Someone HIV-1 Positive

[princealbertofb]

that's because the odds of contracting HIV from receptive anal intercourse are lower than 2%. you're gonna have to play the lottery many times to win at such odds. and because some people actually have a resistance to certain strains of HIV. they have a mutation in a chemokine receptor that disallows HIV virus's entry into the cell (it needs to enter the cell to survive and infect you).

i don't mean to make little of the matter here, people should practice safe sex where common sense demands it. 2% is not zero, after all.

... and plenty of people have gone down with it... let's not make that happen again.

Good luck, Anonymous.

[princealbertofb]

I know someone who recently confessed he's tested positive for HIV (HIV-1). He hasn't tested positive for AIDS yet, though, so does this mean his infection was fairly recent? He called to let me know because we slept together a couple weeks ago. It was unprotected, penetrative sex, and I let him finish inside me............

I've never been seriously ill in my life prior to this. I was just wondering what's the life expectancy of someone who tests positive that from here on out watches their health closely?

In the course of events, what is not clear, Anonymous, is whether that person knew they were positive before you had unprotected sex together a couple of weeks ago ... or did he find out in the fortnight between you two having penetrative sex and him telling you? Because if he actually knew it beforehand, it was really uncool of him, not to mention downright irresponsible, not to take care of protection. Again, not judging but trying to understand. With a bit of luck, his viral load will soon be undiscernable, and yours will either be negative or need to be treated for the same kind of thing. Your life expectancy is much better than it was when the crisis first started.

[Anonymous]

To East

Did you ever get tested to know if you have the genetic predisposition that makes one resistant to HIV? It's in something like 1% of the European population. I read this story of one HIV positive guy, how he got "cured" of HIV after he received a bone marrow from a donor who is naturally resistant to HIV. Maybe that's why you've been so lucky? I wish I had even just a quarter of your luck.

To Cuddly

Thanks for the info bud. At least now I know someone I can contact directly if I want to know more. I might PM you soon.

To jimcrackcorn

What about government-funded meds? I've already read up on some of my options and I know I can get free lifetime medication funded by the government hosted in certain hospitals. Hopefully that's enough because I actually don't have insurance. I didn't grow up very bright and am unfortunately ill-prepared on the financial side of things.

To OlderButWiser

Hopefully the "boring" missionary sex we had was gentle enough that I didn't get any tears down there so that there's much less chance I got the virus. I will definitely get tested as soon as I can and will likely let you guys know. Apart from my family who I do plan to make aware if I do test positive, this is the only place I have to share my predicament in, and I know I could really use the support.

To James

Yeah I think this is what I read about before that I also mentioned to East to possibly explain his luck from having unprotected sex with hundreds of men around the time this started becoming a thing and still ending up testing negative.

To princealbertofb

The guy did not know. He thought he was clean because he relied on his annual medical, which I understand is not enough to know your HIV status because labs can't just test your blood for antibodies without your permission. It's even illegal in some places. When I found out about this, and knowing his activities, I urged him to get tested specifically for HIV because I did say in my post before I was interested in starting up a relationship with him. The thing that happened between us happened 2 weeks ago, and the conversation for the HIV test happened last week. He finally got tested yesterday and that was when he got the bad news and called to let me know.

Anyway, even if he did know his status prior to what happened between us, yes it was definitely irresponsible of him to not use protection. But I share the blame as well. I let my better judgment get the best of me. I allowed it to happen, and now I'm in this predicament. I wanna agree it wasn't cool of him, but I just can't find the justification for it. My own health is my own responsibility, and I know it takes two to tango. If I insisted on protection, regardless of status, I would have much much less to worry about right now, but I stupidly didn't.

[excalibur77]

Hopefully, Anon, the odds are in your favor. It wonderful to see that, given your current situation, it looks like you're doing your best to learn what you can about HIV. If you're positive, having mentioned you're not prepared financially and you don't have insurance, I can't speak for your location, but I know here in the Philippines the meds are free, and we're a 3rd world country. Here, one would only need to pay for the initial lab work and CD4. After that you become "qualified" for ARV meds, which are free from then on out, courtesy of PhilHealth. You have to pay monthly "donations," though, but that's better than nothing. Depending on where you are, I'm sure you have your options.

Keep your head up. I'll keep you in my prayers so hopefully you come out negative.
You're already in the right mindset as far as responsibility with your health goes, so please keep that up when you find out the results, good or bad news.

[trywait]

this is a slight tangent to the op, but thanks to looking I understand that "house in Virginia" is a euphemism for hiv now

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Rumor has it that many people who first contract HIV get slight flu-like symptoms within the first months, once their viral load gets high enough.

Rumor also has it that onset of further symptoms, which would most likely be opportunistic secondary infection can occur as soon as a month to as late as many years after initially contracting HIV.

My Ex presented with shingles, doctor ran and HIV test and discovered he was positive. Aside from regular testing when you are sexually active or doing other activities where contraction of HIV is possible, one usually can go several years before onset of serious health disorder that calls attention to the low T-cell count accompanies by high viral load.

As for symptoms, HIV doesn't have symptoms that are recognizable as such. What it does is compromise immune system, thus allowing other diseases to get a foothold and it is usually through those other ailments that a person is not tested regularly gets the bad news.

[princealbertofb]

To princealbertofb

The guy did not know. He thought he was clean because he relied on his annual medical, which I understand is not enough to know your HIV status because labs can't just test your blood for antibodies without your permission. It's even illegal in some places. When I found out about this, and knowing his activities, I urged him to get tested specifically for HIV because I did say in my post before I was interested in starting up a relationship with him. The thing that happened between us happened 2 weeks ago, and the conversation for the HIV test happened last week. He finally got tested yesterday and that was when he got the bad news and called to let me know.

Anyway, even if he did know his status prior to what happened between us, yes it was definitely irresponsible of him to not use protection. But I share the blame as well. I let my better judgment get the best of me. I allowed it to happen, and now I'm in this predicament. I wanna agree it wasn't cool of him, but I just can't find the justification for it. My own health is my own responsibility, and I know it takes two to tango. If I insisted on protection, regardless of status, I would have much much less to worry about right now, but I stupidly didn't.

Anonymous, you're human, and humans make mistakes. In the second episode of season two of Looking, what you're going through is exactly what Patrick goes through, although his partner swears, afterwards, that he's not HIV positive. But Patrick had been worrying ever since they fucked bareback.
The doctor says to him: "People make mistakes, don't blame yourself".

I hope you will test negative and this will be a wake up call. If you still plan a relationship with this partner, he needs to get treated, and you now definitely need to change your sexual practices, it doesn't mean you have to stop having sex. Read up about it.