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Author Topic: Three years after possible exposure  (Read 3147 times)

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Offline Youngy11

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Three years after possible exposure
« on: August 13, 2013, 09:31:56 am »
Hey guys,

I've been having an extremely hard time with anxiety over the past week believeing I have contracted HIV off people I have slept with previously, I have rarely practiced unprotected sex but after reading up on various forums I now realise any act of unprotected sex without proper protection is completely idiotic.

I was between the age of 18-19 at the time and I slept with a girl whom I knew through friends but did not know her HIV status, This hadn't crossed my mind at the time due to how young I was (she was 17-18 years old from what I recall). We had sex twice with a condom then a possible two-three minutes without a condom at some point. These thoughts came out of nowhere and to be honest I have been having really terrible anxiety attacks lately for things such as Sars, Bird Flu and other silly things that keep me awake at night. Since beginning to think about these symptoms (About a week after getting anxious about it) I have started having random dull body aches (wouldn't even call them pain) in my fingers, wrists, elbows and knees. Could any of these possibly point to an infection. Apart from this I have honestly been super healthy I have never had the flu and apart from tonsillitis once have never been to hospital. I'm from Melbourne, Aus and I know the HIV infection rate of heterosexuals in my age group is roughly 4-10 diagnoses a year.

Have any of you been in a similiar position I truly feel like I am going insane.

Offline Jeff G

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Re: Three years after possible exposure
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2013, 10:14:36 am »
Hi Young . I understand you are dealing with a anxiety disorder . You need to discuss it with your doctor and let them know you are in distress . We can give you the facts about HIV and advise you on how to protect yourself but we can not do a thing for your underlying anxiety disorder that is fueling your fears . 

You are a sexually active young adult and now you have a responsibility to yourself to protect your health and that health of your partners . You can do that by having at least once a year sexual health checkup for all std's including HIV testing .

You did engage in unprotected sex so the responsible thing to do is to begin to get your checkups by testing and having a full std panel done .

These are the risk factors for HIV .

Sharing IV drug needles immediately after use.
Unprotected anal and vaginal sex.
Mother to child during or shortly after birth
Very specific healthcare situations.

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.

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 Youngy11

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How would I know if I had an advanced HIV infection
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2013, 01:18:01 am »
I have been with one person for a long while now but I am worrying I could possibly have an advanced HIV infection. The thing is however I don't seem to ever get sick ( I can't remember the last time I had a cold or cough). HOWEVER I am getting a slight tingling sensation in my hands and feet, Do you think that could be caused by HIV associated neuropathy?

I am also on the drugs Zyprexa and Lexapro if that helps at all.

Offline jkinatl2

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Re: Three years after possible exposure
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2013, 01:35:55 am »
I have merged your threads together. You are instructed in the sticky threads on top of this page to keep ALL questions under the same topic.

Many people with acute HIV infection/AIDS feel perfectly fine until days before their death. One of our members was an HIV denialist, and posted youtube videos smiling and laughing, only a week before pneumonia took him.

Getting tested might ease your anxiety. Not getting tested will, simply, not.

"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

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