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Author Topic: really worried...  (Read 3656 times)

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Offline icereich

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really worried...
« on: June 19, 2007, 09:56:12 pm »
Dear All,

I'm really worried. On May 29, I had an encounter with a sex worker - I received unprotected oral and had vaginal sex with a condom on my penis.

About 5 days after I had to urinate all the time like every 15 minutes. I went ahead and took meds for gonorrhea and chlamydia (my urine test that day showed negative for both). Things have been fine since then - but today I started feeling kind of tired and a little feverish - measured it at 99.6 F at one point. It's been about 3 weeks since my encounter and I know that my chances are low but I'm still worried.

It's probably the guilt along with the fact I have the best gf in the world and whenever I hear her voice I feel so bad inside - I have refrained from having intercourse with her which she's fine about but to think that I may lose her and not get married with her kills me inside.

I'm planning to do a 4 week test as I've heard 90% of people will show antibodies by week 4. Then maybe test at 6 weeks then at 3 months.

I've read people getting HIV from oral sex and from people say they've had protected sex but still got it - most of the time I'm resistent to believing their stories but at times like this when you're the vulnerable one, things are different.

Sigh.

Offline Bucko

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  • You need a shine, missy!
Re: really worried...
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2007, 10:21:19 pm »
The "stories" you have heard are wrong, Ice.

No one has ever been infected by getting a blow job and no one ever will because that's not how the virus is transmitted. Check out the Lessons section at the top of the page.

Your condom protected you from HIV. That's what protected sex is all about: protection. Continue using condoms for vaginal and/or anal sex, along with plenty of water-soluble lube and you'll be home free.

You may try to spin this in some odd fashion, but the facts are incontrovertible: No risk!

Brent
(Who congratulates Ice on his using a condom)
Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

Blathering on AIDSmeds since 2005, provocative from birth

Offline icereich

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  • Posts: 5
Re: really worried...
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2007, 12:18:04 am »
Thanks for the reply. I'm starting to get really worried.

Originally I was perfectly fine until tonight - I started having diarrhea and my temperature is consistently above 99.5. Nothing like mono though, but the timing is perfect - 3 weeks.

I'm so worried. Please don't be upset with me - I'm just worried. A few years ago, I had a similar encounter and was negative and I swore never to do it again but got caught up in the heat of the moment and hired a sex worker. I feel like I'm being punished by God for not living up to my promise.

I know symptoms/lack of them don't mean anything but like I said earlier, the timing and everything just seems so aligned with what it should be.


Offline Ann

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  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: really worried...
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2007, 04:09:16 am »
Ice,

Guess what - hiv isn't a punishment sent down from God. It's a virus that is transmitted in very specific ways. You didn't do anything that would have allowed the virus to be transmitted to you.

Go see your doctor about your physical problems - they're nothing to do with hiv.

And if you need to, go see a counselor about your guilty feelings. We can't help you with that here.

You didn't have a risk for hiv. But you know what? 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.

You should be using condoms with your girlfriend too, unless you've already tested together and are securely monogamous.

Have a look through all three 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
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline icereich

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  • Posts: 5
Re: really worried...
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2007, 07:23:09 am »
Thanks Ann.

Does anyone know if one can get a 4th generation ELISA test in the US? I haven't been able to find it online. I'd like to get one at 28 days to help rest a little easy then at the 12 week mark.


Offline Ann

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  • Posts: 28,134
  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: really worried...
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2007, 07:49:33 am »
Ice,

If you're going to test before the end of the window period, I suggest you wait until six weeks. 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 negative result at six weeks MUST be confirmed at three months - provided there was a risk of infection in the first place.

Having said that, you didn't have a risk of infection in the incident with the sex worker. As long as you test at least three months after your last incident of UNPROTECTED intercourse, no matter who it was with, it will be conclusive.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline icereich

  • Member
  • Posts: 5
Re: really worried...
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2007, 05:03:09 pm »
So I've been scared in these last weeks on and off - sometimes confident that I'm ok, sometimes freaked out by random things. I'm posting as an update.

There are days I freak out like no one would believe - I'm one of the most laid back easy going people - I never get riled up or nervous about anything. I found out that my hepatitis B vaccine didn't take the first time (2 years ago) and the first thing someone asked me was - "what's your HIV status?" Man I freaked out. I had titers drawn for that again (I got the 3 step series earlier this year) and they came back okay. Then thinking about the urinating symptoms a week after my incident (even though I tested negative for Gon/Chlamydia), then thinking about the 12 hour fever I had (though it was only 38 C), then thinking about my hep B vaccination problem - man it got me going crazy!

So I went ahead and tested. Obviously it was negative like I and everyone else here suspected.

Weird how the mind can play games on you and convince you otherwise even then you know the science and reason of things. I'm still going to get tested at 12 weeks, but this test basically lets me ease up quite a lot about the non-risk incident I had.

Thanks for the support to those who answered.

Offline Bucko

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  • Posts: 1,947
  • You need a shine, missy!
Re: really worried...
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2007, 06:07:30 pm »
Icy-

Great news, even if expected, should still be celebrated when it arrives.

Just remember to use condoms and water-soluble lube for penetrative (vag/anal) sex outside the bounds of a long-term, securely monogamous relationship and you should be fine.

Brent
(Who knew somehow, just knew)
Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

Blathering on AIDSmeds since 2005, provocative from birth

 


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