POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: spectrumvibgyor on September 06, 2007, 04:09:16 am
-
Well i've been travelling & earlier today in India (here for a conference) some of my friends coaxed into going with them to a sleazy massage parlour...i shouldn't have gone, but i did..after their repeated talk about it being safe & all that!!!
The girl who gave me the massage seemed to have pretty roughish hands & there were some abrasions & scars on them..but no bleeding cuts i may add. I did check on that before she started the massage. (atleast they weren't visible to the naked eye)
She applied some cream & rubbed me all over & then gave me a hand job till i came thorough. She also massaged me completely in around the pubic & anal region, without inserting her fingers ofcourse....Before she did the handjob she rubbed her hands on some wet towel, & then performed it. Does this pose a risk of HIV infection if there were some vaginal secretions of hers on that towel. ((Want to state here that there was no sex of any kind.....just a hand job!!!))
Also could you tell me whether HIV in vaginal secretions or blood can survive in wet towels for longer than when hiv is normally exposed to the air...
I'm also concerned that i had lied down on a mattress which may have been used by somebody else earlier as many men frequent this place i've heard. & i dunno whether any dried semen/sperm of their's would have been on the mattress & it would have come in contact with my naked body or parts of it which i'm sure have a few pimples & cuts here & there? coz there were some white patches on the sheet of the brown mattress.
Also risk of any other STI's..........i take solace from the fact that it was only a massage center & the girls there i was told would not provide sex even if somebody offered them more for their services & a hand job is the only point till which they would go!!!
Has there ever been a factual case that has been proven & documented where HIV transmission has occured with a handjob????
1. For risk of Herpes, well i did not see any herpes on her fingers except some skin marks, but they didn't look like any lesions to me, just some regular skin marks you find when somebody has done a lot of work with their hands.
2. Is there a risk for syphillis from this incident & if so what's the correct time to get a VDRL test for it?
3. Would there be any other STI related tests that i need to do?
4. For HIV transmission to occur through hand jobs would the person who has performed it need to have openly bleeding cuts for any infection to happen????
well i heard that STI's can pass on thru skin-skin contact & that's why i was worried.......maybe then it has to be skin contact with an infected area?????
& yeah HIV a possibilty ??? even though her hands had some ol' nicks & the fact that the sheets of the mattress would have had dried semen of somebody else on it which would have come in touch with my skin or my anal opening when i lied down on it???
I'm really scared, Please enlighten me with your views & help me out.
-
Read the lessons on transmission. You can find the link in the "Welcome" thread.
-
Well I did & i don't find any info on handjobs & the cuircumstances i was faced with, & that is why i have posted here, so what is you analysis after reading my case?
-
You were never at risk with the situation that you provided.
-
Thanx!!! I was kinda worried the girl at the massage joint, did use the rest room before she came to me & started her service, i mean the restroom was in the same cabin & i was worried she would have used the same wet towel to wipe herself off in the pubic region which may have resulted in vaginal secretions geting on to them. She touched the towel & so did i. As she was massaging me even i touched my penis & i've been paranoid that i may have contracted something??
if HiV is a non-issue what about other StI's, any possibilities there?
-
This is an HIV forum not an STD forum.
-
Okay thanx so much for letting me know i was worried!!!
Even if i did test you'd say then that the HIV test would come back negative??? & where can i access some info on STI's????
-
I'm basically worried about the fact that i may develop symptoms & it will make my mind refer to this incident & make me feel that i may have contacted something...so would you certainly say that i wouldn't have to worry & go about my routine??
I'm travelling on work & i know there are other issues i need to deal with, especially stop looking for satisfaction from these types of places & i plan to get the counselling i need when i get home soon!
Just wanted to know in the meantime whether i had any risk that's all & that's the reason i'm posting here!
-
spec,
Rodney has already told you that you were not at risk for hiv during your massage. You weren't at risk for any other STI either.
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 sexually transmitted infections together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through all three condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
While you DO NOT need to be tested over your massage, 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.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
-
1 week after the massage, i have developed weakness, elevated body temp & loose bowel......could this be any worrying signs of some infection picked up, if not HIV.
I really did check the girl's hands & there weren't any cuts....the only other thing that bothered me was the possibility of secretions or blood on the wet towel, which was red in color & if there was any blood it wouldn't have been visible easily.....
Do i need to think about any tests.....i don't mean to trouble the busy experts here but just need the reassurance to move on!
-
Do i need to think about any tests.....i don't mean to trouble the busy experts here but just need the reassurance to move on!
As you have been told you do not need to test. Consider yourself reassured and feel free to move on.
MtD
-
So you just don't c any risk with the towel coming into play even if it had blood or vaginal secretions....kinda feel weak thinking about the incident everytime & that's why i've been posting about it!
Thanx everybody!!!! i'm gonna move on!!!
-
spec,
No, there IS NO RISK with the towel coming into play even if it had blood or vaginal secretions. No risk. None. Nada.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
-
Hi everyone, Just wanted to say, i've almost put the incident about 90% behind me & have been feeling a whole lot better, even though i've been having irritable symptoms of bowel & body temperature.....You must know that before i got onto this site, my knowledge about HIV transmission was pretty low.
I would like to know whether the presence of a infectious body fluid is compulsory for any chance of transmission to occur in the first place!!!!. In my case there was no fluid from her hands, only fluid that could have been present on the towel as it was wet.....that was my only concern??? I'm not here trying to question the advise that's been given to me, i've accepted my risk was Low - Non existant, But gathering some knowledge will be useful for future care & prevention!!!!
-
I would like to know whether the presence of a infectious body fluid is compulsory for any chance of transmission to occur in the first place!!!!.
Spec,
Of course there does! How do you think it happens? It happens when infectious bodily fluids are transferred while INSIDE the body, as in anal or vaginal intercourse. Read the Transmission Lesson linked to in the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0). You were asked to read this when you first came here, so get reading.
You didn't have a risk. While you're in the Welcome thread, make sure you read the posting guidelines, including this one:
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
You didn't have a risk. Please consider yourself warned.
Ann
-
Thanx Ann, just needed the info to get things straight in my head.....worried abou th if's & but's i guess....
Cheers to everyone!!!
-
Hi i wasn't really gasping at straws, but actually gasping.....from around the 2 week mark, till now which is the 3.5 week mark after the massage incident i've developed symptoms.....Have been feeling a general weakness, facial heat, slightly elevated Body temperature & sometime breathlessness....Now there aren't any rashes or swollen glands but i'm worried whether this could be ARS, especially the timing of the symptoms..which has been around between the 2 - 4 weeks after the massage incident...Is there any possibility that i may have contracted HIV or some other infection, when that girl gave me a massage or when i sat or lied down on the massage table, which may have had seminal secretions of others with my thigh downwards being exposed to it!!! I'm going crazzzy because of the symptoms Please help me!!!
-
You need to take some nice deep and slow breaths in and out right now. I'm not kidding. DO IT! Now! And again everytime you're feeling anxious.
You've been well, truly and repeatedly advised that you weren't at risk for HIV. It doesn't seem to matter how often you're told that because you just come back with more symptoms.
We're talking feelings here and not facts. If you have troublesome physical symptoms you need to discuss them with your doctor. As for your anxiety, that's something to discuss with a counselor, therapist or other professional and get some support about what's going on emotionally. We can't help you with that here.
We've done what we can do for you.
-
Thanx for the response Andy, just that the symptoms play wierd games on one's mind!!!
Is there any possibility that i may have contracted HIV or some other infection, when that girl gave me a massage or when i sat or lied down on the massage table, which may have had seminal secretions of others with my thigh downwards being exposed to it??
So you would say the above thought in italics is just almost baseless & there has never been an incident of HIV transmission that has occured this way!!!
& i've also been told from handjobs the only possibility would be if the person had blood dripping off some massive open wound on their hand and vigeriously rubbed your penis and managed somehow to get it inside the tip of your penis or their hand was coated in vaginal fluids or semen and did the same, manged to force it inside your body.. & the chances of this happening are rare & we would be fully aware if it did happen....
-
Spec,
We understood what your incident was all about the first time you wrote to us. You did not have a risk for hiv infection. None at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. No risk.
If hiv were so easily transmitted, then those of us who are hiv positive would have to live in isolation. We don't and we don't infect those who live with us either. We sleep in the same beds with our hiv negative partners and raise our hiv negative children without transmitting the virus to them - and the ONLY precaution we must take against transmission is to use condoms for intercourse with our sexual partners.
Now take your symptoms to your doctor and find out what is really going on. It's nothing to do with hiv. You had NO RISK.
Ann
-
Well i guess i'm gonna do just that, have slated a doc's appoitment for the earliest date available....what got me worried was that i've developed a kind of wierd skin rash in the right side of my penis on the skin there & all these symptoms have been happening within the 2 - 4 weeks mark which got me worried about ARS.....but this doesn't sound like ARS does it now that we've analysed that the incident was NO risk no matter what???
-
Spec,
NO, you were NOT at risk for hiv infection. However, you may have picked up one of the other, more easily transmitted sexual infections. Keep your appointment with your doctor and show him that rash. Whatever is going on, it's not hiv.
Ann
-
Thanx for the advise.....but i'm worried about the STI that i MAY have picked..it's more like a dryish skin rash, not boils...like lets say some abrasions...do you think it's curable?????
-
Spec,
We cannot possibly diagnose your rash over the internet. You'll have to show it to a doctor.
If you've read the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) like you're supposed to, you would have read the following:
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
Please consider yourself warned.
Take your rash to your doctor. We cannot help you with it here.
Ann