POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: pexchangesf on July 16, 2006, 08:48:05 pm
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Hi guys, this forum is amazing, congratulations.
My story is, I had oral sex last night with a tranny, I sucked him. The thing is, he had a condom on most of the time, at a certain point, the condom came off, because his dick wasn't really hard, and I felt the condom in my mouth and then I stopped imediatelly. Long story short 2 min with condom and 30 sec. to 1 min without it. No pre-cum tasted. The problem is, I have bleeding gums. They bleed every time I brush my teeth, sometimes a lot. I brushed my teeth 4 hours prior to the incident and it bleed. With that in mind, am I at risk? I'm really worried, I couldn't sleep last night because I did everything I could to protect my self, but it happened, the condom slipped off. Please help me, I'm really worried. Do my activities pose any risk for HIV infection, considering my bleeding gums?
thanks
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Pexchangesf,
Do you have a risk?? Well, perhaps a theoretical one..... but it's too low to really quantify.
The mouth is a very inhospitable place for hiv. Saliva actually acts to inhibit it. It is rare for infection to take place here
Only you can decide what amount of risk you're comfortable with, but personally, I don't see a need to test over this minuscule risk.
Morgan
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I see, I'm really worried, because of the circunstances, the place, the kind of people, my bleending gums. Is there any reported case of getting infected by oral sex( sucking, I mean)? and why do people always talk about bleeding gums as the worst case scenario as far as oral sex goes? I'm asking because, since don;t even think I should get tested, why there's all this buzz around oral health and oral sex? thanks for answering right away. You're helping me a lot.
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pex,
Infection through giving head is exceedingly rare. As a matter of fact, there have been long term studies of couples where one person is positive and one is negative. They were followed over a long period of time. The only protection used was condoms for penetrative sex. Thousands of blowjobs were performed and no infections occurred.
Is it possible to be infected by giving head?? Well, I suppose it could happen, but I could also be struck by lightning any second now.
So..... oral sex, tiny risk for the giver, no risk for the receiver. (And yes, this is with the assumption that your partner is hiv positive)
But it's still all about what level of risk you can assume without wigging out after the particular encounter.
By the way, many of those people (like you) probably had less than perfect gums too.
Morgan
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I understand, thanks for your patience. So, by that, I could assume that, given the number of blowjobs that happen every night out there, we would, at this point in time, probably be aware of the dangers of giving head as far as HIV goes, right? People often say, that it's hard to quantify the number of transmissions related to oral sex alone, but I think it happens at least as frequently as anal or vaginal intercourse. I'm saying that, based on all the data available now, it's very unlikely to impossible to contract HIV by giving head. So, why people still classifying it like more dangerous than receiving oral sex? Would you agree with that?
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pex,
There have been long-term studies of couples where one is positive and one is negative. In the couples who used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, but not for oral activities, not one of the negative partners became infected with hiv. Not one. This shows us two things. One, condoms are very effective for the prevention of hiv transmission. Two, oral sex is much lower risk than previously believed. We now have the evidence that oral sex is a very low risk activity where hiv transmission is concerned.
I don't know why other websites still list oral as high risk. On THIS website, we base our risk assessments only on up-to-date, first-tier, peer-reviewed, quantifiable science as published in current scientific/medical journals. We don't push a moral agenda on this forum, unlike some other websites out there.
I will say this though - although you don't need to test over this specific 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.
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence. And please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) and follow the links for further information. The serodiscordant studies are mentioned in the Transmission Lesson.
Ann
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I see, thanks for taking a time to answer me. I get tested once a year, and this was my second sexual encounter this year. I tried to make it a protected encounter, but it didn't work as I planned, since the condom slipped off. I would like to ask you guys a question related to the number of exposures. Is it true that it doesn't matter how many times you expose yourself, but the kind of exposure? I mean, giving oral 10 times and 1 time, is the same risk? or having unprotected intercourse 1 or 10 times is the same risk? I don't wanto to get into math and probability laws, but as far as I know it, that's how it would work, what is your opinion about it?
thanks
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Don't get into trying to formulize your sexual activities in terms of risk.
Giving oral is very low on the risk scale. Unprotected intercourse is not.
The likelihood of getting infected by giving oral is more theoretical than actual. That cannot be said of unprotected intercourse. It's riskier for the receptive partner but it is also risky for the insertive partner.
If you have had intercourse and the condom slipped off then you need to get tested at 13 weeks. The odds are in your favor that you will test negative since it was 1) a one-time event, 2) HIV is not an easy virus to transmit and 3) you were protected at least a part of the time until the condom slipped off.
But don't be guessing and don't try to "figure it out." Just get tested.
Cheers,
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I'm assuming I didn't have sexual intercourse, because oral sex is not considered intercourse, right? does it make sense?
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pex,
Generally speaking, intercourse, in a sexual context, means anal or vaginal coitus. Oral sex is not considered intercourse.
Ann
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Thanks for explaining it to me, english is not my first language. I have another very important question though, do you think I should get tested for other STDs from my exposure?
thanks guys
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guys?
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hi pex,
im in the same boat as you! i'm very obsessive over these things since I get bleeding gums all the time too and after I gave a guy a bj 4 weeks ago all I could think to myself was, what if i had a cut or sore in my mouth at the time? what if there was precum? all these crazy questions...and while i'm no one to say that it doesn't happen, chances are, it won't happen and you and i are both ok. the risk is very low, like everyone here says, and if they tell you that you don't even have to test over this incident, then take their advice because they know what they're saying. if you did something that really put you at risk, then they'd tell you straight on to be responsible and get tested. like Ann says, just do your regular std panel testing and always be safe. don't stress over something that really doesn't warrant it!
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Pex,
Toothpick, as much as I wish he'd stay in his own thread, is correct. As a sexually active adult, you should be getting regular complete sexual health care check-ups. This includes oral testing (swabs) if you engage in oral sex.
And as far as hiv goes, as long as you've been using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, I'm sure you'll be just fine.
Ann