Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
February 11, 2025, 01:31:34 pm

Login with username, password and session length


Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 775882
  • Total Topics: 66648
  • Online Today: 7208
  • Online Ever: 7208
  • (Today at 01:31:27 am)
Users Online
Users: 1
Guests: 1197
Total: 1198

Welcome


Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and others concerned about HIV/AIDS.  Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning:  Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

  • The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own physician.

  • All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

  • Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators of these forums. Click here for “Do I Have HIV?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

  • We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are true and correct to their knowledge.

  • Product advertisement—including links; banners; editorial content; and clinical trial, study or survey participation—is strictly prohibited by forums members unless permission has been secured from POZ.

To change forums navigation language settings, click here (members only), Register now

Para cambiar sus preferencias de los foros en español, haz clic aquí (sólo miembros), Regístrate ahora

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the symbol in each box.

Welcome to Do I Have HIV?

Welcome to the "Do I Have HIV?" POZ forum.

This special section of the POZ forum is for individuals who have concerns about whether or not they are HIV positive. Individuals are permitted to post up to three questions or responses in this forum.

Ongoing participation in the "Do I Have HIV?" forum (posting more than three questions or responses) requires a paid subscription, with secure payments made via PayPal.

A seven-day subscription is $9.99, a 30-day subscription is $14.99 and a 90-day subscription is $24.99.

Anyone who needs to post more than three messages in the "Do I Have HIV?" forum -- including past, present and future POZ Forums members -- will need to subscribe, with secure payments made via PayPal.

There is no charge to read threads in the "Do I Have HIV?" forum, nor will there be a charge for participating in any of the other POZ forums. In addition, the POZ Basics "HIV Transmission and Risks" and "HIV Testing" basics, will remain accessible to all.

NOTE: HIV testing questions will still need to be posted in the "Do I Have HIV?" forum; attempts to post HIV symptoms or testing questions in any other forums will be considered violations of our rules of membership and subject to time-outs and permanent bans.

To learn how to upgrade your Forums account to participate beyond three posts in the "Do I Have HIV?" Forum, please click here.

Thank you for your understanding and future support of the best online support service for people living with, affected by and at risk for HIV.

Author Topic: Risk Assessment  (Read 2843 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline DiaDuit24

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Risk Assessment
« on: November 04, 2024, 02:20:39 pm »
Dear forum admins,

First of all thank you very much for your amazing support and time.

I have been trying to overcome my fear of STD's for a while. I am gay and while it had already taken me long enough to accept my identity, I was also too late to explore my sexuality and now I could overcome my fears by trusting in science.

I have had various sexual experiences with nearly six different people in the last two months. Although not all of them had anal sex, there was mutual oral sex for all.

1- I pay attention to my oral hygiene, but I may have bleeding gums or I have large tonsils. Even if I don't deep throat brutally, the other person's penis may have touched my tonsils. When oral sex is performed on me, deep throat can be included in this...

2- I was top in anal sex two or three times. I made sure to put the condom on correctly every time, checked it frequently to make sure it wouldn't come off, and had sex by gripping the condom with my thumb and index finger.

3- I've only been bottom once. It was a week ago. I put the condom on my partner with my hands and checked the condom frequently with my hand during sex. The only problem was that the lube we used was expired. Other than that, the condom was intact. I checked the condom at every stage.

I have been feeling a burning sensation in my left groin for a week now. I keep pressing on it to check if it is swollen. There does not appear to be any swelling, but when sitting there is a discomfort/burning/fullness feeling as if it were swollen. Maybe it's swelling, I'm not sure.

I don't want to regret what I experienced because I believe that I acted with responsibility and was truly careful. But I'm still not sure... What if I made a mistake somewhere, at some point that I don't know about, and this swelling in my groin is caused by it?

Even though all of them have said that they are on Prep, I know that their words cannot be trusted.

What do you think the risks of what I wrote are? Especially oral sex, I was unprotected...

Thanks a million

Offline Jim

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 23,362
Re: Risk Assessment
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2024, 02:33:17 pm »
Quote
Even though all of them have said that they are on Prep

Their PrEP status is irrelevant to you.

Quote
I have been feeling a burning sensation in my left groin for a week now. I keep pressing on it to check if it is swollen. There does not appear to be any swelling, but when sitting there is a discomfort/burning/fullness feeling as if it were swollen. Maybe it's swelling, I'm not sure.

Stop pressing it as you will make it sore and swell. Do not ignore the burning, see your GP and get it checked and treated.

Quote
1- I pay attention to my oral hygiene, but I may have bleeding gums or I have large tonsils. Even if I don't deep throat brutally, the other person's penis may have touched my tonsils. When oral sex is performed on me, deep throat can be included in this...

2- I was top in anal sex two or three times. I made sure to put the condom on correctly every time, checked it frequently to make sure it wouldn't come off, and had sex by gripping the condom with my thumb and index finger.

3- I've only been bottom once. It was a week ago. I put the condom on my partner with my hands and checked the condom frequently with my hand during sex. The only problem was that the lube we used was expired. Other than that, the condom was intact. I checked the condom at every stage.

You gave a blowjob, received a blowjob and had anal intercourse as insertive & receptive partner.

Receiving a blowjob lacks the conditions required for acquiring HIV; thus, it makes sense that after 40+ years of this pandemic in terms of BJs, there hasn't been a single documented case of HIV transmission to an insertive partner (the person being "sucked"), and you will not be the worlds first.

As for giving a blowjob, the mouth generally lacks a route for HIV to infect. The bleeding gums or touching your tonsils make no difference and saliva also neutralises HIV by damaging the receptors needed to infect human cells and that's just one barrier to this, so giving a blowjob is such a minute HIV risk that it doesn't warrant testing outside of yealry routine.

As for intercourse, HIV can't be transmitted through an intact latex, polyisoprene or polyurethane condom. Unless a condom obviously fails during intercourse, there is no reason to be stressing about HIV or testing for HIV outside the standard yearly HIV screening. The expired lube made no difference in this case. (In other words, no HIV risk)



In summary, what you posted here isn't an HIV concern, however, receiving & giving blowjobs was, of course, a risk for far easier-to-acquire STIs and intercourse even with a condom also remains a risk for far easier-to-transmit STIs but no need to panic, move on with your life and get an STI screening yearly out of standard routine.

Here's what you need to know to reduce your HIV risks:
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse correctly and consistently, with no exceptions. Consider talking to your healthcare provider about PrEP as an additional layer of protection against HIV and get vaccinated against HPV, Hepatitis A & B.

Keep in mind that some sexual practices described as safe in terms of acquiring HIV still pose a risk for other easier-acquired STIs. So please do get tested at least yearly for STIs, including but not limited to HIV, and more frequently if condomless intercourse occurs.

Also, note that it is possible to have an STI and show no signs or symptoms; testing is the only way to know.

Kind regards

Jim

Please Note.
As a member of the "Do I have HIV" Forum, you are required to only post in this one thread no matter how long between visits or the subject matter. You can find this thread by going to your profile and selecting show own post, which will take you here. It helps us to help you when you keep all your thoughts or questions in one thread, and it helps other readers to follow the discussion. Any additional threads will be removed.
HIV 101 - Everything you need to know
HIV 101
Read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
Read about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
Read about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

Offline DiaDuit24

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Re: Risk Assessment
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2024, 02:38:13 pm »
Thank you very much for your reply Jim, that's amazing help!


I had my first dose of HPV vaccine two months ago. I have been vaccinated against Hepatitis A & B.

I will always continue to use condoms. However, I am still very concerned about this pain/swelling/burning feeling in my groin. I try not to touch it. However, on the other hand, when I searched on the internet, it says that this is an early symptom of HIV.

I don't want to bother you with my questions any more because you answered them quite clearly.

Thanks a million

Offline Jim

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 23,362
Re: Risk Assessment
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2024, 02:54:38 pm »
You're welcome.

Quote
I am still very concerned about this pain/swelling/burning feeling in my groin. I try not to touch it.

It's not HIV-specific, stop googling. You should be concerned though, no need to panic but see your GP, and get whatever is causing the problem treated. There are plenty of other infections and problems that cause these issues.

Quote
I had my first dose of HPV vaccine two months ago. I have been vaccinated against Hepatitis A & B.

Good, also consider PrEP as an additional layer of prevention and prehaps more importantly it will offer some peace of mind for the future.

Quote
DiaDuit

I'm not recommending buying online but ill give you the information.

If you don't meet the HSE guidelines for free PrEP, some people source it online as it is cheaper than buying in Ireland (Like most products :( ) HIV Ireland has some pointers and pros/cons of online sourcing and I've also included a UK site that deals with some online pharmacies.

https://man2man.ie/hiv-prep/
https://www.iwantprepnow.co.uk/buy-prep-now/
https://www.hivireland.ie/hiv/prevention/prep/
HIV 101 - Everything you need to know
HIV 101
Read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
Read about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
Read about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

Offline DiaDuit24

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Re: Risk Assessment
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2024, 06:12:43 pm »
Hi Jim,

Thank you very much for all the info, really appriciated.

Jim, I know you've gotten these ridiculous questions many times. I'm so sorry to be one of them. However, in this process of identity and sexuality exploration, I think I may have gone a little overboard.

I have had various experiences with 10 different people.

With these 10 different people I did the following activities:

- Receiving Oral

- Performing Oral (without ejaculation and I haven't done that with all the people)

- Protected anal intercourse (Top) with two different people.

- Protected anal intercourse once (Bottom)

- Got fingered and I don't know If the persons cuticles are healthy or If he has any open sores on his fingers... Or he masturbate himself and some fluids contacted with my anus? I'm really not sure with this.

First of all, I am leaving this discovery process because I realized that I have discovered enough...  :)

I still feel a sense of discomfort/fullness/burning pain in my groin. Sometimes I even wonder if this pain is coming from my testicles. In other words, I generally feel discomfort in that area. Now I've started checking my lymph nodes in the neck/chin area or underarms/around the breasts... There's no obvious swelling, but it feels like there is... I can't be sure.

There are only a few things I can be sure of: I used a condom during all intercourses, checking every moment. Everything was fine. I try to remind myself of this. However, I am not sure if I might have missed something or made a mistake because of unprotected oral sex or fingering.

I'm really sorry about this nonsense. I'm just waiting for enough days to pass, then I'll go straight to St. James hospital.

Thanks a million Jim!

Offline Jim

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 23,362
Re: Risk Assessment
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2024, 02:24:31 am »
Quote
Got fingered and I don't know If the persons cuticles are healthy or If he has any open sores on his fingers... Or he masturbate himself and some fluids contacted with my anus? I'm really not sure with this.

Not an HIV risk, nobody has ever acquired HIV by being fingered regardless of what fluids might have been on their fingers or the condition of their cuticles, it lacks the basic simultaneously required conditions to be an HIV risk. It's a risk for other far easier-to-transmit infections but not HIV.

The rest of your concerns have already been asked and answered. See your GP and treat whatever is making you sick instead of stressing about it.

Quote
Receiving a blowjob lacks the conditions required for acquiring HIV; thus, it makes sense that after 40+ years of this pandemic in terms of BJs, there hasn't been a single documented case of HIV transmission to an insertive partner (the person being "sucked"), and you will not be the worlds first.

As for giving a blowjob, the mouth generally lacks a route for HIV to infect. The bleeding gums or touching your tonsils make no difference and saliva also neutralises HIV by damaging the receptors needed to infect human cells and that's just one barrier to this, so giving a blowjob is such a minute HIV risk that it doesn't warrant testing outside of yearly routine.

As for intercourse, HIV can't be transmitted through an intact latex, polyisoprene or polyurethane condom. Unless a condom obviously fails during intercourse, there is no reason to be stressing about HIV or testing for HIV outside the standard yearly HIV screening. The expired lube made no difference in this case. (In other words, no HIV risk)

Quote
It's not HIV-specific, stop googling. You should be concerned though, no need to panic but see your GP, and get whatever is causing the problem treated. There are plenty of other infections and problems that cause these issues.

Quote
Stop pressing it as you will make it sore and swell. Do not ignore the burning, see your GP and get it checked and treated.
HIV 101 - Everything you need to know
HIV 101
Read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
Read about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
Read about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2025 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.