POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Melb4ever on March 19, 2011, 09:17:47 pm
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I'm a gay male. I had anal sex with anonymous guy. I was the insertive (top) and my condom broke. I only noticed it after sometime and it was completely ripped and on the bottom of the penis. I didn't see any blood when I pulled out. I saw something red but it didn't look like blood, more like feces. I asked him of his HIV status and he told me he was negative. I really got freaked out when the condom broke. I started pep after 43 hours. I don't know if I really needed pep for this exposure and what are the risks. I only been on pep for 4 days and the side effects are really bad. I'm taking 3 pills in the morning and 3 pills at night and I only weigh 130lbs. and I really don't want to continue. I'm not big on medecine and I try to avoid it as much as I can unless it's an an emergency. What do you think? Thanks! Btw..I'm circumcised, also the neighborhood he lives in has high rate of HIV+. He also used poppers.
I live in NYC.
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Hi Mel,
It's not unusual to have those kinds of strong side effects from PEP. They are powerful drugs.
The condom will have protected you until it broke. The risk for the insertive partner is lower than for the receptive one. And this was a single incident. All of those factors are in your favor against transmission having occured if the guy is positive.
You are going to have to weigh the pros and cons and decide about continuing PEP. Your risk was relatively low, but low is not the same as no risk.
You can test initially at 6 weeks after completing PEP and at 13 weeks after for a hopefully conclusive negative result.
I will say that of all the reports I have known where the condom has broken, I have never known the insertive partner to have become infected that way. But like I said low risk is not the same as no risk. It has to be your call on this one.
Good luck and keep us posted.
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Thanks for the response Andy, appreciated. I think I might stop the medication cause the symptoms are really unbearable and I'm pretty much suffering. The nausea is really bad and doesn't go away. :/
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OK, then go with that. You can get tested initially at 6 weeks from when you stop the PEP. Assuming you test negative at that point as is likely, then you will very likely continue to test negative at 13 weeks.
Good luck with your results. Keep us posted.
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I decided to continue taking medication. I was wondering..what do the medicines do in your body if you dont have HIV virus to start with?
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Well those are strong drugs so you may or may not continue to have side effects. If you want to know anything more specifically you should discuss that with the doctor who prescribed for you.
The odds are in your favor that you will come out of this ok.
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I apologize for my indecisiveness but I think I might stop the medication. I have took it for 2 weeks...I know that 28 days what you got to aim for. It's getting harder and harder to take the medication with each day passing by. Just the thought of medicines makes me physically nauseous..it's really bad :/ I know that I'm supposed to talk with my doctor about this but he told me to try my best to take as much as I can. Just hope everything will turn out fine with the results. This been a really rough time for me since I'm very active guy.
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OK, just remember that you start counting the waiting time to testing from when you stop the medications. You can do an initial test at 6 weeks from whenever you stop PEP. Assuming you receive a negative result then you will very likely continue to test negative at 13 weeks.
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Thanks :)
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You're welcome. Good luck.
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I have stopped taking medication 2 weeks ago. 2 days ago I have developed flu like symptoms and I haven't had flu for years. I'm gonna get checked in 2 weeks but I'm really worried that I might be infected...I'm feeling really scared. The symptoms that I have are stomach pain, nausea, chills, headache, congested, soar muscles and throat a little itchy. I should of continued medications for 28 days. :(
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And those symptoms mean nothing in terms of your knowing your HIV status accurately. They are not in anyway HIV specific symptoms.
The point when you can get an accurate, conclusive negative result is 13 weeks from when you stopped taking PEP. You can do an initial test at 6 weeks after stopping PEP. If that result is negative you will likely continue to test negative.
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This is a new incident that happened about 44 hours ago. I met a guy at the bar and went to his house. We had a bit of oral sex both insertive and receptive. After a bit of oral sex, I asked him of his HIV status and he told me he was negative. So we were about to have anal sex, me being bottom and him top. At first he was rubbing his penis against my butt and kinda pressing against my butt. Afterwards, he put a condom on and put silicone based lube on it. He tried to go inside me and as he was going inside me...it started to hurt as I have hemmoroid. So I pulled out right away cause of the pain. When I pulled out, he noticed condom broke. So we proceeded with mutual masturbation and both ejaculated. I'm kinda worried about this incident because he did go inside me for a sec and of course I took his penis out right away because of the pain. What do you guys think is the risk here? Is there need for pep? Thanks!
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If it was really as brief an incident as you have reported, then no, I don't think PEP is necessary.
Keep things simple. You should always be using water-based lube with a condom.
You can for your peace of mind get tested at 13 weeks to confirm your negative status.
What is troubling is that you still seem to be basing your actions on what the other person says about their HIV status. That's a big mistake. You should always be taking the precautions as if you know the person is HIV+. That means always using a condom for intercourse. No exceptions.
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Thanks Andy for your reply. It was a brief incident. Even though I asked of other person's HIV status...I always use condoms regardless if their negative or positive. My mistake was not using water based lube and I also think the tip of the condom had air. Btw..I'm still in touch with the guy..since the time is kind of running out for pep..I really wanted to ask him of his HIV status again but not sure how to approach that situation since he already told me his HIV status during sex.
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Pursuing him further about his status is not a good idea. You need to base your decision about PEP on what you think was the level of risk. Consult with your doctor if you want to. I don't think PEP is warranted based on what you have reported, but you are the one who has to live with the decision so it's up to you. And if you are going to do PEP you need to get moving on it pretty quickly.
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Mel,
When a condom breaks that quickly, it usually is because of an air bubble. When a condom breaks due to the kind of lube used, it usually take a bit of time.
Please always give the condom a firm downward stroke while watching the tip for air before any insertion takes place. Do this when you're the one wearing the condom - AND when it's your partner wearing it. Make sure you or your partner pinches the tip between finger and thumb when rolling it down - that's how you stop the air getting trapped.
Ann
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Thanks guys! I decided not to take PEP. Hopefully I'll come out ok out of this. I don't know..I've been kind of worried..it's kinda stressing me out. :(