Kinda scared...

[Sally999]

I slept with a guy two months ago, He was my boyfriend at the time and I found out after I slept with him that he used to do Crank, I kept asking him if he had anything and he kept saying no but you never know with people.... You never know who you can trust... From a really bad relationship I was in I got herpes, But the Ex-crank user did not use a condom... He didn't cum inside me and I wasn't having a breakout but I got checked right after and then about 6 weeks after which was all negative, I have bad anxiety issues.. Help?

[Ann]

Sally,

You know how you say you got herpes from a "really bad relationship"? Well, bad things happen to good people in good relationships too. STIs are viral and bacterial infections that couldn't care less as to your character or state of your relationship. Stop using STIs as a social gauge, please. Hiv doesn't discriminate and neither should you and you'd do well to remember that.

You say you got "checked" at six weeks and if this means you got tested for hiv at six weeks, then while you need one more test at three months, you are more than likely to get another negative result.

The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test hiv positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.

A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.

You REALLY need to learn from this and stop judging people - you only started freaking out about having unprotected sex with this guy when you found out about his past. You need to assume ANYONE you have intercourse with may be hiv positive (and quite possibly not know it) and protect yourself accordingly by insisting on condom use.

I got my hiv from the love of my life, who happens to be one best people you'd ever meet. Our only mistake was having unprotected sex, as we heterosexual couples tend to do with no regard to hiv. Well, we get it too. You need to insist on condom use first, and ask questions about the past or whatever later. Protect yourself FIRST AND FOREMOST AND ALWAYS!

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.


With a six week negative you are highly unlikely to go on to test hiv positive from this particular encounter, but you MUST learn from this as next time you may not be so lucky. Be sure to confirm your negative result at three months.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!

Ann