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Author Topic: Thrush  (Read 7189 times)

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Offline Ricket

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Thrush
« on: March 14, 2008, 05:00:01 pm »
Hello everyone. First I'd like to say that I registered here as Ricket about a year and a half ago but when I signed in it said that screename didn't exist so I registered again. If I made a mistake or miss something just point me in the right direction. :)

Anyway, I got an HIV test a little over 2 years ago and have dated and been monogomous with one person for the last four years. However I went to the dentist yesterday and he sent me to an oral surgeon because he had what he believes to be thrush. Of course it worries me after looking it up on a couple different sites that thrush mainly happens with adults with weak immune systems. I have a few questions:

1. Is thrush uncommon in adults with healthy immune systems? Is thrush mostly only occuring in people that have HIV/AIDS or diabetes?

2. When HIV/AIDs patients develop thrush is there normally other symptoms or (as I read on a few sites) is this one of the first physical signs of HIV/AIDs?

I just don't know what to think because my doctor said he hardly ever saw thrush in his patients (he went so far as to say that he's been working since 1992 and has only seen three cases) and that scared me. Then when I got home and read that it's one of the main signs of HIV/AIDs I couldn't help but worry. Thank you for any advice or information that you all provide me, it's greatly appreciated.  :)

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2008, 05:04:16 pm »
Thrush is in fact a common infection in humans be they HIV positive or not. HIV positive people who have low CD4 counts are particularly prone to outbreaks of oral thrush, but this can happen to HIV negative people as well so chronic immune dysfunction is not always an issue.

Vaginal thrush is very common amongst HIV negative women.

These sorts of "symptoms" are therefore fairly meaningless when it comes to talking about HIV transmission. Rather particular risk behaviours are the key. Is there a particular risk factor you'd like to discuss with us?

MtD

Offline Andy Velez

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2008, 09:55:06 pm »
Adding on to Matty's question, you mention you have been monogamous with someone for four years and that you tested negative two years ago. However, even in a monogamous situation, before dispensing with using condoms, both partners should get tested together to confirm their HIV negative status. Then there's no guessing about the issue.

If there is something we're missing here please clarify.
Andy Velez

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2008, 10:06:13 pm »
We have both been tested, he shortly before he met me and myself about two years after we met. We still use condoms though. My question is mainly just is it completely unheard of for healthy adults to contract thrush or should I go and have an HIV test. I know women get thrush and yeast infections normally but being a gay man it just worries me because I have no idea why my immune system would be weak. I don't see how I could have contracted the disease (since we both have been tested and use condoms) but my doctor made it seem like it was very rare and everywhere I read on the net said that thrush mostly only occurs in adults who suffer from diabetes or HIV/AIDs.  :-\ I don't go to the oral surgeon until the 19th and my imagination and pessimistic attitude is getting the best of me and I just remembered from before when I came here you guys give straight answers and don't screw around and that's what I need right now.

My second question is if it was HIV/AIDs that caused this thrush to occur, would I have more than likely developed other symptoms too? This second part of the question is more my just being curious because I am not very aware of the progression of AIDs and what effects it has on the body.

Anyway, once again, thank you for your help and any responses or information you all give me. It's very much appreciated. :)

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2008, 10:16:38 pm »
Ricket,

Rather than speculate about disease progression and what may be the underlying cause of your thrush, why don't you (and your partner) just go and have a HIV antibody test?

MtD

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2008, 11:43:45 pm »
Ricket,

Rather than speculate about disease progression and what may be the underlying cause of your thrush, why don't you (and your partner) just go and have a HIV antibody test?

MtD
Yeah, you are right. I think I'm going to go tomorrow and just put the questioning to rest.

Anyway, the one question I do have is the one about thrush occuring with other symptoms. Do most people with HIV/AIDs just have thrush early on with no other symptoms, or does it occur simultaneously with other symptoms.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2008, 11:58:10 pm »
Ricket,

Anyone can get candidiasis at anytime for a variety of reasons. Immune dysfunction is just one of them. Now, no matter how you try and ask this question, our answer to you will not change. Symptoms are not an effective method of determining if you've been infected with HIV. Only identifying risk behaviours and testing at the appropriate time can help you with that.

We don't do the symptom thing here and we're not going to start for you.

If you or your doctor have reason to believe you may have been exposed to HIV or if you're just not sure, you should arrange to have an HIV antibody test performed.

Ya dig?

MtD

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2008, 12:41:20 am »

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2008, 04:58:32 pm »
Hey everybody. Long time since I've come here, hope you all are doing well. Anyway so I had sex with a guy the other night, wore a condom as I topped him. I laid on my back and he straddled me (Not sure if that is relevant to my upcoming question or not). Only afterward did he reveal that he was HIV+. I know I wore a condom and I can't get tested for three months but I'm going crazy thinking about all the what ifs of the condom breaking and such. I am just curious if some of the things I've read about it being much harder for a bottom to give it to a top is true??? If the condom did break is it still a low chance that I could have been infected? I know I wont know for sure till I get tested but any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2008, 05:21:41 pm »
Thank you for returning to your orginal thread.

If the condom would have failed you would have known without a doubt.  You were never at risk of contracting HIV.

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2008, 05:26:33 pm »
Thank you for returning to your orginal thread.

If the condom would have failed you would have known without a doubt.  You were never at risk of contracting HIV.
No problem. Sorry that I didn't do it originally. :)

Well, I'll be honest, this was the first time I've ever topped before and I was a little intoxicated......how would I have known? Like would I have felt something?? He was completely sober though and I asked him a bunch of times and he assured me the condom did not break and he would never put me at risk but I still don't understand how I would know??? Sorry that I'm asking 1,000 questions I just know the next three months will be hell if I can't put my mind at ease, haha.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2008, 05:29:14 pm by Ricket »

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2008, 05:36:40 pm »
How did you remove the condom?

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2008, 05:50:25 pm »
How did you remove the condom?

He took it off of me.

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2008, 06:40:55 pm »
by the way, I don't know if this matters at all but I also did not ejaculate. I could see if the condom broke and I came and it came into contact with a tear or something his cells (??) or whatever it is could have came into contact with my semen and then entered my penis, right? But I did not ejaculate so...... I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm talking about and I know you guys do so I'd just like to hear your input. Regardless I'm getting tested at the three month mark but I'd GREATLY appreciate any info about bottom to top infections and the such......I've read it's low risk and many people with HIV+ partners even top bareback because the infection rate is so low but I never know what to believe on the internet. Once again any help is greatly appreciated. I know wearing the condom makes all this worrying silly but I can't help but want to get all the info I can.  :P

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2008, 06:44:37 pm »
Those are couples who are both positive.

Offline Ann

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    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: Thrush
« Reply #15 on: September 12, 2008, 07:50:28 am »
Ricket,

It's sheer folly to believe that a top cannot get infected through UNPROTECTED anal or vaginal intercourse.

That said, you used a condom. If the condom had broken, you would have known. It's VERY obvious.

ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST OVER THIS PARTICULAR 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.

Keep using those condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple. Read through all three condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use them with confidence.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #16 on: September 13, 2008, 11:31:12 pm »
I was reading through the lessons once again and have a question.

Quote from:  link=topic=19662.msg293201#msg293201 date=1221220228
At least eight studies conducted over the years were unable to demonstrate a clear link between insertive anal sex and a risk for HIV infection among MSM.

I don't mean to sound ignorant but what exactly does this mean??? That most of the studies conducted did not see the partner performing insertive anal sex acquire the virus? Or simply that enough research hasn't been done and it is not clear whether or not insertive anal sex can lead to HIV infection? Were any of these studies anything like the ones mentioned in the oral sex section where they discussed how no HIV positive men had passed on the virus to their HIV negative partners when having unprotected oral sex? Are any of these studies available online?

Also, is kissing risky if the HIV positive person has their tongue pierced?? I know this is probably a silly question because I know the mouth is a terrible place for the virus I just figured I'd ask because the guy I slept with does have a pierced tongue. It wasn't recently pierced though.....which is what I'm assuming might have made it a risk had it been recent.

Once again thank you for all your help.

Offline Ann

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #17 on: September 14, 2008, 07:23:11 am »
Ricket,

It would be helpful if you'd put the quote in a more complete context:

At least eight studies conducted over the years were unable to demonstrate a clear link between insertive anal sex and a risk for HIV infection among MSM. However, these studies should not be interpreted to mean that being the top during anal intercourse – and not using a condom – is without risk. We know that men can be infected with HIV through vaginal intercourse – an activity in which they are the insertive partner. Based on this knowledge, it is also believed that the insertive partner during unprotected anal intercourse can also be infected with HIV.

I don't get why you're going on about all this. You topped with a condom. It doesn't matter if you came or not, the condom protected BOTH of you.

I also don't get why you seem to want to have us say you can top bareback. Well, you can if you want to, but only if you also want to end up hiv positive. I know plenty of men who thought they could top bareback and get away with it. I see them here in the Living forum and also at my HIV clinic. Wise up and keep using condoms.

You ask about studies online, but unless a person knows how to read the studies, chaos will ensue. If you cannot understand the simple language in which our lessons are written, I don't hold out much hope of you making heads or tails of the complex and convoluted language of study papers. Sorry.

And yes, the kissing question is pretty silly. How many times have you read in these forums that kissing, no matter what sort of spin you can think of to put on it, is NOT a risk for hiv infection.

I'm beginning to think you'd be better served by seeing a counselor face-to-face about your varied and conflicting thoughts surrounding hiv than you would be by continuing to post here.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Ricket

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #18 on: September 14, 2008, 10:05:21 am »
Thank you for your reply Ann. I actually am not trying to get you to tell me it's okay to bareback. I would NEVER do that, in fact at this point I am no longer even going to have protected sex with him because the entire situation has me worried sick. I guess where I am having a problem is I was intoxicated and he removed the condom so I was looking for a clear answer whether a top could be infected (in case my condom did break) because I myself did not get to see firsthand that the condom didn't break. Regardless you answered my question very clearly and thank you for that. Once again sorry for all the silly questions and what ifs, my imagination tends to get the best of me. Thank you for the help. 

Offline Bucko

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Re: Thrush
« Reply #19 on: September 15, 2008, 12:35:07 am »
Rix-

Although I have no knowledge of exactly when I was infected, I can say that I had a very brief career as a bottom in 1978 (before HIV was even known, so no condoms were ever used). As I have no talent at bottoming whatsoever, I've been a top ever since.

Tops can and do get infected if they go unprotected. Don't be a ninny: use a condom and lotsa water-soluble lube.
Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

Blathering on AIDSmeds since 2005, provocative from birth

 


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