POZ Community Forums

HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Ralph the rhino on January 29, 2012, 04:59:02 am

Title: When should I test?
Post by: Ralph the rhino on January 29, 2012, 04:59:02 am
Ok so I was very stupid. And yes, alcohol was involved. Just before Christmas, I meet a girl in a bar and we had a one night stand. As this was all unplanned there were no condoms involved. We had sex 3 times unprotected.

I met up with her for drinks several days later and I was shocked now that the beer goggles wern't on. For a start she had turned up utterly stoned on someting. And she was just plain weird. Although I brought condoms this time, there was no way I was going to have sex with her again.

She had told me on the first night that she worked in an office. Now she was saying that she was on a diability pension for a chronic illness (Deep Vein Thrombosis). I also caught a glimpse inside her wallet and there was an appoinment card for the Langton Center-a day clinic for Methodone. Great. She was an ex-junkie. What have I gotten myself into?

This is the time to point out some lessons. All that stuff about 'always use protection' is never so true. If you have sex with some body who you have only just met, you know nothing of their past; when you DO find out, maybe you wished you hadn't! Another thing is alcohol-there is no doubt that this drug lowers your guard to the point where you discard reason. The first night she seemed funny and cute, not so now.

As a consequence of this, I am shitting bricks. I would like to get a test done but I am not sure if it is too early yet. It has been 5 weeks and 4 days since we had sex. How reliable would a test be at this stage? What proportion of people have detectable antibodies after 39 days. Would I need a re-test further down the track, at say 6 months?
Title: Re: When should I test?
Post by: Ann on January 29, 2012, 05:44:22 am
Ralph,

It's good to know that this experience has led you to a higher level of self-awareness, particularly where alcohol and casual sex are concerned. Let's hope that's not just a fleeting thing.

I have to wonder if you would have been "shitting bricks" if she'd turned out to be the same as you remembered her. Your risk would have been exactly the same if she turned out to be what you'd imagined her to be - "good" people can get hiv too - I should know, I'm one of them.

The earliest you should test is at six weeks, which going by what you said will be sometime during this coming week.

The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days. A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point but is highly unlikely to change.

The odds are in your favour of testing negative as hiv transmission is more difficult to transmit from a woman (or receptive partner) to a man (or the insertive partner).

HOWEVER, you also need to test for all the other, more easily transmitted infections. Some can be present without any obvious symptoms (ie syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in particular) so the ONLY way to know for sure is to test. You're MUCH more likely to have picked up something like chlamydia from this and not know it as up to 80% of men have no symptoms.

Good luck with the tests.

Ann
Title: Re: When should I test?
Post by: Ralph the rhino on January 29, 2012, 07:39:31 am
Thank for the reply Ann.

 I'll go and get a test next week. I just wanted to say that the very action of posting my concerns have actually had a calming effect. When I re-read my own words, I realise that my own predjudices about HIV fed my anxieties. Just because this woman is weird, has DVT and is undergoing rehab does not mean that she is infected with HIV. What I have realised is that my fears are supported by a set of beliefs that are not rational-therefore, my fears themselves are not rational.

I'll still get a test tho.. :)
Title: Re: When should I test?
Post by: Ann on January 29, 2012, 07:46:03 am
Ralph,

Good plan. Just make sure you also get tested for ALL the other, more easily transmitted STIs. You're more likely to have picked up something like chlamydia from this and please keep in mind that you won't necessarily have any symptoms.

Ann