Public bleeding

[Will_Bradbury]

I suffer from chronic irritable bowel syndrome. I have to take a high dose of anti-diarrheal every single day in order to keep myself from going to the bathroom 15 times a day. Unfortunately, it makes my feces incredibly hard, which has led to hemorrhoids which often bleed a bit. I also work 40 hours a week in an over-trafficked Target Center in the heart of Minneapolis. Is there a risk of infection, however remote, from fluids or blood on the toilet seat, toilet rim, toilet bowl, or in the water? I cannot use stool softeners, as they aggravate my condition.

Also, I have a problem with uncontrollable ejaculation. The slightest sexual stimulation makes me get aroused, the merest brush of an attractive female. This comes from 10 years of violent sexual repression after a rape. Now I'm in a fulfilling, sexual relationship, but my problem still remains. So, as I've done for the past five years, I wear rubber balloons around my penis when I'm in public. However, I often notice a ring of raw flesh which is often bleeding slightly. My question is: If I'm in a public restroom and bleeding, even if only slightly, is there any chance of coming in contact with HIV-infected blood under the toilet seat or along the rim of the bowl itself, that I might accidentally brush against with my bleeding member?  

Should I bother getting tested? Are these legitimate risks?

Thank you very much.

[Will_Bradbury]

Thank you very much for your frank and fast response.

Although, I'm not concerned about my sexual disorder so much as the tendency to sometimes bleed a bit when I take off the rubber balloons.

All the same, thank you very much for putting my mind at ease and continue with your most worthy cause.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

HIV cannot be transmitted by the sorts of things you describe, regardless of your anal bleeding or sexual dysfunction.  Nobody ever got HIV from such esposures.  Don't worry about it.  (And unless you use toilet seats in a rather peculiar fashion, I cannot imagine your anus coming into direct contact.  The skin of your buttocks and thighs, but not your anus.  But even if it did, your concerns have no basis in the real world.)

Best wishes--  HHH, MD