HIV risk reduction

[Guest JizzDumpWI]

That is one approach HardhatBB. PrEP is one pill a day, which is the dosing most new converts would take anyway. Then just give into instinct and fuck.

[Poz1956]

So I should be looking to learn from poz guys who know they are poz and are therefore on meds? Seems so counter-intuitive . . .

With text only communication, it's often hard to read the tone the words were meant to convey. I read skepticism in your message. It could just be a reflex for me. I've spent 28 years of having immediate assumptions made as to my moral character as soon as I disclose my status. People often infer that all Pozzies are sociopaths, trying to infect as many people as possible, and that everything they say is a lie.

To be more specific you should look for, a Poz guy, on antiretrovirals, with an undetectable viral load, who's been undetectable for more than six months. Just remember to ask your questions gently and politely, because you ARE talking about his most personal private piece of medial information. Maybe phrase it "Have you been on the drugs a few years?" in a tone of voice that expresses curiosity, not a demand. The average Pozzie is undetectable within the first three months of starting the ARVs.

But yes, we Pozzies on here, especially us old guard ones, have a huge wealth of knowledge. But you don't have to take just our word on it. We can point you to well respected sources to back up what we say.

Here's one source. Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. He developed the concept of the multi-drug cocktails we Pozzies take. He also pioneered the Treatment as Prevention (TasP) model, that is being adopted around the world.

He has said: 'I am very comfortable that properly used, HAART is at least as protective as when using condoms, if not better." (HAART = Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy)

Need an additional source? Look up the preliminary report from the Partner study.

I know none of the below applies to you cum dump bottoms, and the tops that want to use them. Elsewhere I've read your rules of the game. Don't bother commenting on it. It's written for the guy who started this thread.

Say if a guy wants to practice HIV risk reduction by trying to get tops to use condoms what do you think is the best way to get a top to use a condom? And do you think using condoms most of the time, unless convinced otherwise in the heat of the moment is a form of risk reduction?

Of course condoms are a form of risk reduction. They have prevented a lot of people catching HIV over the years. Used constantly and correctly they offer excellent (but not perfect) protection for HIV and some other STIs. About 98%.

The problem comes with your "heat of the moment" comment. Overall, gay guys are using rubbers about 50% of the time. There must be a hell of a lot of heat, and a fuck of a lot of moments out there.

The CDC's calculation is that over your lifetime "usually" using a condom prevents catching an STI (not specifically HIV) only slightly more than never using a condom (4%).

Taking into account the 50% use, improper use, breakage etc, the CDC rated condoms 73% effective at preventing HIV.

As others have said this is not a good choice of a place to ask "how do I make using condoms sexier?"

That being said, here's a few thoughts.

Order in some Crown 004 condoms. They are considered to feel the closest thing to bare of any rubber on the market. They're pricey at $1.25 to $1.60 per condom, depending on quantity ordered. Shop around online, some places are a lot less expensive than others.

If that's too rich for you, get the previous winner, Beyond Seven. They come in at about the standard $0.25 per rubber.

Make the condom part of the play, not an interruption to the action. Open the package before the start of the scene -- some condom wrappers are almost impossible to open once you get lube on your hands. You put the rubber on the top. Talk all filthy and hot while you do it. "Let me look at that hot cock. I can't wait to get this on you, so you can plow it into me! It's going to feel so good." You get the picture?

Be the most sensual fuck you can. Touch, kiss, caress, and pinch anyplace that turns your top on. Be vocal and hot. Grunt, groan & tell him how much you enjoy him fucking you. Throw in lots of filth. If you can feel him cum in the condom, make sure you squeal about that, like the filthy pig that you are.

Basically, focus all the attention on you, and him, and the connection between you. Make it all about the heat of the moment, so nobody even thinks about the piece of latex between you. PM me if you want more.

[Guest JizzDumpWI]

poz1956, ah yes I recall the advocate articles on making condom sex hot... You presented the concept well. If one is determined to have condom sex those are good suggestions, and will go a good way to make it hotter... But at end, it will never feel like bare.

Pre PrEP my preferred top was a poz top who had been on meds for awhile. I used "about a year" as my heuristic but indeed, six months is likely fine. Now, I don't give status a second thought. I like that. I am back to "do we find each other attractive?" "let's fuck". As our friend bearbandit wrote in his beyond "positive article", we're back to our quarterly STI checks.

[ffoz]

http://nsw.endinghiv.org.au/the-wait-is-over/

[wood]

http://nsw.endinghiv.org.au/the-wait-is-over/

good. All that happens when HIV+ people stay off treatment is that they have a much greater chance of infecting others.

[Guest JizzDumpWI]

Well, that's not all that happens, but yes one result are more chance to infect others. But the best intended benefit is to reduce harm to the person with HIV. From my POV the first priority is the health of the one with HIV. If the benefits spill over to protecting the health of his or her partners, great. But I find it offensive to set the bar at protecting others over protecting the patient.

Now with that as a baseline, great that TasP has been shown effective in the partner study.

[Poz1956]

The Australians just updated their guideline on starting ARVs to the current best practice. Even their old cut off of 500 was above what most countries used to do.

At it's heart, TasP started as a Public health initiate. Find as many people who are Poz as you can, get their viral load down, and there will be less new infections. Public Health = Population wide.

The old school of thought was keep Pozzies off the drugs as long as possible, to reduce the potential damage caused by long term use of the ARVs

They sold TasP to us Pozzies by saying that waiting to start the drugs was really only putting off the inevitable by a few years. Better to start the drugs sooner, than to risk permanent damage to our immune systems by waiting. And thirdly, it would lower our risk of passing on the virus to our partners.

I don't really think the powers that be expected anything like the results out of the Partner study, when they said less risk to our play dates.

As a guy who took a break from drugs (back when they used to let us have a drug holiday) I can tell you it did do damage to my immune system. My CD4s have never recovered to their formerly high levels.

I think the when to start drugs was a trade off. Damage to immune system by untreated HIV, or potential future damage from longer exposure to the drugs. Both are a mix of good and bad. I think the potential benefits to a guy are better than the risk from the drugs. The meds are so much better now.