Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 10:38:43 pm

Login with username, password and session length


Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 772947
  • Total Topics: 66310
  • Online Today: 441
  • Online Ever: 5484
  • (June 18, 2021, 11:15:29 pm)
Users Online
Users: 1
Guests: 354
Total: 355

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: Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)  (Read 3453 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline soscared27

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)
« on: June 23, 2013, 01:12:29 am »
Warning: I'm going to reveal intimate details of a sexual encounter. I hope I don't gross you out.

About two and a half months ago I experimented with gay sex. I had an encounter with the same guy twice, and overall I found the experience interesting to say the least. However, it just recently occurred to me that our first encounter might not have been entirely safe. We used a condom. I was the bottom ...however, he didn't have any lube and he used his saliva as lube. He kept spitting into my ass. The anal penetration wasn't successful for lack of lube (we used that the second time more successfully  ;) ) however, on that first encounter, we did make a good try of it. Later on when I got home I realized there might have been some slight tearing (I tested it by applying toilet paper to that region and I saw speckles of blood on the toilet paper.)

My concern: If the gentlemen was HIV positive, could I have become infected by his saliva entering my blood stream?

I don't know if he was HIV neg or not. I asked him and he said he said no, and that he got tested every three months. But on our second encounter he mentioned something about how it really depends on your diet and stuff... ???

Anyway, months after this I started freaking out because about four weeks later I came down with flu-like symptoms...


Offline Jeff G

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 17,064
  • How am I doing Beren ?
Re: Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2013, 01:23:32 am »
Saliva isn't infectious for HIV , it just so happens that saliva actually has proteins and enzymes that damages HIV and renders it unable to infect .

The anal sex was protected with a condom so again , you did not Have a risk .

To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

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 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!
HIV 101 - Basics
HIV 101
You can read more about Transmission and Risks here:
HIV Transmission and Risks
You can read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
You can read more about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read more about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
You can read more about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

Offline soscared27

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Re: Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2013, 01:28:34 am »
I actually don't engage in much sexual activity. However, I'm so freaked out that I scheduled an appointment with my doctor for an HIV test. I am a pretty anxious person overall.


Offline jkinatl2

  • Member
  • Posts: 6,007
  • Doo. Dah. Dipp-ity.
Re: Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2013, 01:37:43 am »
I actually don't engage in much sexual activity. However, I'm so freaked out that I scheduled an appointment with my doctor for an HIV test. I am a pretty anxious person overall.



I am very sorry you are anxious - which in this particular case is completely unfounded. YOu can absolutely NOT get HIV through saliva. Saliva contains over a DOZEN identified elements which render HIV inert and unable to infect.

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline Jeff G

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 17,064
  • How am I doing Beren ?
Re: Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2013, 01:40:51 am »
I actually don't engage in much sexual activity. However, I'm so freaked out that I scheduled an appointment with my doctor for an HIV test. I am a pretty anxious person overall.



You can rest assured that you didn't have a risk for the incident you are concerned about , however if you feel its time for your sexual health check up that's always a good thing . I just didn't want to give you the impression that there was anything in your circumstance that warrants testing . Best of luck . 
HIV 101 - Basics
HIV 101
You can read more about Transmission and Risks here:
HIV Transmission and Risks
You can read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
You can read more about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read more about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
You can read more about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

Offline soscared27

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Re: Very concerned (but maybe irrationally so??)
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2013, 01:42:24 am »
Thank you gentlemen you have eased my mind.  :)

 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2024 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.