POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: anna22 on December 16, 2013, 03:27:57 pm
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First of all, thank you for accepting me into this forum. It's greatly appreciated as I am going crazy over thinking I could have contracted HIV.
A few weeks ago (4th December) I was at my friend's 20th birthday party and we were all out celebrating. I am also 20 years old, female (from Northern Ireland) while there, I drank far too much which I have seriously grown to regret. I lost my friends and ended up going back with this boy who I knew before (we go to the same university and he is my friend's boyfriend's friend.) but not really well or anything.
He's the complete opposite of me. He goes out drinking a lot, seems to have had a lot of girlfriends etc whereas I'm not like that too much. Anyway, I was lost in lust for him in that moment that I suppose it slipped my mind to ask him about whether he had any STIs and we did not have a condom. Since we did not have a condom, we did not have vaginal sex despite his want to. I refused. However, we did partake in foreplay and I performed oral sex on him, to the point where he ejaculated in my mouth and I swallowed. Maybe I'm overreacting but I read afterwards that there is a small risk of passing HIV through oral sex particularly from male to female. If I knew this before, I would never have done it. The main reason I am worried is because soon afterwards, (8th December onwards) I'd been feeling sick: symptoms included; headaches, sore neck and throat, diarrhea, sore stomach and I read that those newly-infected with HIV can get such symptoms during the window period. Maybe I am overreacting entirely but I guess I'm just so scared and have nobody to turn to.
I'd appreciate any sort of feedback. Does anyone else reckon I could be at risk? :-\
Sonas oraibh
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Anna , you are going to be just fine because you did not have a risk .
There have been no fewer than three separate serodiscordant couples studies (where one person is HIV positive, the other negative.) These couples were tracked for three. five and ten years. The couples used condoms for penetrative vaginal and anal sex, but NO BARRIER at all for oral sex. Any kind of oral sex.
These studies yielded NO infections.
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 STDs 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!
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Jeff,
I honestly can't express my appreciation enough to you. You have really put my mind at rest. I guess in the back of my head I knew it had seemed improbable yet fear is such a strong thing and that combined with googling can be nerve-shattering.
So even if I had a cut on my mouth, there's still no risk?
Also can I just say I really respect you guys for helping others with their worries and problems. You are all really good people :)
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Thanks Anna . You would have had to have a pretty severe wound in your mouth in order for it to be even a theoretical risk . If that were the case I doubt you would have been performing oral sex . There have only been a scant few cases of documented oral transmission and most of those were later to found to have other risk factors at that .
You rally can relax and move on . If you had a risk I would be falling all over myself trying to get you to test . Its safe to move on .