Sharing my history and thanking you all!

[brguy]

Hi guys, first of all i would like to thank you all for everything, i `ve been reading this forum for the past 3 days and i must say you are all wonderfull human beings!

About 2.5 weeks ago i had a risk situation with a sex worker, the condom broke in the act of vaginal sex and it took me about 1 minute to realize it! needless to say i was worried sick of contracting hiv, so i started to search the chances of getting it, the symptons and everything else. At first i wasn`t worried at all cuz i read that the odds are really low in this kind of situation, but at 10 day mark i started to feel sore throat (which probably was from the astronomical amount of cigarettes i was smoking to kill the anxiety) and started to fell extremely worried! Than i was constantly looking for symptons over my body, had diarrea from the anxiety and everything, didn`t have high fever or headaches and everything else tho.

After reading a lot of posts, talking to some infectologists (i don`t know if i spelled it right, i`m brazilian so my english is not good at all, sorry) and stuff. I`m much more confident that i`ll end up negative, i was protected at the beginning, i don`t really know if the SW was in fact hiv+ (which i assume she isn`t, she told me she was tested and afterwards the club owner overheard me talking to a friend about my worries and told me the same thing) , the act of insertive vaginal sex is way more difficult to pass on hiv, based on what you guys talk and on my previously conversations with doctors (and the fact that you guys never heard of a insertive vaginal sex followed by a condom broke result in a positive dignostic in 10 years of risk assesments) and i was unprotected for a very brief moment (also had no cuts on my penis and i`m circunsized since i was 11).

All that said, i just want you guys to know that you gave me strenght when everything seemed lost, and that thanks to you i know a lot more about the disease and now i can help someone that some day can be in the same situation i was, and most of all, i can strongly advise people to protect themselves! I always use protection, would be tragic if i ended up hiv+ from this incident, and i admire you all cuz it takes guts to live with it and to overcome the judgement people have with hiv! I hope you continue to do this amazing work you have been doing, and most of all, i hope you all have a nice life!!

[Ann]

Br,

You're welcome.

Just in case you missed it somewhere, here's what you need to know concerning this low-risk incident.

The earliest you should test for hiv is at 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 six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point, but is highly unlikely to change.

While you are unlikely to end up hiv positive following this brief broken condom incident, you do need to test at the appropriate time to be absolutely sure. Hiv is nothing to guess about.

By the way, you cannot ever go by what someone tells you about their hiv status. Many people only think they're hiv negative, and some people, unfortunately, will lie. Always assume anyone you have anal or vaginal intercourse with is potentially hiv positive and protect yourself accordingly by using condoms.

A correctly used condom rarely breaks, so make sure you read through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use them correctly and with confidence.

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

[brguy]

Just a quick update: my test resulta came back negative at 5 weeks post exposure, i know its not definitive but i think it isn't gonna change. Peace!

[jkinatl2]

Your test results are not at all likely to change when you test again at three months.

In the ten years I have been doing risk assessment here, I have never seen an insertive partner test positive after a condom break. Not once.