POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: argentino1989 on February 10, 2011, 09:32:27 pm
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Hello everyone, I'm a 22 year-old gay man from Argentina.
First of all I'd like to thank the professionals who offer clear information and great advice in the forum. It really helped me a lot in tough times.
Here's my situation: I've been having gay sex for about a year and a half now... I never used condoms for oral sex, but as far as I understood from what you explain in hundreds of posts, that's not a risk for HIV.
The thing is that I had insertive anal sex without condom, twice: september 2009 with a guy I barely knew and november 2010 with some X guy in a sauna.
I started to freak out after the last event and developed an obsessive compulsive disorder thinking that I had gotten infected with HIV and not wanting to take the test because I was terrified of the results. All sorts of things crossed my mind and I suffered a lot really.
Finally, after talking with my doc, I took the test this week, 10 weeks after the last dangerous event, and it came back negative! What a relief!
My question is, how reliable is this 4th generation test after 10 weeks? I know that waiting 12 or 13 weeks is the right thing to do but I just couldn't wait.
I learned a lot from this experience... I can say that it changed my life completely. Now I have a new respect for life. I'm very happy the nightmare is over and my OCD treatment is going well...
As a message for everyone: don't let people who doesn't take care of themselves twist your mind. Instead teach them how to enjoy sex safely. And get tested!
THANK YOU
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Most people who seroconvert do so after 28 days or thereabouts. Your 10 week test is a STRONG sign that you are negative. In my tenure replying to posts on this forum, and in the years as an HIV prevention advocate, I have NEVER seen someone test negative at ten weeks and turn up positive over the encounter.
Please continue with your OCD treatments, they really do work, but they take a whole of of effort over a long period of time.
And of course, please use a condom for penetrative anal sex, but you knew that already :)
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Thank you jkinatl2 for your answer. I'm much more relaxed now! :)
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Sorry to bother again, but I have a few new doubts.
Last week I found out that a guy I dated last year has HIV. We only had anal sex once, me being the receptive partner, and we used a condom. I didn't use a condom when sucking his cock, and I did it a lot of times.
Now, this was like 5 months ago or so, and I had an HIV test like 2 or 3 weeks ago, and got negative.
My question is, should I test again just to make sure he didn't pass me the virus? I mean, what are the chances of a false negative after so long? Am I being paranoid?
Another question: he also told me that he was 'negativized' and because of this, he isn't able to pass the virus to someone else. What does this mean? That his viral load was so low the chances are minimum?
I was handling my ocd situation quite well and this just was a shock for me.
I don't know if this is the right place to bring this topic, but this guy made me re-think everything I've done so far. I mean we saw each other for like a month and he never told me anything. It's not like I was going to blew him off because he had hiv, but I almost fall for him and he wasn't planning to tell me anything. If I knew he had hiv I would've used condoms for oral sex; no matter how low the risk is, if I knew there was an ACTUAL risk, I would take better care of myself. It makes me not want to trust people anymore. Am I overreacting? I'm seeing my psychiatrist soon and I'll talk about this with him, but maybe you had more experience and could give me some advice regarding how to relate to people towards hiv status. I know it has nothing to do with the forum, sorry!
Thank you again for everything, you really do a great job here. =)
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Arge,
Yes, you are overreacting. Nothing you did with the hiv positive guy was a risk and even if you did do anything risky with him, you have tested conclusively negative. You do not have hiv.
If someone on meds has an undetectable viral load (which is the goal of treatment) they are unlikely to transmit the virus, but it is not impossible. Viral load is measure in the blood, and it can happen that their blood viral load is undetectable, but the viral load is detectable in the semen.
As for oral sex, there have been long-term studies of couples where one is positive and one is negative. In the couples who used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, but no barrier for oral activities, not one of the negative partners became infected with hiv. Not one.
However, all you need to do with ANYONE is to use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!!!
Ann
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Hey everyone... It's been a while since I last posted. I really learned a lot about my experience and now I'm seeing sex in a total different way, taking more care of myself. But sometimes I start wondering if what I am doing is absolutely safe. That's why I am posting now...
I know you are tired of saying that unprotected oral sex is not a risk, or extremely low risk. Is the risk higher if the guy cums in my mouth? I mean, would you say the risk is equally low, cum or not cum? What about facials?
I've been wearing condoms for penetrative sex since the incident I mentioned in my first post. In fact, I don't have a lot of anal sex, and when I do, it's protected. But I do have a lor of oral sex... and sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, not to worry at all about it. I know it's easier to get other STDs; what about cum here? does it change the risk to have cum in your mouth when it comes to hepatitis, for instance?
I'm confident that I'm doing things right in terms of hiv prevention, but everytime I hear a story about someone getting infected, it really scares me because maybe they did the same things I do now. Probable nonsense.
There's something I don't understand... if there are so many studies that prove that people doesn't get infected by sucking cock, why is it that the organizations say otherwise? I don't know if this is true for the rest of the world, but in Argentina, Fundacion Huesped (national organization against hiv) says you can get infected by practising unprotected oral sex. Shouldn't the real risks for transmission be regulated by the WHO or something? As someone who was in risk and looked for information, I can say that it would be great if people could find the same information everywhere. This has nothing to do with you, but, here you read something, in thebody you read something absolutely different, in local sites another thing, and so on. For someone who is looking for help, it's completely frustrating and misleading sometimes. Obviously, nothing is a problem if you are safe; but there are people who won't suck a cock, no matter how bad they want, because they think they could get the virus. And that's because someone told them not to. And that someone is the media I'm talking about.
Thank you so much for reading and sorry because I'm always a bit off-topic, but maybe this is someone else's concern as well.
Cheers
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Argentino,
Getting a blowjob is absolutely NOT a risk for hiv infection.
Giving a blowjob is a theoretical risk at best, but so is being hit by a meteorite the next time you go outside. Do you worry about that? Unless you have absolutely terrible oral health, you're worrying needlessly.
You do need to remember that you are far more likely to become infected with something like herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis through giving - or getting - unprotected blowjobs than you are hiv. Aside from herpes, the other three often have no obvious symptoms. Syphilis chancres are painless and often go unnoticed. As for hepatitis, you're not going to get hep C through oral, but hep B is a possibility, particularly when rimming. As a sexually active adult, you should get vaccinated against hep B. Talk to your doctor about it.
Ann
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As you have been told previously, the only confirmed modes of HIV transmission sexually are through unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse. As long as you consistently use condoms for those activities you will be well protected. It really is that simple.
With regard to oral, your own saliva has over a dozen elements and proteins which very effectively prevent the transmission of viable HIV if it is present. Of course if you have a freshly gaping wound in your mouth then it would be inadvisable to give oral. But then you would hardly likely be giving oral in that situation, would you.
Nothing except sex with your own hand is going to be 100% safe. But time, experience and statistics have shown the above to be accurate as far as risk and non-risk. You always need to decide what you personally feel comfortable with in what you do. Anyone adult who has sex is accepting the possibility of transmission occuring. But if you follow the principle of using a condom everytime for intercourse you will be well protected.
We also suggest that anyone who is sexually active ought to at least annually have a full STD panel done because other STDs are much easier to acquire than HIV.
Anyway, you are worrying needlessly about HIV this time.
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Hello everyone again. Here I am with a new problem. A couple of days ago I started having pain when urinating and a white secretion in my penis. Of course I went to the doctor and had a urine test and a cultive of this secretion. They discarded gonorrea bue the doctor said that it's definitely an STD. So she told me to get tested for syphilis, hep and hiv. She said it could be any of those, or others (I'm thinking chlamydia). The thing is since my last test in february, I consistently used condoms for penetrative sex, but never for oral sex, and I had a lot of oral sex with different partners. I thought I was being safe regarding hiv, but the doctor said I had to get tested. Tomorrow I'm taking the test but I'm really nervous... I don't know what to expect from this. She also gave me an intramuscular inyection to stop de desease from expanding. I will wait for the results and go see an specialist in order to treat whatever it is I have. I'm scared by the idea of being infected with hiv. Again, I've been promiscuous but ALWAYS used a condom for anal. What are the chances? Please help me I need advice. Thank you so much again!
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That symptom is not indicative of HIV infection. We can't diagnose symptoms in this setting so it's a good idea that you are getting the various tests done. Nothing you are reporting of your activities sexually would suggest risk to me or that HIV is involved.
In general we do recommend that anyone who is sexually active ought to regularly have a full STD panel done. Based on what you have reported I expect your HIV test to be negative. The only confirmed risks for the sexual transmission of HIV are unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse. That's it. So your condom use will have effectively protected you as far as that is concerned.
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Thanks Andy for answering right away. It helps me a lot because there are ery few people I can talk this with.
Still, I'm scared to take the test even though I've been using condoms for penetrative sex.
What worries me most is that the first thing the doctors asked me today was if I had tested for hiv. Why is this? Is it easier to get hiv from a man with hiv AND other STD?
Another question, could Chlamydia be transmitted through oral sex?
Thanks!
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Chlamydia, Syphilis, herpes and other STDs can CERTAINLY be transmitted through oral sex. A
HIV is far harder to transmit than any of the above.
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Thank you jkinatl2 for the info.
Today I got the test and I'll have the results for hepatitis, hiv and syphilis on Friday.
As for the urine test and the cultures from the sample of secretion, they'll be ready on Monday.
After that, I'm seeing an infectologist on Friday 11st.
Also, today I got an IM shot with 1 mg of Ceftriaxona (I don't know the translation to English). The pain when peeing already went down and there's less secretion on my penis. I think that's the antibiotic working.
Now I have to wait until Friday to know if I have hepatitis, shyphilis or hiv, or neither. If everything is negative, those 3 will be discarded and with the other tests the doctor will know what to do. Still, I'm really nervous, specially regarding hiv. I don't wanna be repetitive but the only way of contracting hiv by my activities would be by a condom break (I never noticed such thing, always checking that it was there when fucking and at the end) or by oral sex (I have a good oral health and nobody ever came in my mouth).
Thanks for the support again! Hope the next time I post here is to give some good news...
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Sorry to post again.
I didn't get 1 mg of Ceftriaxona, it was 1 g. :P
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Fortunately fears are not facts although fears can be "challenging" to tolerate. I don't expect anything other than a negative HIV test result for you.
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So today I picked up the results and everything was negative! :)
Thanks for the advice and making me calm... I'm planning to get the test again in a few months again and make it something regular as a check-up exam.
I'm also waiting the other results for other STDs and I'm going to the doctor next week. Hope everything is ok, given the pain and secretion went 100% away with the antibiotic.
Thanks again!
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As long as you consistently use condoms for vaginal and anal intercourse there is no need to re-test for HIV this time other than as a part of routine testing for all STDs. That kind of routine testing is what we recommend as a regular routine for anyone who is sexually active.
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Hi everyone again!
So, since the last post I went to the doctor and she told me I had had an urethritis. She gave me some antibiotics, apart from the shot I had had, and that was it.
But, she told me to get tested for all STDs again in December, so I did.
I'm picking up the results on Wednesday, there shouldn't be any changes, but I can't help being a bit nervous.
I guess I'm just posting for support... sorry. Thanks again!
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As I have said before, fortunately fears and feelings aren't facts. Being nervous is understandable.
Good luck with your results. It's smart for a sexually active person to regularly have a full STD panel done.