POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Guestworried on April 07, 2013, 05:08:32 pm
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Two nights ago, after a night of drinking, I went for the first time to a bathhouse. I spent a lot of time in the hot tub, and then walked around to explore. My only sexual activity was to masturbate laying next to two guys who were engaged in oral sex, and then later on by myself in my small rented room.
I know people come on is forum with more extreme scenarios, but after waking up home the next day, I started to worry once additional details came back to me.
When I was in the hot tub, there were plenty of guys having sex around me. Mostly oral and mutual masturbation from what I noticed. I have a large burning sore on one of my legs, who barely has a scab, and also an open toe sore from running. What is the risk of getting infected in the hot tub, through these open sores?
Also, when I was walking around, I stopped next to a group of guys who were masturbating and watching something. In no time, I felt a hand grabbing my pennis for about 10 seconds, after which I pulled back and left. The guy was masturbating, and he grabbed my pennis with the same hand. What is the infection risk from that?
I know that everything sounds a lot like guilt, shock from a new experience and OCD. But, if there was real risk (not just theoretical), should I stop by a hospital for a PEP? Apologize for candor, it may sound ridiculous, but now I am kind of panicky and very worried that between the open toe sore, and the guy touching me with same hand he was masturbating, I might have exposed myself more than I was anticipating.
I am grateful for any piece of advice. Thanks.
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Nothing you described was even remotely a risk for HIV . 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, bodily fluids outside the body do not pose a risk and that means masturbation is not a risk for HIV infection.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME for the specific incident you described you may want to keep in mind that anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care checkup, 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 checkups, 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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Jeff has covered your concerns very thoroughly in this non-risk situation to which I want to add one warning. Mixing excessive drinking with casual sex is a very dangerous combination. Fortunately this time you did not do anything risky. But all too often I have known when drunk or drugged out someone's ability to make good decisions about safer sex have become impaired with tragic results.
Have all the sex you want to and without whomever you choose, but do it soberly and safely, which means always using condoms for intercourse. No exceptions.
Happily this time you can just get on with your life.
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Point taken about doing things while intoxicated. Thank you both very much.
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You're welcome. Stay healthy.
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Unfortunately, I have to reopen this post. I needed to stay sane somehow -- i can't believe feel how stupid I was stupidy, so i'll share with you as it simply unfolds. Maybe it'll serve as a lesson to somebody else...
Ignoring your nice advice and being tortured by guilt, I went to emergency room approximately 42 hours after what I deemed to be an exposure in the bathhouse. For a few hours in my room in the bathouse, I sort of passed out drunk with the door locked but nevertheless passed out. So based on that realization, the doc's at emergency room put me on PEP right away. But before that they drew blood for baseline, I guess. I'll come back to the blood drawing later. So, they put me on Truvada//Prezista/Norvir combo.
So, I thought I will take the PEP and not really think about it, at least until 28 days passed. Half-way through the PEP period, i came down with a sudden case of nose-throat burning (started at the lining behind the nose, where it meets the throat), then followed next day by sore throat, white pus and canker sore on my left tonsil, and then whole nose-throat episode subsided in five days. In the same time, i got mild fever of 99.5 during the day, which was falling down at night. Also, what threw me really into a nut zone, was sort of a rednesslike hot flashes, which when on my upper chest, face, andmthe back-of-hands. All of these happening while my third week of PEP was moving into the fourth.
I went to my physician and initially he scolded me for going on PEP, but then he was kinnda put-off by my symptoms. He tried to confort me by telling me that my redness on chest and hands are hot flashes (since they were sort of skin pigmentation that subsided while laying down). He didn't want to run RNA test, saying it was not going to show anyway. I tried to suggest that it may show something if the PEP was failing.
The thing that prompted me to write here, is that I also have had stomach rumbles and one bout of diarrhea at least per day, that started with other symptoms and now is still going on. So, I am now at 27th day of PEP, with my stomach rummbling non-stop, waiting formthe last dose of PEP to be over.
I am an emotional wreck (couldn't sleep for four nights in a row while having the initial symptoms) and my mind spins in circles. I keep wondering if this is ARS given the timing, or a bad reaction to PEP. Once the symptoms started, I begun to think I was exposed somehow in the emergency room, but then I read that there was no case ever documented of such an exposure. Then I went back to my bathhouse episode and re-ran everything in my head. The only contact with another person I had there, was a guy who was masturbating and who then grabbed my penis and started masturbating me for about 10-15 seconds. The weird thing is that the guy took my by suprize (i had not invited or allowed him to touch me);I began to read about possible transmission hand-to-genital with maybe precum on hands. Maybe some got under my foreskin or utethra.
And then all my masturbating on my own in the hot-tub, with other guys likely doing the same thing around me. I imagined again, that something got forced up into my urethra, and so and so forth.
Just to restate, I had not oral/anal contact whatsoever, not even kissing or other thouching besides the guy grabbing me.
Now, my doc wants to a viral load a week after PEP, and I am going out of PEP with my stomach problems, extremely disturbed emotionally and ton of questions running endlessly through my head: was an exposure in e bathhouse that I couldn't grasp? Was I exposed in the emergency room (the nurse used gloves but she came with them on, but another one who preped my vein did not wear gloves, and so on)? I am fully aware of the sort of psychosis that I got myself into. What if PEP failed? But failed on what exposure?
I'm really tired. Just felt the need to share with someone. I don't really expect and answer. I still hoe that all these symptoms are not what they add up to be :'(
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HIV isn't your problem if what you initially reported was your supposed exposure , the sex you described wasn't a risk and you are torturing yourself for nothing .
I hope your docs find out what is wrong with you because it isn't HIV , the Truvada would have been enough for PEP alone , the norvir is probably churning your guts so no wonder you feel ill , I cant fathom why a doctor would choose that combo for PEP , specially since you did not need it to begin with . A viral load test is not approved to screen for HIV so I also have no idea why he would suggest that test .
The CDC guidelines calls for testing 6 weeks post PEP and again at 3 months .