Waiting for the AIDS and STD test results - A time for REFLECTION

[james t kirk]

Couldn't help but notice a thread about BBFS (bare back full service.)

Well, I can't believe anyone would be so stupid.

This sometimes hobbiest just went for his AIDS and STD test last wednesday evening at the hassle free clinic.

The results won't be in for a week and a bit.

Let me put it to you this way. Right now is a time for reflection. Reflection about the things I may have done, that I may have forgotten about, but now I wonder a bit about.

Probably alot of you BBFS guys don't even bother with an AIDS tests do you? Just run all over town trying to find a pussy to shoot a load into.

It's ok right, no worries, you're not gay. (Well, maybe there was that time...., but doesn't make you gay)

Get off the gay kick.

You want to be a bit enlightened. Go for an AIDS test at the hassle free.

In fact, here's the link....

http://www.hasslefreeclinic.org/index.html

Go on down. I finally sucked it up and did.

First, AIDS and syphilis testing are annonymous, so don't worry. But then they want to talk to you.

Ha ha, now it's time to squirm a bit.

Ever done this, ever done that? What about this? What about that?

Who hasn't done that you think. They tell you some more info.

You can get the picture.

Bare back anything is at the top of the list there boys by the way. Apparently the end of your penis is a perfect place for the AIDS virus to enter your body. I never knew that.

But it's cool, the guy doesn't judge you, but he does tell you the straight up facts as they are in the health industry today.

I listened, I could feel my heart beating a bit in my chest. I wondered as he looked at me what he was thinking? He marks the answers down on a sheet. He offered me some free condoms, I declined, still kind of unsure of myself. Like when a stranger offers you a drink, but you decline out of politeness.

Then he takes a vial of blood out of you and gives you a number.

Then you go back to the waiting room and wait to see a doctor for the second round of tests - the standard STD's.

You look at the other guys in the waiting room, they look at you. You wonder. You wonder about yourself. And you think to yourself no matter what i think, I am no different than anyone else here.

You look at the walls.

You look at the bulletin boards and you see the HIV support groups for men, for women. Your stomach gets a bit lighter. You look over at the other wall. There's lots of pamphlets on everything under the sun connected with sexually transmitted diseases. You pick one up, but you can't seem to be able to read. Hand me that Globe and Mail over there please.

Then it's your turn with the doctor.

The doctor then goes over your sheet that you just filled out. A few more tests and an exam. Again, no judgement.

So now i wait for my test results, and time.

A time for reflection.

 

[superjohnsmooth]

Waiting for my

AIDS test results was one of the freakiest times I can remember. I went last summer and it played with my nerves.

Well all we can do is play as safe as we can and hope for the best.

Do these multi billion dollar condom companies control the world or what?

It makes me sick. Maybe if HIV hits the Whitehouse, Africa may in fact be saved.

 

[zog]

Bleeding for the public....

I give blood twice a year as I feel that this is a good use of a resource that I happen to have. I believe that anyone who can should participate because it helps many and, one day, may help you too.

I know that they ask you all kinds of intrusive questions about your sex life (and some of these questions seem way off-base - but more about that another time). I also understand that all the blood gets tested before it is used.

Does anyone know if the Blood Services people will contact you if there is anything found in your blood? Is this an effective alternative to getting a specific test from your doctor or from the hassle-free clinic?

Zog.

 

[zog]

Interesting...

My friend was notified through mail that he didn't qualify as a donor. When asked why they couldn't or wouldn't give him an explanation. Ends up he had too many trace amounts of recreational drugs in his system, but he had to find that out through his own doctor.

This is interesting. I've never had any such contact from Blood Services. Does this mean that I'm clean?

I'm asking because many people have told me that blood-donation is a valid alternative to getting tested privately. I wonder if this is true?

Zog.

 

[james t kirk]

Re: Interesting...

This is interesting. I've never had any such contact from Blood Services. Does this mean that I'm clean?

I'm asking because many people have told me that blood-donation is a valid alternative to getting tested privately. I wonder if this is true?

Zog.

It would seem obvious to me that you don't know now do you.

"I heard"

"So and so says"

"shoulds woulda coulda"

Besides, what about all the other STDS that are out there that a blood test doesn't reveal. I know with me that the blood test is only used for AIDS and Syphilis. Everything else was swab and urine test. If hassle free could do one stop shopping with a blood test, i am sure that they would.

 

[zog]

That's why I posted...

Thanks for pointing out the obvious. I posted because I was looking for information about Blood Services tests. Does anyone actually know how it works or do you just want to tell me that I don't know the answer?

Zog.

P.S. Sorry JTK...I seem to have derailed your thread.

 

[elaine]

Zog if you pay for service, dont give blood

And you can use the excuse, I gave her money for companionship, not sex, so I can answer no to that question. But what about the question about have your sex partners been paid with money or drugs for sex acts. You dont know the history of the ladies.

Hep C, wasn't known about, now it is. Would you like to take a walk into Sick kids and know/see what it feels like twenty years down the road after knowingly lied and accidently infected someone.

Its not fair, and its selfish if it makes you feel good. The people recieving your blood is trusting you the donour before trusting the blood banks,

and why would you use their resources for blood screens? Use the latest technology at the local free clinics.

It never bothered me that much not being able to be a direct donor to my son, until I've been reading about all the dishonesty on htose questions. I wish I had given him mine, I'm trusting me now more then I trust you.

tsk,tsk! These are humans, your not god. Donate money, it'll make you feel just the same.

Ps: I got a mouse today! yipppee

 

[fflowley]

reply to zog

zog

I strongly second the recommendation that you NOT use a blood donation center as a "back - door" way to get STD tests (specifically blood transmitted diseases).

Realize that the testing procedures for blood borne disease are not perfect. In fact, they are moist likely to give false negative results shortly after infection has occurred.

The scenario thats scary is this one: You have a risky encounter that makes you want to go get tested for HIV. You go to a blood center and donate. While you may have been infected, the test comes back negative. Now YOU are misled into thinking you weren't infected and you miss out on getting the appropriate care. In addition there is now contaminated material in the blood supply. That's like shooting blindly into a crowded subway car; someone is going to pay a heavy price for it.

If you're really worried, face up to it and go get things done the right way.

Flooey!

 

[james t kirk]

ah, by the way, according to hassle free, it takes 2 to 3 months from the time of infection with HIV to being able to diagnose it.

In other words, if you had unprotected intercourse less than 3 months ago, you won't know.

If you pay for sex, you shouldn't donate blood i agree.

Oh yeah, i forgot, the hassle free will give you a free hep B shot which is a three shot series.

The first obviously is when you are there, the second a month later, the third 6 mos. later.

Hep B is sexually transmitted and can kill you.

See the link for the hassle free site, click on the men's clinic, and they list all the sexually transmitted diseases they test for, what they are, what the implications are, etc.

 

[zog]

Whoah!!

Settle down...

I don't use the Blood Services as a substitute for a blood test and I don't run off to give blood after a "risky" encounter. I give blood at regularly scheduled intervals and not for the purpose of being tested.

If protected sex with an SP that does not (adimittedly - claim to) offer BB service of any kind is a risky encounter then I do occasionally have them. I don't see these encounters as high-risk, however. SPs have more partners than the average woman but most of the smart ones are better protected than the average as well.

How safe is the girl you bring home from a bar only to discover that she's ready to go without a condom? Sure, you used one anyway...but is she safer than a no-BB-service SP?

At any rate, the question about Blood Services was intended to better understand their process and compare them with the ideas I've heard from people I know. As it happens, unrelated circumstances in my life require me to be tested every six months for a variety of things including STDs and HIV/Aids. I don't personally need Blood Services to validate my health.

I agree that using Blood donation in lieu of testing is wrong. I brought this question up because I have heard people claim they are disease-free for this reason; heck, I even had a girl make this claim to justify her request for no condom. As it troubled me, I wanted some insight into whether this was a valid argument.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this question.

Zog.

 

[LApartyer]

Good thread, JTK. I went through that about 5 or 6 years ago. I saw an SP in Boston, seemed upscale, etc. and we used a condom. It broke. I spent the next 3 weeks worrying and obsessing and going over all sorts of scenarios in my mind and finally went to a clinic and got tested. Then sat back and waited and obsessed more. No STDs but then I worried for months about coming down with something worse. I'm far from a prude but these threads about BBFS are unbelievable. It wasn't that long ago that only the most desperate crack addict on the street would even contemplate doing that and now we've got a number of ladies who are doing it. Not that much has changed medically. You can still get STDs easily from that and while Magic Johnson has survived, a lot of people who got infected when he did are gone. Personally, I wouldn't see anyone who will do FS for a couple of bucks more or even a lot more. Great at the time but not worth the mind games you play with yourself afterward.

 

[aa84aa]

re: Testing

J T Kirk

I couldn't agree with you more that being tested is a time for reflection. It is sobering...but it gives you peace of mind when the result come back (if negative). After being tested, I resolved to play safer, and I make a yearly pilgrimage to get tested.

I had to smile when you explained the examination and yet didn't explain the examination! What the doctor actually does with the swab, and in the examination is one of the more unpleasant experiences I can remember.

For those of you in the West End, you can also visit the STD Clinic in Mississauga as I did, located on the NW corner of Hurontario/Dundas, as well as several other STD clinics around the city. The only problem with the Mississauga location is all the teenagers in the waiting room, and having to deal with immature stares and teen angst. Most of the city's clinics require you to book an appointment...to my knowledge the downtown Hassle Free is the only to offer walk-in service.

aa84aa

 

[Thunderballs]

Zog and anyone else who hobbies, if you are in fact hobbying please do not give blood. If the Canadian Blood Services was so certain of their screening procedures, why then do they automatically disqualify those who have engaged in risky behavior (gay sex, IV drug users, those who have paid for sex, etc). Do everyone a favor and if you do hobby, simply do not give blood. It is just not needed that badly that you have to put innocent people at risk.
As for using blood donations for your own personal testing service, surely no one could be that ignorant or that selfish?