just burned like mad. No blisters or anything, but my lips cracked up all over and then healed (sorry to get graphic!)
I had never experienced anything like that before (it started 8 or so days after the event and fully healed in just under a week) so i can only assume it was down to this exposure.
Therefore, my worry is could i contract HIV from the same exposure? I'm starting to believe that it's happened; i believe that cunnilingus is no real risk under normal circumstances but i'm not so sure what variables genital herpes brings to the situation.
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I suppose i'm particularly concerned that if i have contracted HSV, it would most likely be through active outbreak. Wouldn't this make cunnilingus a much riskier act regarding HIV? I grant you it'd be pretty unlucky, but more likely than standard cunnilingus.
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united,
When we say that cunnilingus isn't a risk, that's exactly what we mean. We don't add any ands ifs or buts. It's not an hiv risk, period.
Ann
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Thats great to hear.
Thanks for clearing that Ann, i really wasn't sure if it made a difference. I've been reading your blogs; like all blogs on this site, they're amazing.
RapidRod, you're a legend!!! I appreciate the way you tell it.
Many thanks
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Hey all.
Im so scared, i know you say to ignore symptoms but can they be so strong at the start of HIV? Eight weeks on and my mouth is so full of sores its not funny, swollen nodes that ache, added to the oral thrush there can't be any doubt its HIV surely. I spend so much time crying, i can't cope and the people i love are helpless and in the dark about it all. I'm a grown man but i can't face up to this dawning reality; i know you can't help with the mental damage caused by HIV but i just don't have anyone else to even tell my fears to.
One of the more stupid things that i think of is whether, if (when!) i do get my result would you guys even believe me, given my risk! I know that sounds really stupid, but you sound so convinced it won't happen while i am convinced it has! And if it really has, this forum may be one of the only things i have left.
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There will be nothing other to believe, than the negative result you are going to get.
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You aren't going to get anything but a negative result. Really.
But anyone who ever gets a positive result always knows they can come here. So you can scratch that off of your worry list. It seems full enough already without your mind throwing that one in too.
We await your negative result. With certainty.
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Thanks Rod. Like i said before, got nothing but respect for the way you tell it.
It may not seem like it all the time, but members responses mean a lot to all on this forum. Thanks from all of us.
Oh and Andy, since you crept in with a post too, IF my result were positive i already know i'd feel proud of this online community; i'm pretty much in awe of the voices here. Sorry if this post seems a bit gooey, but i'm totally serious about that.
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united,
While you didn't have an hiv risk, you DO need to see your doctor or dentist to find out what is going on with your mouth. It could be stress, or it could be something else. Whatever it is, it is NOT hiv.
Ann
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Thanks Ann. Visiting my dentist today to try to get to the bottom of it.