POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: justifiedguy on April 09, 2011, 04:19:02 pm
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Met a guy Monday night. We went over the whole STD/HIV talk and he said he was negative. However, he was open to unprotected sex but I refused that immediately.
We had sex Protected but then the condom broke 5 minutes into it! He took it out in 3 seconds and tried to hide it from me. Telling me it was still intact. He precums a lot but fortunately there was no ejaculate in the condom. When I brought the broken condom to him, he told me it was not a big deal - that "he's not worried." Asked him to test with me and he refused. I went and did a rapid test (negative) last thursday just to establish a baseline.
On Tuesday, roughly 17 hours after exposure, I started PEP (truvada and Kaletra). Currently on day 5 but still extremely nervous. I'm very adamant about safe sex and I feel I did all I could to prevent ever being in this situation.
If he thinks he is negative and is actually positive, then his viral load would be huge and infectious. Not a guy I ever plan to meet again. Please, guys, tell me my chances of testing negative in 13 weeks post exposure.
So depressed right now...
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Guy,
It's not necessarily true that if he does not accurately know his hiv status that his VL would be very high. It would only be true if he was very recently infected or infected for a very long time. There are a lot of people out there who never test but assume they're negative - but this does not mean they have a high viral load.
As he did not ejaculate in you and you started PEP in a very timely manner, the odds of you testing negative are very high. While pre-cum is infectious, hiv is not very good at transmitting itself - believe it or not. He also pulled out very quickly which will greatly reduce your possible exposure.
Stick to your PEP regimen. I fully expect you to test negative provided you do. You have a good chance of testing negative anyway, but stick to the PEP to make sure.
You need to know that taking PEP extends your window period by one month. Instead of testing at three months after the incident, you need to test four months after the incident.
At test at six weeks post-PEP will be a very good indication of your status. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks. A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month post-PEP point, but is highly unlikely to change.
You have a very good chance of coming out of this ok. Get yourself busy with other things while you wait to test, and don't fret over every little twinge or ache you may get in the coming weeks.
Good luck.
Ann
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Ann I appreciate you! Here's hoping it all turns out good. Thanks again :).
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Guy,
You're welcome.
Ann
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Ann,
I've gone through several threads and read up on my risks and such. I've seen you point out that the insertive partner has little to no risks at all with an HIV bottom. Since I was the bottom in my encounter, I'm pretty worried that I might be infected.
From your experience, how often do people become infected after this sort of receptive exposure? Are there any similar past threads on here I can read to see the outcome? What are my chances? I just can't get this out of my mind for some reason. Please be as blunt as you like. If its 50/50, please say it. Thanks
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Guy,
Being the insertive partner is not NO risk, but it is a much, much lower risk than being the receptive partner. I just wanted to clarify that.
You want me to tell you your chances, but how long is a piece of string? We cannot put any firm numbers or stats on this situation.
However, you do have several things going in your favour.
He didn't cum inside you.
He realised right away that the condom broke and withdrew.
You can't be sure if he is even hiv positive. He may not be.
You started PEP around 17 hours after the incident happened and that is a very timely response.
It is rare for someone to become positive after taking PEP, particularly when it is started so soon. The window period for taking PEP is 72 hours and you were well within that range.
Please re-read your entire thread. I really do not expect you to end up positive over this and I'd feel the same if you hadn't taken PEP, given that he did not cum and he withdrew right away. (I'm not forgetting about the pre-cum) However, you were right to start PEP and I hope you see it out to the end of the 28 days. Better safe than sorry in a case like this.
If you want to find other posts in this forum where PEP has been discussed, go to the Advanced Search (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?action=search;advanced) page and type PEP into the first search box. Then scroll down to the "choose a board" section and remove the check from the "check all" box. Now click on the side-ways arrow to open up the board options and check the box for the Am I Infected forum. You can leave all the other search parameters as they are. This will save you wading through tons of posts that have nothing to do with you.
Ann
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Thank you so much for the response... you are an angel.
I'm still on the PEP course and hope the days fly by quickly! Thanks again dear.
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Guy,
You're welcome. Get busy with other non-hiv related things in your life and the time will indeed fly by quickly.
Ann
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Its day 24 of PEP course. While in the shower, I noticed an elevated bruise on the outside part of my bicep that resembles a lesion. I do not recall hitting my arm on anything. Please, what do you guys make of this? Thanks...
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What you are describing is not in anyway an HIV-specific or ARS happening. Unfortunately right now you seem to be totally psyched to be looking for ANOTHER SIGN of HIV.
I agree with Ann. Given the details of your incident, the odds are you are going to come thirough this ok.
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Thanks Andy. PEP is tough. I will say that for anyone considering the pep course, keeping your stomach consistently filled with food helps tremendously. Thanks to you guys for making this time better. We all appreciate you.
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You're welcome.
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Don't with pep. Now on to testing. Wish I could test immediately but I understand that will be indication of nothing.
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Just,
Am I correct in thing that when you said "don't with PEP", you meant "done" with PEP?
The earliest you should test is at six weeks post PEP. A negative result at six weeks is highly unlikely to change when you have your conclusive three month test.
Ann
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Oops. Yes, I'm done with PEP :). Tough part starts now.
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Just,
I expect you to test negative at the appropriate time. Either way, you're going to be ok. Really, you are.
Ann
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Hi, I noticed 2 canker sores on gum this AM. Is this in anyway indicative of status? I'm thinking of going to test this coming Monday just for peace of mind.
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justa,
NO, canker sores only mean that you have a canker sore. It means nothing in terms of hiv.
Ann
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Hi Ann and all,
I went in for testing today. Rapid test was negative and I'm waiting the blood test which should be back next week.
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just,
The result of your blood test is highly unlikely to be any different to your rapid test. Expect another negative.
Ann