POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Reo747 on April 18, 2013, 03:32:37 am
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Very simple. I met a guy I don't know. I was top and the condom broke. I washed my penis and urinated. I have taken pep before and had bad reaction to it with tinnitus developing and it has never gone away so I'm frightened to take it again. The guy thinks he's neg but hasn't been tested in 18 months. What do I do.
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Reo,
First off, you won't be able to respond to this as you have used up your three free posts elsewhere in the forums to ask questions about your LT partner, unless you take out a subscription. (details at the top of the main Am I Infected forum page) You will not be permitted to ask questions about this encounter elsewhere on the forum. Just a heads-up.
In over twelve years of answering questions in this section, I have yet to see the insertive partner end up hiv positive following a condom break. However, you have had a risk (albeit on the low side) and so you must test. Your hiv status is never anything to guess about.
The earliest you should test is at six weeks. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.
A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.
You should also be screened for all the other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs. Your local GUM clinic can take care of this for you ten days to two weeks following this incident.
Please make sure you read through the condom and lube links in my signature line. A correctly used condom rarely breaks.
I expect you will come out of this ok and hiv negative.
Ann
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Hi Anne thank you for your message. I paid the subscription for 2 reasons 1 so I could add to my post and 2 because I think you do a great job giving people advice. I am however still very concerned. I went to my local GUM clinic (sexual health) I'm from the UK Its called GUM here. They spent a long time talking to me I seen an HIV dr who said pep was considered but she didnt recommend it as the risk was very low. She even said hand on heart she did not think I would test positive. So I did not take the pep and now I am freaking out and really regretting not taking it. It has been 5 days now and my mind is playing overtime. I have a temperature sore throat etc I know it's far to soon to be seroconverting but I'm convinced I am!! I know logically the chances of me catching hiv in this one brief episode is slim but I wish I had taken the pep. I am considering taking a DNA 10 day pcr test I think it is. It's really expensive but I can't wait 6 or so weeks I will go out of my mind. Can you offer me any reassurance? Could I be seroconverting already?
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Hi Reo , sorry you are so anxious but there are no shortcuts to testing for HIV , you must wait 6 weeks post exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results .
PCR test are not approved for testing for HIV so you would be wasting your money if you choose to order that test .
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Do u think the risk was low? Was the dr right in her assessment? I hope I don't regret not taking pep for the rest of my life. How soon can someone seroconvert last question I promise. Thanks.
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Reo,
First off, you won't be able to respond to this as you have used up your three free posts elsewhere in the forums to ask questions about your LT partner, unless you take out a subscription. (details at the top of the main Am I Infected forum page) You will not be permitted to ask questions about this encounter elsewhere on the forum. Just a heads-up.
In over twelve years of answering questions in this section, I have yet to see the insertive partner end up hiv positive following a condom break. However, you have had a risk (albeit on the low side) and so you must test. Your hiv status is never anything to guess about.
The earliest you should test is at six weeks. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.
A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.
You should also be screened for all the other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs. Your local GUM clinic can take care of this for you ten days to two weeks following this incident.
Please make sure you read through the condom and lube links in my signature line. A correctly used condom rarely breaks.
I expect you will come out of this ok and hiv negative.
Ann
Ann already answered you quite completely in her reply to you on the 18Th of April and it sounds as if your doctor answered the same as Ann.
Some things in life just suck and waiting for the appropriate time to test is one of them , but there simply isn't a shortcut to doing it correctly , that sucks too .
Try and find something to with your time that doesent involve sitting and thinking about things you cant control and the time will pass quickly .
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Ok thanks. Keep up the good work. :-)
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Hi Anne
Hope you don't mind me writing again. It has been 10 days since the condom break and I have had a bad headache for 4 days I have a bad cough and my temperature keeps fluctuating high and low. I know in 12 years you haven't come across a insertive person becoming positive from a condom break and I really hope I am not your first! Could I be seroconverting after just 10 days or is all this part of my continuing anxiety?
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Nothing you are reporting symptomatically is in anyway HIV specific. Like Ann, I expect you to come out of this incident ok. If your symptoms persist you should discuss them with your doctor.
As the insertive partner you are at a considerably lower risk than the receptive partner. We're talking about a one-time risk of short duration. All things considered I do expect you to test negative.
In the meantime, as has been suggested previously, you need to make a real effort to focus on other things in your life. Don't bother saying you're too worried to follow that suggestion. That response won't fly here. Just do it. You'll be amazed on how much easier the waiting will be.
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Thanks for getting back to me. I am normally a logical person. But my logic has gone completely and I am now in a blind panic. I will do my best to think about other things instead of constantly monitoring my health, my temperature and body for any rashes. It's completely mad and so unlike me. I just think its because I'm normally so ultra careful that when this condom broke it completely threw me. I won't bother you again except to let you know in a few weeks what my test results are.
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Well things are going from bad to worse. I have a rash over my chest and arms, I am short of breath like I have asthma. I have ulcers in the mouth. Went to hiv clinic yesterday and they said it could be seroconversion but won't know for 6 weeks. I thought early intervention was a good thing???? This is tragic. I did not have oral sex with this person I only had anal intercourse the condom broke and I wasn't inside that long. I must be the unluckiest person in the world. All the recommendations from the hiv professionals were in fact wrong, the risk is very low I was told they would consider but not recommend pep. Look at me now with signs of seroconversion. I am having a pcr rna test. I will let you know the outcome. In the mean time any advice? I feel on the brink here.
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Andy and Ann have reminded you that Nothing you are reporting symptomatically is in anyway HIV specific . If your symptoms persist you should discuss them with your doctor.
The symptoms in no way point exclusively to an HIV infection , it could be many many other things . Please try to find something to do with your time to take your mind off what ifs while you are waiting for confirmation .