bearbandit

I don't know if the guy is still working - I doubt it as we're talking twenty odd years ago - but I had a Celtic band done by a guy in Portobello Road in London. It was the only tattoo I've ever had where I had to call a break (two in fact) because of the pain, when normally I quite get off on the experience. It scabbed up, despite me using my usual routine to keep it clean and moisturised. It got to the point where I could carry anything heavy in my right hand because it cracked the scabs, and riding the bike was out of the question. I've got loads of colour dropout from where the scabs eventually came away.

In contrast, I had my biohazard done a couple of weeks before the PositivelyUK conference, took care of it as instructed (which is a bit difficult when it's on your back and you don't have a friendly hand), and it was much admired after only two weeks.

And as Tattpig says, going over bone is painful: one of my dragons is close to my wrist and I had wasting syndrome at the time it was done. I could feel the vibrations of the gun echo through the bones of my arm. Not pleasant. Unless you're dead set on positioning, I'd go for somewhere with a bit of padding behind it...

There's a theoretical risk in that poz cum might find a an open wound in the mouth (or throat if you're more skilled than me), but if I've just had a tooth out of have accidentally bitten the inside of my cheek, I'm likely to avoid sucking cock. Plus there's an enzyme in saliva that's inimical to HIV.

I'm always dubious about claims that "I got it from sucking cock": it's like the mentality is that cocksucking is somehow less gay than taking it up the ass. Doubtless there are a few cases where it's happened, but I believe the figures for getting HIV through oral sex are inflated by guys who can't admit they got fucked.

Thank you 1slut for such an informative overview.

Totally agree with the recommendations for beer piss: beer is not only a natural diuretic, but it also relaxes inhibitions in the the initial stages of getting drunk.

There's a myth going around that piss is sterile (recently repeated to me by a pharmacist!): wrong! It's only sterile to you: in the UK most tests for in your dick STIs are done from a piss sample. Also the darker your piss, the more likely that your liver is working overtime - something which, if it persists, is worth checking out (together with pale coloured shit is indicative of hepatitis - have a look before you flush!).

Another consideration is the amount of salt in your diet: I had an ex who had a little food with his salt. He was capable of making me throw up he was pissing so much salt. (And it's bad for your kidneys and blood pressure...)

No, ffoz, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C. The news gets worse in that the hep C virus can stay active for quite some time (as in weeks) without a human host, and it's primarily rough sex that's the transmission vector amongst gay men. Although , as I note above, it's curable, the cure can be worse than the disease in terms of how it leaves you feeling. I had a flatmate in the eighties who had hep C and recently heard (we'd lost touch the way you do) that she died of liver cancer in the late nineties. Of course that was before much was known about treatments.

As I understand it Gilead have been sitting on their treatment for Hep C for some time, presumably to raise the price. When my partner started proleukin2 as an off-label immune modulator, he was forced to sign a paper indemnifying the hospital against side effects, amongst which, in neat alphabetical order was "death". His system was so knackered after four years of trying to deal with MAI (a relative of TB), he couldn't cope with the proleukin2 and I honestly believe that that was the cause of the multiple organ failure that led to his death.

If you're in relatively good health when starting hep C treatment, you're probably in for a rough year, but you'll get through it. Some guys have been able to cut their treatment periods down to six months. The shorter the time you put your system through that sort of hell, the better.

Any gay man who doesn't vaccinate against hep A & B is a fool. I've never had hep A but hep B... remember that scene in Alien where John Hurt gets a nasty surprise? Imagine that surprise lasting for months.

Frankly I'm more afraid of hep C than I am of any of the more traditional STIs, including multi drug resistant gonorrhoea...

It's an academic question really: you don't need either of them. HIV will almost certainly cause your death if you let it go untreated often in less than ten years, whereas you can live decades with hep C. The difference comes in the treatments: HIV treatment is now relatively safe and tolerable, and because drugs are beginning to fall out of patent, getting cheaper. My partner used interferon (an older hep C treatment) off-label to try to boost his immune system and it is a bitch. I have friends using interleukin (a similar drug) and they dread each drug cycle.

While 90% or so of people with hep C clear it within 6 to 12 months of treatment, it's a punishing (not in a good way) regime. And even worse is the fact that after clearing hep C you can get it again. I spent a miserable summer over 20 years ago with hep B, which resolved naturally (though I have the test again every now and then to make sure I've still got those antibodies). Even after all that time the effects of the damage still show in my bloods. Vaccinate against hep B and hep A!

Wear the jock - it's a lot easier to take it off than go running back home to get it ;-)

The next day? Welcome to the medical history books!

I was at a retreat for PwHIV recently and someone brought a viral illness with them. Having met up on the Friday I was showing all the symptoms you list the following day, as are the people I've kept in touch with since the weekend. It sounds very much like "the thing that's going around". The only symptom I didn't have was the body aches and soreness (well, not above what I usually experience), but than I didn't spend time getting laid ;-) . My guess is you got a flu-type illness while having a bit of fun. Keep warm, drink more liquids than you think you need (wear a track between your sofa or bed and the bathroom!) and rest up till you feel better.

Drugs make you feel good and once you're shitfaced you don't care what damage they might be causing. The solution is to leave them alone, especially the ones that have a fast dependence cycle. A friend of mine was moving house when he found a bag of mephedrone. Despite a year's abstinence he thought "once wont hurt". It did.

You have to know your own digestive cycle. For me it's have a high fibre meal the night before and take a couple of imodium before going to bed, then sticking to liquids only the next day, but taking imodium every four to six hours (assuming things are going to kick off about nine or so). Being diabetic, I pay close attention to blood sugars and make sure to have an energy drink or similar source of fast sugar to hand.

It's possible, I can assure you... damn bacteria can get to a lot of places. but the clue is in the other name of STI clinics: Department of Genitourinary Medicine

I'm against placing all the responsibility on the poz guy to reveal his HIV status, and this situation is the perfect example.

I couldn't agree with you more! The responsibility is 50/50, but the knowledge is closer to 90/10 (or greater) in favour of the poz guy.

Another advantage of an STI clinic is they've heard pretty much all of it before. I've had a doctor ask me if I'd noticed any pain in my balls, then remembering my predilection for a bit of CBT asked if I'd had any unexpected, unexplained pain in my balls. Turned out to be a massive infection of E Coli in my bladder (where it tends not to hang out) causing the problem. Easily fixed with a course of antibiotics.

at a guess: non-specific urethritis. " Your urethra is inflamed and sore for a reason we can't identify, so take these broad spectrum antibiotics and don't embarrass us again...."

The point is, if it's legal to have sex with the person, then certainly chatting with them and exchanging PG-13 images can't be illegal. That makes no sense.

I know, but then it can be illegal to model a 3D scene (or other representation) in which one person appears to be under the age of consent and that's illegal even though we''re talking about a fiction. And this has been going on for long before the current mess: a couple of newsreaders had to fight a child porn case maybe ten years ago because of family photos of their kids having a bath... No, I can't explain it. A paediatrician was hounded out of his home because the mob didn't know the difference between paediatrician and paedophile.

A friend used to send me porn VHS's (remember them) from Sweden. The one time we got caught out they also confiscated a perfectly innocent postcard because it was found with the porn video...

I don't get it. The age of consent in the UK is 16. What law could possibly broken? Can you explain further?

The sections of the law that prohibit the use of photos of models apparently under the age of 16, so that a young-looking eighteen your-old's photo can be considered in evidence because the defendant "may have considered" the model to be under 16. This applies to photoshopping and absurdly, to 3D constructs such as those produced by Poser and other 3D modelling programs. Think George Orwell. Think "thoughtcrime".

There's even the offence of having images in your internet cache: by downloading an image you "create" it. We have a corrupt government whose defense against their own corruption is to accuse everyone else of the same crime.

There's also the catch-all offence of "conspiracy". What you conspire to do needn't necessarily be illegal but if they don't like it, you're screwed. An enthusiastic court could take any Briton's taking part in this board as a conspiracy to pass on HIV, contrary to the Offences against the Person Act of 1861...

Since the law around STIs is considered case law, springing from this Act, every case is running on different premises

I can only answer the first two questions: I was having problems with severe inflammation of my foreskin after sex and asked my doctor about it. Her brisk, no-nonsense reply was "lubrication and exercise". Best wanking lube I found was olive oil (if it's good enough to eat it's good enough for my dick). Frequency: just try not to have different sized biceps...

No. Even family friendly photos could, in the UK, be seen as evidence of paedophile activity. Even a software filter would not be enough. In the UK ignorance is not a defence. I, for one, would feel it necessary to disguise my past involvement with the site and have no further involvement with it. The law stinks, but it can hurt me more than I can hurt it.

I can understand your reasoning, but I think it's simply too risky.

Might it be an idea to have a thread where guys can tell others that their inbox is too full and so a PM can't be sent (I know I've offended in this area in the past). It's easy to overlook these details and would spell out to the recipient why someone has suddenly gone quiet: your mailbox is too full!

Eloquent and accurate as ever, Tiger.

Tattpig, you wouldn't believe the number of horny Australians and New Zealanders I've "pozzed" on Growlr before even my first cup of tea of a morning. When they're not getting it physically men talk just as much as kids or women. Just less publicly...

I'd go with HIV status being visible: it's on all my other profiles and saves me from having to teach HIV-101. I want to fuck, not do elementary sex education, and I feel safer both legally and morally fucking with other poz guys, or at least guys who may or may not be poz, but have got their heads around the issue and understand the risks (which when you're undetectable are pretty minimal anyway). The one place I don't disclose immediately is Grindr (that started out as an experiment) where I get a fair amount of "please fuck me Daddy". I always disclose before any physical meeting and have had precisely one guy who wasn't poz turn up. I'd sooner not be contacted at all that be contacted by someone who loses his nerve through ignorance at the last minute.

I don't have access to any pictures or even my own group?

The instructions are above. Hint: write down a list of the things you must do to re-gain access to your picture and you own group. Then slap your forehead saying the word "d'oh"....

In the UK in the late seventies, we considered it something that just happened sometimes. But times change, and what was acceptable is no longer acceptable. I remember times of fucking someone, realising that there's shit everywhere, and then just carrying on, something which few would accept today. Make enforcing a cleaning out ritual on your next fuck part of the fuck, even if there are hours between the cleaning and the fuck. Keeps him focussed...

I still rely on my pig out on miwsli and other high fibre stuff the day before then fasting on the day itself (with maybe some imodium), but obviously this isn't a healthy diet in the long run...

we are here because we bareback. Ideally it would be cool to talk risks, even when we choose to take them.

Not ideally, but essential... even for a five minute cum'n'go the HIV risk may be present and each participant has to be aware of it and to accept it. We've each got individual limits of the risks we're prepared to take (if not, how come the popularity of PrEP?). The point isn't consent, but informed consent.