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Could I of caught HIV.


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Long story short, a guy I work with cut his finger on a Christmas bauble that was in a shopping basket. I didn't know, I then  looked through the same basket, as it's customer returns and its my job  to put them away. possibly coming in contact with his blood. A few moments later he  then handed me something. I then noticed he was cut and he didn't have a plaster on. 

I have cuts all over rmy fingers due to skin biting because of anxiety. 

Sorry for any spelling mistakes I'm on the bus as I type this. 

 

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You are making an assumption for a start that this person has HIV. Hey may not. Secondly, even if he did, my understanding is that unless it was an open wound you have, you are very unlikely to have much to worry about. But even so, you are playing at odds here. Ask yourself what are the odds that all these assumptions are actually correct? If you are concerned, wash your hands and then move on. I think you have very little to be actually concerned of. 

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I really don't know. At first when I typed this I thought it was another ocd moment. This happened on Thursday. The bauble I cut myself on, I couldn't see any blood, but I wasn't really looking for it. But there could have been a tiny bit on blood on the bit I cut myself on. I really don't know what to do. 

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I don't think anything could help. I think if the person I work with has hiv I could catch it, even though I didn't see any visible blood on the bauble or the item he passed me. I'll have to wait now and get a test. Then deal with the outcome. 

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I don't think anything could help.

Really??  OCD specialists would strongly disagree with you I think.  Fear of catching HIV is one of the very common forms.  What would those specialists/books/recovered sufferers recommend that you do?

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22 minutes ago, Caramoole said:

Really??  OCD specialists would strongly disagree with you I think.  Fear of catching HIV is one of the very common forms.  What would those specialists/books/recovered sufferers recommend that you do?

When this first happened on Thursday I thought it was an ocd fear but now I think it is an actual possibility I could of caught it, depending on if he guy has it himself. 

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14 minutes ago, Snowflake said:
39 minutes ago, Caramoole said:

 

When this first happened on Thursday I thought it was an ocd fear but now I think it is an actual possibility I could of caught it, depending on if he guy has it himself

and don't you think that this is typical for an OCD sufferer?

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Hiv is a very fragile virus that dies on contact with air. It's hard to catch. The only way you can catch it as an adult is through unprotected sex or sharing needles with a hiv+ person who's not on treatment, or a needlestick injury if a healthcare professional. If on treatment, undetectable = untransmittable.

I say this as someone with severe hiv ocd - those are the facts. In theory, if you were in a knife fight and bleeding and being bled profusely into then hiv could possibly be transmitted, but the situation you've described isn't a risk.

I'm obsessed with stepping on used needles- my GUM doctor told me the probability is so low that it's miniscule. You don't need to test- unless you've been having unprotected sex or sharing needles with someone then you are NOT at risk. 

This is ocd, pure and simple. 

Sending you sympathetic and empathetic hugs xx

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Thank you everyone for replying. It means a lot. 

2 hours ago, ThisIsNotMyIdeaOfAGoodTime said:

Hiv is a very fragile virus that dies on contact with air. It's hard to catch. The only way you can catch it as an adult is through unprotected sex or sharing needles with a hiv+ person who's not on treatment, or a needlestick injury if a healthcare professional. If on treatment, undetectable = untransmittable.

I say this as someone with severe hiv ocd - those are the facts. In theory, if you were in a knife fight and bleeding and being bled profusely into then hiv could possibly be transmitted, but the situation you've described isn't a risk.

I'm obsessed with stepping on used needles- my GUM doctor told me the probability is so low that it's miniscule. You don't need to test- unless you've been having unprotected sex or sharing needles with someone then you are NOT at risk. 

This is ocd, pure and simple. 

Sending you sympathetic and empathetic hugs xx

I've been researching it all day, everything I've red says that hiv can last outside the body for days. I really don't know. This is the worst hiv issue I've had. I'm an idiot sometimes. If I was careful I might not have cut myself. I don't even want to go to work. It was smy day off today and  i've spent the whole day crying. I told my boyfriend that if I have it I'd kill myself, I shouldn't of said that to him x

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10 hours ago, Snowflake said:

Thank you everyone for replying. It means a lot. 

I've been researching it all day, everything I've red says that hiv can last outside the body for days. I really don't know. This is the worst hiv issue I've had. I'm an idiot sometimes. If I was careful I might not have cut myself. I don't even want to go to work. It was smy day off today and  i've spent the whole day crying. I told my boyfriend that if I have it I'd kill myself, I shouldn't of said that to him x

Hiv CAN'T last as a transmittable virus for days. It really does die on contact with air which is why it has to be bodily fluids inside another body (such as sex) or an airtight container such as a syringe which you inject into your body (and even then, the odds are a lot lower than for unprotected sex). Blood that's had contact with air is not infectious plus a cut on your finger or bitten nails will have protective skin cells covering them as they heal. Your body is amazing at protecting itself against viruses. You have not been at risk for hiv.

 If you don't believe me, read the poz.com forums, esp the have I been infected section-  the facilitators are all hiv+ and very knowledgeable. I learnt a lot about hiv transmission, which has really helped my ocd. Don't read any other sites. Googling is not your friend. 

I know how scared you are, but you are working yourself up into a frenzy about nothing. This is an ocd thought, not reality.  Sending you hugs xx

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Why do you even assume that this man has HIV? I don't know much about the illness, but I don't think it's THAT common. What are the chances that someone you work with even has the condition? Then, if it were so easy to transmit to other people, it would spread so much faster. People with HIV do live with others and sometimes cut themselves, do all of their friends and families then get the condition too? I'm pretty sure if that was the case, HIV would have spread so much faster and people would have been quarantined. I really think you have nothing at all to worry about! 

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lol funny anecdote from me, I once had a cut in my mouth, really small, I shared a can of pop with this guy I was working with, at the time I was working as door to door sales, a few of them rough as old boots, and ex prisoners, the worst of them was this guy, he didnt look like he cared who he had sex with or anything anyway, that got me in my head, I was anxious over it and I made my self look a right idiot pesturing one of the guys asking about if he has sex with any girl and went through ruminations trying to figure out wether this guy had been promiscious. Lol.

anyway i dont worry about it now, funny though when i think back to this i think about just how important it is we address our thinking as a whole, because SOMETHING will ALWAYS come up if we don't.

Edited by humbleno1
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2 hours ago, ThisIsNotMyIdeaOfAGoodTime said:

Hiv CAN'T last as a transmittable virus for days. It really does die on contact with air which is why it has to be bodily fluids inside another body (such as sex) or an airtight container such as a syringe which you inject into your body (and even then, the odds are a lot lower than for unprotected sex). Blood that's had contact with air is not infectious plus a cut on your finger or bitten nails will have protective skin cells covering them as they heal. Your body is amazing at protecting itself against viruses. You have not been at risk for hiv.

 If you don't believe me, read the poz.com forums, esp the have I been infected section-  the facilitators are all hiv+ and very knowledgeable. I learnt a lot about hiv transmission, which has really helped my ocd. Don't read any other sites. Googling is not your friend. 

I know how scared you are, but you are working yourself up into a frenzy about nothing. This is an ocd thought, not reality.  Sending you hugs xx

I know that you're only trying to help and offer your support which is really kind :) but we shouldn't be offering Snowflake this type of reassurance.  In the long run it won't help at all

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7 hours ago, Caramoole said:

I know that you're only trying to help and offer your support which is really kind :) but we shouldn't be offering Snowflake this type of reassurance.  In the long run it won't help at all

In this case 'cruelty' is kindness. 

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On 04/11/2018 at 14:32, Caramoole said:

I know that you're only trying to help and offer your support which is really kind :) but we shouldn't be offering Snowflake this type of reassurance.  In the long run it won't help at all

Sorry - yes, I was giving reassurance. I was just hoping that if the OP educated themselves on how hiv is actually transmitted, as I did, it might lessen the ocd panic. I know the OP could think of a million what if's, as i did, but knowing the facts has definitely helped me differentiate between what is a real hiv threat and what is an ocd thought. I didn't mean to upset anyone or harm the OP and exacerbate their ocd. Sending hugs xx 

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I think sometimes researching facts can help to a point but I also think it can be very dangerous. As someone who doesn't have this theme it would never ever cross my mind to worry about hiv, and I don't think it's necessarily useful to try to distinguish between a 'real' threat  and an ocd threat - if you have ocd about this theme then finding that line can become very compulsive. I personally think a rule of thumb is that nothing aside from unprotected sex is a plausible threat for most people, assuming you are not sharing needles. Anything outside of that is ocd talking. 

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11 hours ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

I think sometimes researching facts can help to a point but I also think it can be very dangerous. 

I agree. I had this obsession for many years- it's still not completely gone. My main compulsions were researching (the internet mainly), avoiding places/activities that I saw as "high risk", and having HIV tests every time I thought I might have been exposed (I think I've had around 5 which is probably pretty low for this type of obsession).

The internet is an amazing tool that we're very lucky to have- but it can be a minefield for someone with OCD.

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On 05/11/2018 at 20:21, ThisIsNotMyIdeaOfAGoodTime said:

Sorry - yes, I was giving reassurance. I was just hoping that if the OP educated themselves on how hiv is actually transmitted, as I did, it might lessen the ocd panic. I know the OP could think of a million what if's, as i did, but knowing the facts has definitely helped me differentiate between what is a real hiv threat and what is an ocd thought. I didn't mean to upset anyone or harm the OP and exacerbate their ocd. Sending hugs xx 

I found your information helpful. It's helped me to think a little more rational. Thank you.

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