My Situation

[Concerned2799]

Hi everybody,

I have been having on and off anxiety worries over my current situation, and it would be fantastic for the knowledgeable individuals on this forum to give me some thoughts and opinions about it.

In early October, I had some fun with a guy in his mid 30s (I am a guy in my early 20s). From my recollection, the activities we did consisted of him performing oral sex on me (for an extended period of time), I tried sucking him (for about 10 – 15 seconds). During the majority of the encounter, he was fingering my anus, and he rimmed for a short period of time too.

About halfway through the play, he put his penis near my anus and potentially penetrated it (not completely sure), I believe its referred to as dipping? I quickly stopped him because he did not have a condom on and I knew it would be risky.

With that being said, I don’t know if he actually penetrated me and it worries me thinking that he might have put his penis in me during the “fingering” session (I was laying on my back and was not observing constantly what he was doing). The only indication that I knew that he was trying to put his penis in me was he made me change positions (I was previously lying down). We ended the session with frotting (where he put our penises together and used his hands to make us ejaculate – the pressure and force was pretty hard – if that makes any difference). I have never had a penis in me before – are there any indications that he physically entered me? Does it even matter for HIV to transmit?

Anyways, after this incident, I felt extremely anxious and nervous about my exposure to STDs and HIV and went to a drop-in clinic the next day. I told the doctor of the incident, and that there was a high likelihood he penetrated me and I was not aware of his status. As such, he prescribed me PEP (Truvada and Isentress) for 30 days, and I started taking it within 20 hours of exposure.

I did not have any side effects during my PEP period until about 2 weeks in, when I had pain sitting down and had difficulty with bowel movements. I went to a drop-in clinic and they told me I had hemorrhoids, and gave me some anti-biotics and cream to put on it. They also did an anal swab to test for any other STDs.

A few days later, they told me that I have contracted gonorrhea and gave me more antibiotics to treat it. At this point, I was very concerned as if I had contracted gonorrhea from this guy, is it very likely that I will also contract HIV from him? I am confident that I contracted gonorrhea from this individual. This is because I had only one previous interaction a year previously, which only consisted of mutual masturbation and heavy kissing.

After completing my PEP regiment, I went back to the doctors to get another blood test (32 days after exposure) to check for HIV/STDs and it came back negative. I asked the doctor what test it was, but she wasn’t certain, but she thought it was a “dual” test with Western Blot.

Afterwards, I also went and completed an antibody rapid HIV test at the local testing clinic (42 days after exposure, around 11-12 days after finishing PEP regiment), and tested negative.

With that being said, I have read many conflicting sources that PEP delays window periods and things like that, making me doubt whether the test has any reassurance whatsoever. I have booked another appointment for a HIV testing in mid December (around 12 weeks post-exposure and 5-6 weeks post-PEP).

A major stressor for me is that recently in the past few days, I have developed a sore throat that has progressively got worst. I am planning to go see the doctor today or tomorrow to see if I have Strep Throat or something of that nature. As such, I am extremely concerned whether these are those symptoms of ARS. I have read online that individuals shouldn’t correlate symptoms with contracting HIV, but it is still having a psychological toll on me.

So basically after reviewing all my facts, I was wondering what the forum’s thoughts on my current situation are. Any feedback would be great, as I try to psychologically get through the next few weeks/months. To summarize my main concerns are:
-   My likelihood of contracting HIV from this exposure
-   Chances of getting HIV from contracting gonorrhea  at the same time from this encounter (making the likelihood of the guy penetrating me much higher?)
-   PEP and Window period implications
-   Getting some unfavorable symptoms (Severe sore throat) 7 weeks post-exposure, 2 weeks post-PEP

I really appreciate your time and effort spent to give your feedback on my situation, from the bottom of my heart. Thanks!

[RapidRod]

You never had an exposure. If you would have been annualy penetrated you would have known without a doubt.  You do not need nPEP.

HIV is transmitted by;
Unprotected penetrative anal and/or vaginal sex
Sharing works with other IV drug users
Mother to child

[Ann]

Con,

Fingers and penises feel very different when being anally penetrated. I think you would have felt the difference.

Regardless, even if he did manage to penetrate you with his penis rather than his finger without you noticing (did he have a microdick?), you took PEP in a timely manner and you're not going to end up hiv positive over this situation.

You need to understand that other STIs - like gonorrhea - are MUCH more easily transmitted than hiv could ever hope to be. For example, if he had gonorrhea-infected cum or pre-cum on his finger while he was fingering you, that could have been the cause of your anal gono infection.

However, hiv is NOT that easily transmitted. Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is primarily transmitted INSIDE the human body, as in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse where the virus never leaves the confines of the two bodies.

Once outside the body, small changes in temperature, and pH and moisture content all quickly damage the virus and render it unable to infect. For this reason, cum on a finger (which is OUTSIDE the body) is not capable of infecting you with hiv. As I stated before, this is not the case for many of the bacterial STIs, of which gono is one.

PEP extends your hiv testing window period by four weeks. This means for a conclusive result, you must test at three months past the last dose of PEP - which will be four months after the incident in question.

Forget about symptoms. Neither symptoms nor the lack of symptoms will ever tell you a single thing about your hiv status - ONLY testing at the appropriate time will.

The earliest you should test again is at six weeks following the last dose of PEP. 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 six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point - which in your case is three months post-PEP.

From what you say the nurse said, you were given a DUO test, which is a common hiv test. This test looks for antibodies like any other hiv test, but it also looks for something called the p24 antigen. The p24 antigen is only present in the first two to three weeks following infection. Once enough antibodies are formed to trigger a positive antibody result, the p24 antigen disappears.

I really do not think you had a risk for hiv here - I can't imagine anyone not realising the difference between a penis and a finger in their ass. Seriously - and yes, I do have experience in this matter.

I fully expect you will continue to test hiv negative.

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.

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

Ann

[Concerned2799]

Hi there,

I recently had an encounter with someone of unknown status where we had a lot of body touching and rubbings (naked). Also, there was rubbing of the penises together for a period of time. Although there was no oral or anal sex, there was a brief instance where his penis may have glided towards by back area.

Are there any risks associated with this? If he ejaculated on me, and it lands on me / near my urethra - would that be a risk?

Thanks for answering - I really appreciate it.

[Andy Velez]

I've merged your threads here. It's a rule in this forum for members to only write in the same thread. Please use only this thread.

Once again you are worrying needlessly. Nothing you are reporting including his penis being "near" your ass/anus put you at risk. There's no need for testing nor for further concern on your part this time.

Get on with your life.