I was stupid

[AD231044]

Dr HHH,

I'm a 27 year old caucasian male, non-drug user. This past weekend i met a woman at a bar here in chicago. She was a 22 year old caaucasian, non-drug user (although i dont know if she has ever been with someone that was). We were intoxicated, went back to my apartment, and had unprotected sex (stupid me) for about 10-15 minutes before i stopped.

I have been in contact with her since, and it seems like she comes from a good family. Im just a anxious person and extremely upset at myself. How risky would you rate my situation? Does it warrant testing? I was tested for everything about a year ago and everything was fine.

Thank you very much for your time and advice! This forum is terrific!!

Regards,

AD

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

At 3 weeks, probably around 75-80% of infected people have positive results.

Thanks for the thanks, but it doesn't buy permission to prolong a thread for the purpose of anxiety relief.  I will delete any further comments.

[AD231044]

Dr Handsfield,

Please allow one more question. I went and got tested using the Orasure Mouth Swab (negative) last week making it approximately 3 weeks past the exposure.

I know thats not conclusive, but based on my overall risk combined with the negative result, do I need to continue testing? I'm really anxious and everything I feel, (muscle aches, joint pain, persistent examination of my body for rashes) I hope is all due to this anxiety.

Thank you very much for time and also wanted to say that the service you provide on here is more valuable than gold. I sincerely mean that!!  Thanks again!!

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Good grief.  Read my replies above and figure it out.

No more comments.  This thread is closed.

[D551]

Dr. HHH,

Thank you very much for replying. Just a brief follow-up question if i may. This is the only girl I've had sex with since my last test (1 year ago) in which i wasnt in a commited relationship. The other 2 I dated for a significant amount of time (6 months and 4 months).

I actually might have plans to see this girl again soon. Is it safe to forget this whole thing? I'd really lke to put it behind me and move on!

Thank you

AD

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Unless there is an unlikely coincidence of usernames, this is your fourth question in this or the STD forum the the past year (Feb, May and August '07).  Like the others, this question reflects an anxious overreaction to a not especially risky event.  Do you imagine that every sexually active person needs such advice every time they have sex with someone new?

And probably you are involved in the forum enough to know my answers.  From your comment below, it seems exceedingly unlikely your partner has HIV.  If she had it, the average chance of transmission to you was in the neighborhood of 1 in 2,000.  That makes your risk of having caught HIV zero for practical purposes, certainly no more than 1 chance in several million.  (To put that in perspective, since you live in the US, the chance you will be dead within 12 months of some accident is one chance in 1,756, thousands of times higher than the likelihood you caught HIV.)

You don't need testing, except that all sexually active persons outside committed relationships should be tested once a year or so, and maybe it's time--but not because of this event in particular. Still, you need to get in the condom habit.  You also need to stop worrying about individual exposures unless you have stronger evidence to suggest your partner was infected.  (And don't forget your seatbelt.)

Please note the MedHelp rule about a maximum of 2 threads every 6 months.

HHH, MD

[AD231044]

Just a brief follow-up....I was recently in contact with this girl and she assured me everything is fine and I have nothing to worry about. I didnt specifically ask her about her HIV status..she just basically said she was fine and one-night stands are not a common occurence for her.