Kane902

Thanks guys. I did finally convince myself to see my doctor and get a blood req form so I will be getting tested this month (I won't know the results until my next scheduled doctor's appointment). Reading everyone's reassurance actually did help me feel a bit better. The fact is in this business most people can't talk to people in their regular life about it - in my case I had nobody and the anxiety was just building up so badly into numerous panic attacks I've honestly never experienced before. And yeah even though this thread is mostly about the testing anxiety I have, it is definitely important to talk about testing because I ran a search through the entire Lyla board and barely found any discussion on it. And thinking back to my encounters, it never really came up. In my experience, providers who are open to gfe kissing, dfk, daty, bbbj, etc would just make a judgement call like 'you seem cool, ok!', and then get on with it. Now that I've obsessively researched everything to death, that really doesn't seem like enough. It's hard to bring up though because you don't want to be insulting to either party, ruin the mood, or ruin the encounter.

This is why I was worried about HIV because back when I was a hobbyist I also assumed, if I have no obvious symptoms then I'm fine. But looking into signs of HIV, not everyone experiences symptoms and it can vary. For most people that contract it, they will have an acute infection period several weeks after the exposure which usually lasts 1-4 weeks. The acute infection can be as mild as a cold, or it could be what some people describe as the worst flu ever. You might have symptoms as mild as a sore throat, while others could have swollen lymph nodes, a rash, night sweats, zero energy, etc. After the acute infection period is over, you could not have any more symptoms for years. The only way to know for sure is to get tested. Sorry if I sound like Wikipedia or something but I've been obsessively researching everything about this for weeks like a crazy hypochondriac lol

Specifically for HIV the risk for BBBJ is negligible unless there are open sores/cuts in the mouth and/or cuts on the penis. HIV bacteria also isn't carried well in saliva which is why kissing is negligible as well.

A few sources I found say that the HIV transmission risk for males in vaginal sex is between 0.01%-0.38% per encounter with positive female without a condom. The rate goes up depending on incorrect condom usage/broken condoms and if the HIV positive partner's viral load is high, especially during the acute infection period. I've been inactive for over 3 years now and haven't shown any signs or symptoms of anything really. I've had plenty of bloodwork done in that time but they were just regular blood tests and didn't test my CD4 levels that HIV tests for.

Hey guys, I had an account on here for several years but had it deleted recently as I've stopped seeing escorts. I was wondering how often both SPs and Hobbyists in Halifax get tested for STDs and STIs (specifically HIV), and if it's something you worry about despite the usage of condoms for FS. I know there is minimal/negligible risk for BBBJ. I'm also aware that statistically the risk for men in heterosexual sex for HIV is extremely low, and with a condom that number is reduced even further. I recently found out that the last time I was tested, I was only tested for STIs and I was not tested for HIV. So I don't have a confirmed negative result for everything from after I stopped being a hobbyist. The anxiety is killing me and I'm terrified of going to get tested and waiting for the results. I guess I'm here to look for reassurance and to also start a discussion because really, no one talks about this enough. For the 1-2 years that I was active, I saw around 15 escorts mostly in Halifax. Though I was usually careful about seeing credible providers from Backpage and Lyla (I wasn't active after Backpage went down), there were a few meetups that were not in the best circumstances in hindsight. I used condoms for FS in every encounter and not once did one break or slip off. I know I just need to go get tested, but I'm hoping I can reduce my anxiety about it by talking. I really haven't had any symptoms and my long term SO just tested negative last week. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!