Author Topic: Worried (Read 7406 times)

worried5 · « **on:** January 27, 2007, 05:51:42 pm »

I am really worried and I am hoping that someone can give me some advice. In the middle of December I kissed a random male for a period of time. He had really chapped lips and I am positive that I tasted blood. Moreover, I had a cut/crack on the inside of my upper lip. I do not think that it was bleeding at the time, but it may have been open.
It is now the end of January and I have been feeling sick for about two weeks. I have a cold with a sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and I am really exhausted. How risky was my encounter, seeing as there was blood involved? Also, how long do the first symptoms of HIV last for? Lastly, how long after my encounter would a HIV test be accurate? This whole situation is completely consuming me, so any advice would be great. Thank you in advance!

thunter34 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:04:45 pm »

kissing is not a risk for HIV exposure. i don't want to get into any discussion about symptoms because they can and do vary from person to person. the symptoms are things that also occur as the result of other illnesses, and any person who is actually positive can experience some, all or none of them. so wipe all the symptom business out of your head. it won't do anything but make you worry unnecessarily.

as for the testing period, most people will seroconvert within a few weeks, but i think about 13 weeks post exposure is the ''carved in stone thou art surely negative'' standard for test results.

the whole thing is pretty irrelevent for you because you weren't really at risk for HIV from this to start with. if you do choose to have a test at that 13 week mark (which would really be just for your peace of mind rather than any real concern), you should expect a negative result. assuming the person was positive (which you don't know), the saliva makes an unhospitable environment for HIV and you would have to have one heck of a cut (and gulping a good bit of blood) for this to even stand the the remotest chance of happening. that's just not a realistic scenario. you are fine.

read the welcome thread here and the lessons section to find out the real scoop on HIV and transmission.

take care.

did i do ok, andy?

Andy Velez · « **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:06:45 pm »

Even if you had been kissing an HIV+ Dracula just after a fresh kill you wouldn't have been at risk from your kissing episode. Kissing is not a risk for transmission period.

Read the lessons on transmission and testing. There's a link to them in the Welcome thread which opens this section. You get all the basics there and knowing that information should help you to avoid unnecessary worrying such as you have been experiencing over this harmless incident.

Note for future reference that neither the presence nor the absence of symptoms is ever the way to accurately know your HIV status. Only an HIV test taken at 13 weeks after a genuinely risky incident such as intercourse without a condom will accurately tell you your HIV status.

You do not need to get tested in relation to this kissing experience.

worried5 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:11:22 pm »

Thank you both so much for your timely responses! You really do an amazing job here. Last time I will ask...So there was really no risk even if there was blood and an open cut?

RapidRod · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:29:32 pm »

Not even with an open cut.

worried5 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:32:29 pm »

I guess I am just wondering why there is no risk involved...even with a possible transmission of blood.

RapidRod · « **Reply #6 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:36:03 pm »

First of all you never kissed anyone with profuse bleeding now did you? You had no risk. End of Story.

Andy Velez · « **Reply #7 on:** January 27, 2007, 06:40:25 pm »

As I think you would agree kissing is one of the most common activities before, during and after sex. We'd have known longer before today if there was any risk.

Theoretically anything other than sex with your own hand on yourself is potentially risky. In the real world of HIV, transmission just doesn't happen through kissing. As Hunter mentioned, your saliva has an inhibitory element which protects you from transmission even IF the person you were with is HIV positive. The elements that would need to come together just don't happen via kissing.

You can pick up lots of things from kissing but happily HIV isn't one of them. Really.

worried5 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 27, 2007, 08:00:12 pm »

It was dark and I am not sure how much blood was present. Does this matter?

worried5 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 28, 2007, 12:44:25 pm »

I am sorry to keep bothering you about this, but does the amount of blood in the mouth matter?

Andy Velez · « **Reply #10 on:** January 28, 2007, 01:18:18 pm »

Your mind is still working overtime on this to no good purpose.

The "amount" of blood? Think for a moment if you will about how much blood was likely to be involved. You weren't kissing a person with a real wound in the mouth. And mixed with saliva it would likely have appeared to be much more blood than it actually was.

But bottom line is that kissing has never been documented as a means for transmission. You aren't going to make history by becoming the first. Really.

worried5 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 28, 2007, 01:54:45 pm »

Thank you for your continued assistance. I am really trying to put this out of my mind, but it just seems to keep haunting me...

Andy Velez · « **Reply #12 on:** January 28, 2007, 03:17:11 pm »

Fortunately feelings aren't facts. Stay productively busy and don't get sidetracked by all this "stuff' your mind churns up.

worried5 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 08, 2007, 09:24:49 am »

Hello again. I am sorry bother to everyone again. Unfortunately, I have been unable let go of my fear of HIV. I tested at about 6.5 weeks and it came back negative. However, my partner (who was not the other person I kissed...a big mistake) has now come down with a high fever, chills, cough, and whitish toungue...all of which have lasted about a week and are still ongoing. The Dr. tested him for the flu and said it wasn't that...so I immediately am worried about ARS symptoms. Ever since my mistake kiss, my partner and I have been using condoms...but I am still worried that somehow I infected him. I am almost at the 13 week mark (only about 1.5 weeks to go) but I just can't get this out of my mind. Any thoughts?

worried5 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 08, 2007, 02:10:55 pm »

Anyone?

Ann · « **Reply #15 on:** March 08, 2007, 02:55:02 pm »

Worried,

What's there to say? We've already told you in no uncertain terms that kissing, no matter what sort of spin you want to put on it, is not a risk for hiv infection. Whatever is going on with your boyfriend has nothing to do with hiv infection - at least not because you kissed another man.

By the way, you should always be using condoms with your boyfriend. 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.

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.

Ann

worried5 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 08, 2007, 03:02:11 pm »

Ann,

Thanks for the reply. We had both been completely checked for all STDs, thus the reason why we had not been using condoms until I kissed another male a couple of months ago.

I guess I am just so worried because there was blood present during the kiss. Also, all of my boyfriend's symptoms match perfectly the symptoms for ARS. I know that the chances or me catching it from a kissing incident, even involving blood, are very low and I also know that the chances of me giving it to my boyrfriend are very low since we did have protected sex. However, me and my boyfriend did have unprotected oral sex after my kissing incident, so that is now causing me to be really anxious. I just wish that I could put this whole incident out of my mind, but I cannot.

How reliable was my test at 6.5 weeks?

Ann · « **Reply #17 on:** March 08, 2007, 03:10:45 pm »

worried,

Your 6.5 week negative is not going to change. You didn't have a risk. Test again if you like, but don't be surprised at your negative result.

And I've got news for you, the so-called ARS symptoms "perfectly match" the symptoms of hundreds of other illnesses. Whatever is going on with your boyfriend has nothing to do with hiv whatsoever.

It's time you put this to rest. Kissing, no matter what sort of spin you want to put on it, is NOT a risk for hiv infection. No way, no how. Go back and read your thread again and again until it sinks in. There is nothing further we can do for you here.

Ann

worried5 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 08, 2007, 03:13:14 pm »

Thank you for all of your help.

This is a wonderful service and I appreciate all of the time that you spend helping others.

Hopefully I can put this out of my mind soon, with the help of a test and counceling.

worried5 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 09, 2007, 11:26:38 pm »

One last question. Is a 12 week test accurate, or does it have to be 13 weeks? Thank you in advance.

Ann · « **Reply #20 on:** March 10, 2007, 07:27:04 am »

worried,

When there has actually been a risk (which there hasn't in your case) a test at either twelve or thirteen weeks is conclusive. The official window period in the States is thirteen weeks, but in the UK and most of Europe it is twelve, using the same tests as they do in the States. Twelve, thirteen, it doesn't really matter.

You are hiv negative and you do not need further testing.

Ann

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Author Topic: Worried (Read 7406 times)