Aa
Not Sure If I'm a Risk!
Hi Drs.
I would like to thank you for your work on this forum. Your answers are enlightening and comforting.
I had unprotected sex last night with a girl I've been dating (white, non-IV drug user). We had been using condoms and then the heat of the moment took over. I tested at Christmas for all STDs and was negative. Since then I've had two encounters with CSWs in London. I'm pretty sure they were fully protected - condoms were used at all times - and if I've read correctly, if a condom fails it's pretty obvious that it has? Then I began dating this girl.
At any rate, it's been 14/15 hours since we had unprotected sex. I'm more concerned about whether I was a threat to her rather than vice versa...and I suppose what I'm asking is, if I can find a doctor that does rapid HIV testing, would you recommend it? I don't really believe I contracted HIV from either of the protected encounters I mentioned, but if I had, I could let her know and she could get PEP??
Am I overanalyzing this? Again, thanks so much for providing this service. Your both worth your respective weights in gold!
I would like to thank you for your work on this forum. Your answers are enlightening and comforting.
I had unprotected sex last night with a girl I've been dating (white, non-IV drug user). We had been using condoms and then the heat of the moment took over. I tested at Christmas for all STDs and was negative. Since then I've had two encounters with CSWs in London. I'm pretty sure they were fully protected - condoms were used at all times - and if I've read correctly, if a condom fails it's pretty obvious that it has? Then I began dating this girl.
At any rate, it's been 14/15 hours since we had unprotected sex. I'm more concerned about whether I was a threat to her rather than vice versa...and I suppose what I'm asking is, if I can find a doctor that does rapid HIV testing, would you recommend it? I don't really believe I contracted HIV from either of the protected encounters I mentioned, but if I had, I could let her know and she could get PEP??
Am I overanalyzing this? Again, thanks so much for providing this service. Your both worth your respective weights in gold!
Dr. H,
Heartfelt thanks. There is indeed a disconnect! Far less so than in the past, but still there. I really appreciate your response:)
Heartfelt thanks. There is indeed a disconnect! Far less so than in the past, but still there. I really appreciate your response:)
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
If you were at significant risk of having HIV yourself, then of course the responsible thing would be to confirm whether or not you are infected and also inform your partner of the risk. But from reviewing the several threads in which you have participated on the HIV community forum over the past several months, it is obvious you are not at risk and do not have HIV. That is corroborated by the low risk nature of your more recent condom-protected CSW exposures. (The UK Health Protection Agency estimates that fewer than 1 in every 1000 CSWs in the UK are infected with HIV.)
Your comments here and in the other forum reveal an interesting disconnect in your thinking. On the one hand, you clearly are overly anxious about HIV and the risks, but on the other, you have reassured others about their own low risks. In other words, you have an intellectual understanding of the low risks of the sorts of activities you describe, but you have trouble applying that knowledge to your own situation.
As a person who is sexually active outside a committed, mutually monogamous relationship, you should be tested for HIV and other STDs from time to time, like every 1-2 years. Other than that, you do not need testing followins any particular sexual encounter, unless it is much higher risk than you describe here -- e.g., unprotected sex with a particularly high risk partner, or sex with a known HIV infected person.
Neither you nor your new partner need HIV testing at this point, and PEP is out of the question.
Thanks for the thanks about the forum. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
Your comments here and in the other forum reveal an interesting disconnect in your thinking. On the one hand, you clearly are overly anxious about HIV and the risks, but on the other, you have reassured others about their own low risks. In other words, you have an intellectual understanding of the low risks of the sorts of activities you describe, but you have trouble applying that knowledge to your own situation.
As a person who is sexually active outside a committed, mutually monogamous relationship, you should be tested for HIV and other STDs from time to time, like every 1-2 years. Other than that, you do not need testing followins any particular sexual encounter, unless it is much higher risk than you describe here -- e.g., unprotected sex with a particularly high risk partner, or sex with a known HIV infected person.
Neither you nor your new partner need HIV testing at this point, and PEP is out of the question.
Thanks for the thanks about the forum. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the HIV - Prevention Forum
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
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Frequency of HIV testing depends on your risk.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) may help prevent HIV infection.
