“I’m curious to know your take on a situation I’m in. I’m a 20 year old female and I’ve had sex with 5 men. About 3 weeks ago, I had a one night stand with someone whom I later found out is verrrryy promiscuous. He’s been with 25-30 women. After hearing this info, I freaked. We used a condom, but I’ve been examining my crotch every day nonetheless. I’m completely paranoid about STDs. Everything looks normal and I got my period and I’ve had my Gardisil vaccine so…am I in the clear?“
I’m really glad to hear that you’re taking steps to stay safe(r) when you have sex. :)
A condom covers you for most STIs, so that is good; the only ones that you might not have been protected from are herpes and syphilis because these can be transmitted just from contact with infected skin (in the case of Herpes this can happen sometimes even when nothing is visible, because of viral shedding).
Syphilis is icky, but you’ll usually see lesions within around 21 days (so you’ll know if you have it) and it’s totally treatable with antibiotics (yay!). Herpes is a little more sneaky and might not show anything for a while.
Using a condom does decrease your chances of catching these two by 50%. Plus, syphilis is definitely less common these days. As for herpes, it really depends on what circles you and he travel in. You mostly likely don’t need to panic, but if you are worried you can always get checked out by a doctor and let them know about your concerns.
Ideally it’s nice to get an idea of your partners’ sexual history before you have sex with them (including the results of a recent STI exam), but in reality we all know that doesn’t always happen – often the best you can do is protect yourself using condoms [like you did] and dental dams.
Stay safe out there folks and get tested often!
Wow, what wonderful advice. And some of it (viral shedding) is new to me.
Sorry for the response here, can’t find your message in that mess I call an inbox. Yes we’re still doing the show, and yes we’re based out of Milton, if any of the people you know (or you for that matter) wanna do a phoner or other stuff tell them to drop me a line at [email protected]
Thanks stranger… ;-)
R
You should also mention that condoms reduce but do not eliminate the risk of contracting HPV. HPV is problematic because there is no official test for men, so even someone with a “clean” bill of health from their most recent STI screening may still carry the virus and pass it on to their partner.
The question asker mentioned that she had been vaccinated against HPV which is GREAT, but I figured a note addressing HPV might be helpful to other readers who may not have been.
Keep up the good work Shay.
HPV (Herpes) can be transmitted by kissing or less and 90% of all people have it anyway. Also compared to other sexually transmittable diseases it’s very harmless – almost always – and just a nuisance. It doesn’t eat your brain like syphilis or kill your immune system like HIV.
Oops, confused HPV (warts) with HSV (Herpes).
STL – I was about to give you a hard time for just repeating what I had already said, but then I realized you weren’t responding to the question I thought you were (since I haven’t posted that particular question and answer about Herpes yet). haha