POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Need2Talk on May 22, 2013, 09:59:58 pm
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I'm sorry to bother you with this, but I am petrified beyond belief and I have no one to talk to. I am a 35 y/o male. Last week, I met a man on Craig's list. We did nothing but kiss and mutual masturbate. Precum from his hand to my penis/urethra likely occurred. Two days later, I started feeling extreme fatigue with what felt like a fever; however, I didn't have a fever at all. Just these "hot flashes" but no fever (I keep checking my temperature, and its never over 98). It's been a week, and I'm still very fatigued with these hot flashes with tingly feeling in arms. I also have a very minor headache that comes and goes. No diarrhea (somewhat loose stool), and no nausea. Mild "aches" that aren't really prevalent - they just come and go near my groin and other areas around my body. The guy assures me he tested negative for hiv last month, but I can't believe him.
I am scared out of my mind that I'm infected with hiv. It's just too coincidental that two days after a random hook up, I'm having these symptoms I've never had before. It's this feeling of being hot that is scaring me. I am so scared, I can't even articulate it. I thought i was being safe with mutual masturbation. I'm so scared, I've pretty much not worked for a week and barely left the house. I'm sorry if I'm whining, but I have nobody to talk to. I feel trapped, scared, petrified, incredibly sad. Jesus, hiv from mutual masturbation!?!?!?!?!?!
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Hi Talk , you need not be concerned because you did not have a risk with the mutual masturbation with precum . HIV is fragile and can only be transmitted inside the human body , so if you are consistently using condoms for anal and vaginal intercourse you will avoid HIV . If your partner had HIV it wouldn't have mattered because that's not how HIV is transmitted .
Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care checkup, 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 checkups, 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!
Seriously , you can relax and move on , no one has ever been infected with HIV from masturbation with precum and you will NOT be the first .
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Thank you so much for your reply. I am not doubting you, but all I want is to talk with somebody because I am so scared. I am sick of crying every day, and interacting with people (like you) helps. I am still petrified because while my fatigue and hot/cold flashes have pretty much gone away, I still have these pins and needles feeling in my hands and feet (and other parts of body). I've never had this before, and it is scaring the day lights out of me because its a common hiv symptom. I've also read that precum hiv can "live" for a few seconds outside of body, and precum from my partner's hand could have infected microscopic tears in my penis or urethra.
Please forgive me for the reply. I'm just really, really scared and sad, and I don't think I can take this anymore.
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You didn't have a risk and if you cant except that HIV isn't your problem you probably need to seek counseling . Seriously , if your life has been disrupted by the fear you are going to be the first person in the history of HIV to be infected from a hand job then that should be a reality check that HIV isn't your problem .
You are worrying yourself sick for no good reason and your symptoms sound like stress .
Pins and needles in hands and feet is called Peripheral Neuropathy and people with HIV get PN after YEARS of living with HIV and not for somebody who's worried they may have been recently infected . Stop wasting your life on unfunded fears , get some help and move on . Life is too short , make the best of it .
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Jeff. Thank you so much for your reply. I promise you this is my last question. I promise. All of a sudden, I am seeing very tiny red "spots" on the backs of my hands. It doesn't look/feel like a "rash" because its not raised and its not "blotchy". There's just a small handful (like, 5 or 6) literal pinprick size red/pink spots that appear and then disappear and then reappear. I got hiv tested he other day, and I'm waiting for the results. As you can imagine, this is causing me great anxiety as I wait for my test results. In your experience, does this sound like an HIV rash?
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Hi Talk . The symptoms you are having could be from a thousand other things , but HIV isn't one of them because you did not have a risk , not even a little bit . We don't discuss symptoms because they are not specific to HIV and to comment on them would be a guessing game and we do not do that .
HIV isn't transmitted in the manner you are concerned about . Nobody has EVER been infected with HIV from the activity's you describe and you will not be the first .
If you cant except the facts then you need to seek counseling for your HIV phobia .