brief gay encounter - advice

LegacyUser

Hi,

I had a brief encounter with a guy recently, i was drunk, lonely and desperate. I was kinda curious too.

I'm in no major rush to do it again to be honest but during the encounter the guy briefly went down on me. I was too drunk to tell him to stop. I was wondering, does that mean I can't donate blood anymore? I used to be a regular blood donor a few years back and meant to go back donating.

I just feel extremely foolish.

Grateful for any advice

yes

http://www.ibts.ie/generic.cfm?mID=2&sID=79
"Never give blood if:
You are a male who has ever had anal or oral sex with another male, even if a condom or other form of protection was used"

Boston

Nope you can't give blood.

LegacyUser

dont I feel like a ****in eejit

Thanks

sitstill

Why should you feel like an eejit? You have done nothing wrong in experimenting sexually, it is the IBTS who are at fault in preventing you from donating blood because you received oral sex from a man

herya

Re: blood donation rules, what's the difference in receiving oral sex from a (possibly infected) male and a (possibly infected) female ? Genuinely curious.

Agent Smith

Its Not so much the Differance, Its The Fact that it was a Homosexual Experiance


When them rules were set up, the rate of HIV was far higher in the gay comunity then in the straight one.

Nowadays once you passed a screening, anyone should be able to donate. but the IBTS dont see it that way


also, next week i'm onto my 14th donation!

davyjose

WHAT??? That's fuppin crazy! I've never heard of this. Wow, this country is still backwards. It's good to know for all our money, new apartments and traffic that some things never change.

:rolleyes:

OP, get a check-out and if it comes up clear - which it will - give blood.

Bottle_of_Smoke

herya wrote: »

Re: blood donation rules, what's the difference in receiving oral sex from a (possibly infected) male and a (possibly infected) female ? Genuinely curious.

Higher risk group regarding HIV. Something like 23% of people who caught HIV in Ireland last year were homosexual men. Considering only 5% of people are homosexual men its a very high amount.

They have to be strict, though I don't for a second believe you've been infected.

LegacyUser

Cheers to all for the advice/info.

Just need to put it to the back of my mind now. And think of convincing excuses if I ever get pushed on the issue by someone! And yes I am paranoid!! lol

Best solution is to get myself a girlfriend!

Boston

davyjose wrote: »

OP, get a check-out and if it comes up clear - which it will - give blood.

The rules are there to protect life, its not for you to decide to ignore them. furthermore if you lie on the form there a legal implications.

herya

davyjose wrote: »

OP, get a check-out and if it comes up clear - which it will - give blood.

It's not so simple, AFAIK there is a time window (several months?) when you may have already caught something but the test results will still come out clean.

Maybe you can consult them & try for a screening in a few months time?

PeakOutput

Boston wrote: »

The rules are there to protect life, its not for you to decide to ignore them. furthermore if you lie on the form there a legal implications.

its a pretty stupid ****ing rule tho

treat everyone equally and test them all those who are clear can donate regardless of sexuality those who arent cant. id rather have some 'gay' blood of my type in the hospital when i need it then no blood at all but this is kinda ot

Affable

I'm really ****ing worried. Is it likely you can catch HIV from oral?

KTRIC

Affable wrote: »

I'm really ****ing worried. Is it likely you can catch HIV from oral?

Is this your way of coming out to us ?

Agent Smith

it can happen

LegacyUser

davyjose wrote: »

WHAT??? That's fuppin crazy! I've never heard of this. Wow, this country is still backwards. It's good to know for all our money, new apartments and traffic that some things never change.

:rolleyes:

OP, get a check-out and if it comes up clear - which it will - give blood.

Thank god this country attaches a high value to moral's when it comes to issues such as this.



One of the few things that gives me faith in the country.

davyjose

Affable wrote: »

I'm really ****ing worried. Is it likely you can catch HIV from oral?

If the person you've done it with has HIV, then it's possible.

However, If you have no reason to suspect them, then relax, you would have to be seriously unlucky to catch it. I'd worry more about getting killed in a road accident or getting cancer.

davyjose

Boston wrote: »

The rules are there to protect life, its not for you to decide to ignore them.

Seems rather discriminatory to me. If you are a refugee from a foreign country (where rates of hiv are, in certain cases, wildly higher than amongst the Irish gay population), you can give blood, but not if you have partaken - even once - in a sexual act with another man.

Boston wrote: »

furthermore if you lie on the form there a legal implications.

Well now, they'd have some job proving it.

Bottle_of_Smoke

davyjose wrote: »

Seems rather discriminatory to me. If you are a refugee from a foreign country (where rates of hiv are, in certain cases, wildly higher than amongst the Irish gay population), you can give blood, but not if you have partaken - even once - in a sexual act with another man.

No, no you can't. Any elevated risk group is banned,I think even living in a sub-saharan country for a few months gets you banned for life

It's not a human right to donate blood, they can refuse whoever they want.

Victor

The OP's question has been answered, take the rest of the discussion elsewhere.

OP, if you have further questions, feel free to start a new thread. If you have any concerns, there are support groups available.

dudara

KTRIC Consider yourself warned for going off-topic.

dudara

The_Minister

EDIT: Didn't see Dudara's warning. Sorry. There is an open topic on this in the LGB forum if people want to continue this discussion.

PeakOutput wrote: »

its a pretty stupid ****ing rule tho

treat everyone equally and test them all those who are clear can donate regardless of sexuality those who arent cant. id rather have some 'gay' blood of my type in the hospital when i need it then no blood at all but this is kinda ot

They do test all blood, but all tests have a failure rate, therefore, they minimise the likelihood of infected blood being presented, by forbidding high risk groups such as drug-users etc.

davyjose wrote: »

OP, get a check-out and if it comes up clear - which it will - give blood.

It's not up to him or you to break these rules because you don't agree with them, or because you think that they are stupid (and unless you show me a degree in haemotology you aren't qualified to make that call). There are campaigns to get this rule changed, join them if you must, but don't pick and choose which infection guidelines to follow, when you are in no way qualified to judge.