The cut on your lip is NOT, and never was, a risk! Drinking from the same bottle of booze with someone who is HIV+ is also NOT a risk.
Yes, you ARE being excessively paranoid and since you wrote your original post 5 months ago, I feel really sorry that you've spent all that time cowering for nothing.
You definitely have HIV Anxiety and there is a groGroup here called "HIV Anxiety." Look on the left side panel and click on "Groups." I suggest you go there ASAP!
Scotland is not some Third World country that has it's head in the sand regarding HIV. There are organizations put together by WHO, (World Health Organization) in nearly every country in the world and I'm quite sure in a sophisticated and urbane city like Edinborough, you would be able to find as much HIV education as you want. And education about HIV/AIDS not only stops the spread of the disease, it stops the FEAR of this incredibly difficult virus to contract.
If you have further questions about how to obtain HIV eduation or locate sources, I'll be more than happy to help. But no more "what if" questions, OK? You NEVER had a risk. NEVER!
Peace
Greenlydia
I would have to agree with greenlydia. HIV is actually hard to contract in the ways it is transmitted and what you describe is not a way that it is transmitted at all. Health anxiety,especially HIV anxiety is common here. First of all, it is a scary diesease and one that many don't understand....and we tend to fear things we do not fully comprehend in my experience.
Do you have access to talk therapy?
if at the time i had a cut on my lip through a fight i had the week b4,the person told me to lick my lip after i drank some to clean out the cut.
HIV is much more difficult to contract than most people think and if you are sexually active, getting educated about HIV/AIDS would save a great deal of worry and panic, it would protect you and your partner and it might even begin to lower the statistics on new infection levels.
HIV must be contracted inside the human body. The three ways to contract HIV are:
1) Unprotected anal/vaginal sex with an HIV+ partner
2) Sharing drug works (needles) with an HIV+ person
3) HIV+ woman to her unborn child
You cannot contract HIV from environmental surfaces such as toilet seats, eating utensils, door knobs, counters, steering wheels, etc because exposure to air kills the virus.
You cannot contract HIV from oral sex as there are enzymes in human saliva that kill the virus.
An HIV+ person with a bleeding cut in their mouth could take a drink out of glass of water then hand it to you and you'd be perfectly safe. The virus will have been killed by both exposure to air and by the enzymes in your mouth.
It's my humble opinion that you have HIV anxiety, which is very real, and is best dealt with in therapy. And through education.
Peace
Greenlydia
I don't think that it is possible to get HIV from a bottle of rum. I worked in a restaurant years ago with another waiter who was HIV positive. One night while opening a bottle of wine he cut his finger and was bleeding. He immediately went to take care of the cut and without thinking I went over and finished opening the wine. It wasn't until later on that night that I started freaking out because I thought I had contracted the virus because I touched the bottle and I did have a cut on my hand that was a few days old.
So of course I was freaking out and when I went the dr I told her what happened. She said that unless my cut was open (not scabbed over) I had nothing to worry about. The virus does not live outside the body and unless you are having unprotected sex or sharing needles with a person that has the virus the chances of catching it are slim. I tested negative for the virus when I was tested a few months later.
Now I am not a dr so if you are really worried you may want to talk to one and maybe get tested.
I hope I was able to help you...Good luck