What is High Risk Exposure?

[kevin77411]

hi there

i'm just wondering since i read a lot of posts about hiv in this forum.
i got the notion that hiv is actually very hard to catch. often ppl actually worry too much they have hiv but tests said they're negative. I read about a case of unprotected sex with sex workers, and doctors said it was low risk since statistically sex workers are not hiv most worrisome career. even oral sex, and anal sex can be safe. i have the notion that even u had sex with hiv + u still have a low risk exposure (with condom). i hope i'm not wrong.

so my question is.. what is high risk exposure of hiv? when do ppl need to worry they have hiv after having sex, like for real, not just anxiety?

[hangon51]

Anxiety can make you very sensitive to any garden variety infection like a cold, the flu etc. Everything becomes magnified in light of a "perceived" HIV risk. Even rationally weighing the facts and reassurances given can leave some folks "freaked" out as you put it.

[kevin77411]

thanks guys,
that was very reassuring, putting an ease in mind.
maybe because hiv is so undefinable (have common symptoms like flu) and deadly at the same time, ppl get more panic than they should have. that includes me. hopefully this thread is useful to ppl having the same anxiety as me. i find the answers very reassuring. :) thank u

[Vance2335]

Yes they are. And yes anxiety is normal for many people.

[kevin77411]

so tiny holes in condoms are myths? i had a thicker condom before and cant help to think what if, what if...  i guess since that was my first time, i freaked out. especially with sex workers that many ppl thinks very dangerous. i became very aware of hiv since that day, browse too much. feel guilty and bad. is that normal?

[diver58]

Protection means protection. Condoms provide 100% protection against HIV if they do not fail during the sex. You do not need any test in that case because you were not exposed to the risk. Yes anxiety has almost similar symptoms as those for ARS, therefore many people freak out. What we say, symptoms do not mean much because most of the actually infected people remain totally asymptomatic.

Your nature of exposure the the key element in assessing the risk

[kevin77411]

hey diver58.. u really answer quick. thanks.

seeing ur list i'm certain that my protected vaginal sex was very safe. thank God. but i cant help to notice this pattern. i'm just wondering then, why people who have sex (that have been proved as negative in HIV) can always comes up with the same pattern of symptoms. sore throats, headaches, swollen lymph, thrush etc. Do anxiety drive this? If that's the case then anxiety is very dangerous..