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HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: jack133 on September 29, 2013, 02:24:17 pm

Title: Worried sick - please help...
Post by: jack133 on September 29, 2013, 02:24:17 pm
Hi,

First of all, thanks for this forum. It's very calming to read through your expert answers.

I have a question myself that's been making me very worried lately.

I was in Thailand a couple weeks ago and had sex with two working girls.

First girl I put on a condom and she gave me a blow job for a minute. Then I didn't even bother finishing and went to sleep without my clothes on next to her (she was also naked). The next day I checked the condom with air and there were no leaks.

Second girl, I put on a condom and she gave me a blowjob and then I had vaginal sex with the same condom on for a while. Then I took a break, and later put on a new condom and had vaginal sex again. Then I went to sleep naked next to her.
In the morning I put on another condom and we had vaginal sex again before she left.

After she left I checked all three condoms with air and I discovered that one of the condoms had two pinhead small holes in it. That got me extremely worried. Now that I'm back in home 2 weeks later I have started to experience aches in my joints and muscles and I'm also feeling weak. I doubt that I have any fever though.

I'm very worried that these might be signs of seroconversion illness. And I'm also feeling massive guilt since I had unprotected sex with my girlfriend when I got back home, since I figured that I was doing everything by the book.

Please advise me if these are early signs of illness and how much of a risk this was. I'm worried sick while waiting for time to pass so I can do a HIV test.

Once again, thanks for your time.

Jack
Title: Re: Worried sick - please help...
Post by: Jeff G on September 29, 2013, 02:33:33 pm
The best way to ruin a condom is to check it for leaks , you do not need to do that before or after sex , it tells you very little  .

Condoms are designed so that when they fail they do so in a catastrophic manner leaving no doubt that it was defective or used improperly .

You didn't have a risk but keep in mind that the only way to know your status is to test at the appropriate time and not from symptoms . If you had a risk or wish to test for this no risk incident you can do so 6 weeks past any possible exposure and gain at 3 months to confirm the results .

ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME for this incident , 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!
   
Title: Re: Worried sick - please help...
Post by: jack133 on September 29, 2013, 02:47:12 pm
Thank you for your quick answer.

So if I understand you correctly, you don't think there is a reason to worry at all since this was a no risk situation, and just to get tested at 6 weeks and 3 months to be completely sure?

It just makes me worried that the broken condom and the body aches in combination might be signs of something.

Thanks,

Jack
Title: Re: Worried sick - please help...
Post by: Jeff G on September 29, 2013, 02:55:56 pm
You didn't have a risk and you do not need to test over this specific incident .

I added the testing window period guideline for future reference and because I usually have to end up typing it all out anyway in the end .

I would never dissuade a sexually active person from having routine sexual health care checkups .   
Title: Re: Worried sick - please help...
Post by: jkinatl2 on September 29, 2013, 02:56:37 pm
Thank you for your quick answer.

So if I understand you correctly, you don't think there is a reason to worry at all since this was a no risk situation, and just to get tested at 6 weeks and 3 months to be completely sure?

It just makes me worried that the broken condom and the body aches in combination might be signs of something.

Thanks,

Jack

From what you described you did not have a broken condom. Testing condoms for leaks often disrupts them, as moderator Jeff pointed out. His advice was sound.