OP, I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I'm sure it would've been tough hearing about it. And props for speaking out about it. Too many people glorify raw dogging so much in 3rd world countries, that its insane. I've heard of a few Chlamydia and pregnancy scares but never HIV.
I thought I would, for the rest of the readers here put STDS and HIV in perspective. Mark Manson has a great article on it which was written in 2011, and should still apply today.
HIV
Living With It: Expensive and stressful, but assuming you’re not African, you’ll live.
Curable: No
US Prevalence: 1.1 million 19
RAW Score: 1,250 Partners (significantly fewer partners if engaging in anal sex)
Condoms Protect: Yes
HIV is no longer the death warrant it once was. Don’t get me wrong, contracting it would be awful and surely life-altering. But you would live. I just hope you have good health insurance. As of 2011, the life expectancy of someone who contracts HIV is 40 years from the day they contract it. When in doubt, just look at Magic Johnson.
There are some demographics which are far more likely to catch HIV than others, primarily gay men and drug users. 80% of all HIV cases come from gay men or drug addicts who use dirty needles. When it comes to vaginal sex, it’s almost impossible for a man to catch it from a woman, while a woman can catch it from a man. But anal sex seems to be the big culprit here.
Also, I hate to say it, but HIV positive cases are predominantly lower income classes. African-Americans account disproportionately for 42% of all HIV cases in the US. The disease practically doesn’t exist in Western Europe at this point.20 And in 2013, there were some very early accounts of people possibly being cured of the disease and things still look promising.
The symptoms of HIV are flu-like symptoms a couple weeks after contracting it. From there, your immune system slowly shuts down over the period of years. There are a lot of therapies and treatments available and most people who contract it are able to live functional, mostly normal lives, assuming they get the proper medical care. So the news on the HIV front over the past few decades has actually been mostly good.21
But still, use a damn condom.
https://markmanson.net/std-guide
I thought I would, for the rest of the readers here put STDS and HIV in perspective. Mark Manson has a great article on it which was written in 2011, and should still apply today.
HIV
Living With It: Expensive and stressful, but assuming you’re not African, you’ll live.
Curable: No
US Prevalence: 1.1 million 19
RAW Score: 1,250 Partners (significantly fewer partners if engaging in anal sex)
Condoms Protect: Yes
HIV is no longer the death warrant it once was. Don’t get me wrong, contracting it would be awful and surely life-altering. But you would live. I just hope you have good health insurance. As of 2011, the life expectancy of someone who contracts HIV is 40 years from the day they contract it. When in doubt, just look at Magic Johnson.
There are some demographics which are far more likely to catch HIV than others, primarily gay men and drug users. 80% of all HIV cases come from gay men or drug addicts who use dirty needles. When it comes to vaginal sex, it’s almost impossible for a man to catch it from a woman, while a woman can catch it from a man. But anal sex seems to be the big culprit here.
Also, I hate to say it, but HIV positive cases are predominantly lower income classes. African-Americans account disproportionately for 42% of all HIV cases in the US. The disease practically doesn’t exist in Western Europe at this point.20 And in 2013, there were some very early accounts of people possibly being cured of the disease and things still look promising.
The symptoms of HIV are flu-like symptoms a couple weeks after contracting it. From there, your immune system slowly shuts down over the period of years. There are a lot of therapies and treatments available and most people who contract it are able to live functional, mostly normal lives, assuming they get the proper medical care. So the news on the HIV front over the past few decades has actually been mostly good.21
But still, use a damn condom.
https://markmanson.net/std-guide