POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: fingersore on March 27, 2007, 04:28:17 am
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Hi all..
I am 20 years old. I had this incident where I fingered a girl from a massage parlour in Toronto last week for about a minute. This was the only acitivity I did. After, I noticed that I had a small, maybe 2mm in diameter sore/cut on my cuticle while I was fingering!! I don't think it was fresh, but I was in the hot tub earlier so the skin was kind of tender... After realizing that I may have be infected with HIV, i freaked out so much having panic attacks feeling like my life is over. I lost concentration and motivation for EVERYTHING..
I then checked out the medhelp.org site reading Dr. HHH's comments and he wrote that apparently this type of activity, cut or no cut have never been documented to transmit HIV. The same info has been echoed on this site. This has since relieved SOME of the anxiety.
YET, I still feel like I'm infected so I went to the doctor today. The doctor recommended that I take a test in two weeks to be sure and I knew he was gonna recommend that I test since docs are conservative..
I feel like although no one has ever contracted HIV via this method, I feel like I may be the first person to transmit it through this method!! I feel so anxious about testing as I feel it will still turn out to be positive. I know most of my feelings are due to extreme HIV anxiety, but I just can't help it.
Have I gone mental yet??? and realistically what can I expect.. I am so lost right now :(
Thanks everyone, your help is much appreciated.
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You didn't have a risk and you don't need to test. Period.. This isn't an HIV concern.
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Feelings aren't facts. You have absolutely no basis in HIV science for concern about this incident.
If you haven't already read our lesson on transmission then you need to do that now. You get all the basics there. There's a link to it in the Welcome thread which opens this sections.
It sounds to me as if perhaps you are just beginning to become sexually active. If that is so, often along with a lot of excitement for a number of reasons it seems to bring anxiety as well. Also, guys seem to think because a woman is a professional it means the risk is greater. It is not whom you do things with sexually, it's WHAT you do. And in this case nothing you did put you at risk for HIV transmission.
There's no need for testing but you do need to become better informed about the subject so read that lesson.
Cheers,
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Thanks for the reassurance guys.
But why is it that I feel even with the slightest possibility and even though its never occurred before, that I feel I MAY be the FIRST person to transmit HIV via this method??
Is it normal for people in my situation to feel this way?
Thanks.
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Why? Why do you have certain feelings? The question is totally irrelevant in this situation.
What matters is the facts of HIV science. And as far as those are concerned you weren't at risk in this situation.
Becoming better educated by reading the lessons on transmission and testing may help you.
Just because you continue to feel anxious doesn't mean you had a real risk. The mind is an amazing thing and obviously this experience has triggered thoughts and feelings in you.
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Thanks for all the info Andy. I've read through all the lessons before and they are very informative.
Its just the fact that my family doctor still advised me to test "anyways" because nothing is "impossible". Can this be a result of him not being experienced in this area?
And another question, not in a rude manner, just for a reassurance factor, do you feel you're more knowledgable in the area of HIV tranmission than the average typical family doctor?
And should i just follow through with his advice and test anyways for anxiety relief?
Thanks again. Much appreciated.
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if you are anxious about it then by all means test. We see it all the time. But then people come back with the accuracy of the tests and all of that and it does them no good. You didnt have a risk but if you think it will help you to get an HIV test to ease your mind then go for it. Only you can be the judge of that, not us.
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finger,
In my own personal experience, family doctors seem to know very little about hiv infection. This causes them to err on the side of caution, which is what yours is doing.
While you do NOT 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. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
Ann
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Hi Andy, Ann and Co..
I posted here about 5 weeks ago about my incident as you can read above. I know there is no real risk and I did not get tested. But I just caught a throat infection this week for a couple of days that led to a cold for several days, no high fever or anything. This is just making me a bit anxious (as I am a very anxious person to begin with) again thinking that it might be HIV.
Just need some reassurance.. I know its probably completely unrelated.. but just out of curiousity, when is the normal time frame where the symptoms occur ( i know they are not a good sign) and what r they usually? Im going to be going on a cruise for a week and just want to enjoy myself.
Thanks again guys. Appreciate it.
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Just need some reassurance.
Reread all the replies that you have been given. The answers are not going to change.
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Finger,
It is once again that time of year when the seasons are changing. With seasonal changes comes colds and flus. More often than not, a cold is just a cold.
You didn't have a risk for hiv infection so whatever is going on with you couldn't possibly have anything to do with that particular virus.
Ann
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hi guys..
its me again, sorry to be bothering you guys, but i cudn't handle the sudden anxiety attacks so i FINALLLY went ahead with an HIV test today.. its about 9 weeks after the incident, which i am 99.99999999% sure wasn't a risk at all, but i guess for my own peace of mind and for me to move on, I just had to test. The doc I saw today was a specialist in STI from University of Toronto. She basically reiterated what all of you all said here, which was what i needed. Just needed someone to tell me that IN PERSON, cause the other family docs that I went to were really unknowledgable about the subject and got me worrying. But I guess by the time I got to the clinic today, I already made up my mind that I just HAD to test.
No questions really, just updating my situation to you guys. And feel kinda isolated with this incident cause I haven't told anyone how badly I was worrying, so some support would be appreciated ;D.
So everyone here 100% confident that it will be a negative? ???
I will keep you guys posted. Thanks for the help again.
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100% sure.
MtD
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finger,
1,000,000% sure here.
Ann
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Hey guys..
Got my test result back.. it was negative as predicted :D, it was a anxiety reliever more than anything else.
Thanks for all the help and support.
For all potential thread browsers... please listen to these guys, they know what they're talking about!