POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Rickett on June 15, 2006, 02:47:23 am
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Hey everyone. I'm new here and not very used to message boards so if I do something wrong just point me in the right direction. :)
Ok, so about two years ago I went through a phase where I was drinking a lot and had a few one night stands. Once I quit drinking I decided I was going to get tested but three months before getting tested I I gave a man oral sex and let him ejaculate in my mouth. I immediatly spit out the semen and had heard that oral sex did not transmit HIV. I got tested (through the Home Access HIV test) and it came back negative but recently I have heard that oral sex IS a risk, and have started to worry if maybe I should get tested again since I didn't wait the full six months after the incident. I am wondering a few things because after reading up on the topic I am getting various answers from various sites.
1. Is Oral sex risky in terms of HIV? Did drinking alcohol maximize the risks?
2. Was the three months long enough for the test to detect HIV?
3. Have Home Access tests proven to be an effective way of testing? <--This is just me worrying, cause the box said it was 99.9% accurate. I am just wondering if anything has been discovered or come up in the last two years showing that this might not be as dependable as it was once thought to be.
And thank you in advance to anyone that helps me out. It's greatly appreciated. :)
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Obsessive drinking and sex don't mix. You reliably tested at three months by a reliable test, which your results were negative. You have know worries about the test you've taken. Always use condoms on anal sex with plenty of water base lube. Please take the time and read the lessons section provided on this website.
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Rickett,
I totally agree with Rodney. You have already tested reliably and conclusively negative for hiv. You are hiv negative.
Giving oral is only a very, very slight risk and no, alcohol did not increase your risk. The main way alcohol increases the risk of hiv is through the lowering of inhibitions which may lead you to have unprotected intercourse.
As long as you are using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple! Please read through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use those condoms with confidence.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) for links to further information.
Ann
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Thank you both for the replies, I tend to be somewhat of a hypochondriac and over analyze things.
However I do have one question. I read a lot of the welcome thread and all of the pertinent information to my situation, and I was just wondering if during the test where "There have been a number of studies that have closely followed MSM and heterosexual couples, in which one partner was HIV positive and the other partner was HIV negative. In all of the studies, couples that used condoms consistently and correctly during every experience of vaginal or anal sex – but didn't use condoms during oral sex – did not see HIV spread from the HIV positive partner to the HIV negative partner." meant that they actually ejaculated in each other's mouths? Or did they suck each other unprotected and then ejaculate outside of the mouth?
Furthermore, completely random but I was wondering. If a man ejaculates on his partners face and it gets in their eye is there a risk of transmission?
And also, how long can a person that has HIV go without having absolutely NO symptoms.
Thank you again for all your help. This site is great and has really helped me with my anxieties.
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Rickett,
Those studies included many, many people and yes, there was full oral including ejaculation in the mouth going on with some of the participants. Not one of them became infected.
Equally rare would be the scenario of becoming infected via ejaculate in the eye. It just doesn't happen - there's never been a documented case. With all the people that participated in those studies, I would think it is safe to assume the eye thing happened to at least a few of them over the years. Of course, if you ever do get sperm in your eye, you would be wise to rinse it out without rubbing but that goes for any foreign matter you get into your eye. (and sperm in the eye stings like hell!) You are much more likely to get one of the other STIs in your eye this way and lets face it, that doesn't happen much either.
Ann
PS... I sincerly hope that you are asking these questions for future reference and not because you're still questioning your test results. You are hiv negative.
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Back again with a quick question. Not sure if I'm supposed to start a new thread since it's a new topic but I figured I'd just put it in here.
I met a guy and we masturbated together and while I was ejaculating he spit on his finger and put it in my butt. Was there any risk of transmission?
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Rickett,
No risk whatsoever. Saliva is not infectious. That's another reason why receiving oral is no risk.
Morgan
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Rickett,
You did the correct thing in coming back to your old thread. That is what we ask people to do in the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0). There are also links in the Welcome Thread that lead to the lesson on hiv transmission. If you haven't already read it, please do so now.
Mutual masturbation is not a risk for hiv infection. Neither is having your anus fingered, with or without saliva. Both of these activities are safe where hiv is concerned.
Seriously, using condoms for intercourse is the main thing you need to do 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 STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
Use condoms for intercourse and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple.
Ann
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I know I'm just being a hypochondriac but I'd really like to hear what you all have to say about this to put my mind to rest. I was at the gym and for the lockers they give you locks with keys. To keep from losing the keys they put the keys on a clothes pin needle to pin to your clothes. I accidentaly poked my thumb with the needle and it wasn't very deep at all (About a drop of blood came out and then it stopped). I was told by someone that the only way HIV transmission could occur is if there was fresh blood on the needle which there was not but I would just like to hear what you guys have to say because you know a lot more about this. Could I have gotten HIV from this?
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No.
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Can HIV be transmitted through oral sex?
Yes. "Minimal" risk is still a risk. I got HIV through receptive fellatio (no ejaculation).
Oral Sex is a risk of transmission even though popular belief likes to dictate otherwise. While it may not be as risky as unprotected anal or vaginal sex, it is still a risk.
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Moltenstorm, on this side of the forum we do not subscribe to "popular belief." We subscribe to first tiered peer-reviewed science.
it's rather insulting to suggest otherwise.
If you are here to help educate others with science-based HIV risk assessment and transmission education, then by all means please pitch in. If you are here to promote your anecdotal experiences as quantifiable fact, then I am afraid you have an uphill battle ahead.
This is not the support forum for the infected. This is the fact-based forum for the uninfected and the worried well. On the other side of the forum, I do not care - to a tremendous degree - how someone got infected. On this side of the forum, I refuse to allow anecdote to pass itself off as science, no matter whose anecdote.
PS: I am aware that the only incursions into this forum seem to concentrate on spreading your personal story, and implying that the rest of us are following some sort of agenda by (rightfully) placing receptive fellatio exceedingly far down the risk higherarchy. That, to me, speaks rather strongly of an agenda. An agenda which first-tiered peer-reviewed science does not support.
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No.
What makes it different than being poked by a syringe? Could HIV not survive on a safety pin the way it does on a syringe needle?
I fully believe you when you say there was no possibility that HIV could be transmitted, I'm just curious.
And thanks for the quick replies, greatly appreciated. :)
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HIV does not survive in an infecti0ous state ON a surface. It might, under certain circumstances, survive INSIDE a hollow bore needle, where there is an anerobic environment. The entire mechanism of a hollow bore needle is to keep fluid stable and inject it. Blood ON a sewing needle or safety pin has no such mechanism.
No one has EVER been documented to be infected through a needle stick that was not hollow bore. And even then, cases are extremely rare outside the IV drug using communities.
PS: Why are you asking about these things? Certainly not to doubt your own results. You are conclusively HIV negative.
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I was referring to the general population when I said "popular belief."
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Can HIV be transmitted through oral sex?
Yes. "Minimal" risk is still a risk. I got HIV through receptive fellatio (no ejaculation).
OMG, so is ture???
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WWW,
Asking questions in another person's thread is thread hijacking. If you have additional thoughts or questions, please return to your own thread and ask them there.
Ann