3 Things an HIV Negative Person Needs to know when Dating a Positive Person

1. 3 Things an HIV-Negative Person Needs to Know When Dating a Positive Person The world of HIV has changed with so many advances. Including easier HIV regimens (requiring fewer pills), more prevention options like PrEP, and more visibility in the media for those who share your HIV status, both celebrities and the common "Joe or Mary." Of course, the biggest change is the advent of U = U, which means that an undetectable viral load is sexually untransmittable. * Sadly, stigma continues to be linked to HIV, but even that is changing as more people are open to dating someone living with the virus. You should know that I have been in a relationship for the past 21 years with a person who is HIV negative. We met online during AOL chat room hours. At the time, I was into quickies and wasn't looking for a long-term relationship. Also, since she was living with HIV, she didn't think a relationship, long or short, was an option. I also thought that I would only be attractive to someone who was HIV positive, denied by others. However, that turned out not to be true, which carried some risk of disclosure, but that disclosure told me that not everyone is hesitant to date someone living with the virus. Sometimes people assume that my partner is HIV Positive and I have to correct their ignorance. In fact, we've had the most loving relationship that we could get out of the years we've been together. In that spirit, I'd like to share some of my ideas on how to have a positive-negative relationship with advice for negative people who have recently started a relationship with someone positive or considerate. You can still have a healthy relationship with your HIV Positive partner It was once thought that having a sexual relationship with someone positive carried the risk of their partner passing on the virus. Even before PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis, a daily pill taken

2. by an HIV-negative person) there was little risk as long as couples practiced safe sex and used condoms. But with the advent of PrEP, there are even fewer possibilities. For those unfamiliar with PrEP, this is when people at very high risk for HIV take anti-HIV medications on a daily basis to reduce their chances of becoming infected. PrEP can easily prevent HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout the herpes body. It is effective in preventing HIV if used as prescribed, but it is much less effective when not taken on daily basis. PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV through sex by more than 99%. Your risk of getting HIV from sexual contact may be even lower if you combine PrEP with condoms and other HIV prevention methods. It should be noted that PrEP is only effective against HIV and not against other sexually transmitted infections such as herpes or chlamydia, to name a few. So if either partner has sex outside of the relationship, whether you are negative or positive, both of you are at risk for possible exposure to STIs. Don't panic when we have a cold or some other ailment Just because we can catch a cold or get exposed to the flu doesn't mean you have to come to us like a military mom, ready to send us to the ER. As people living with HIV, we get sick like everyone else. sometimes it can take a longer days to clear up, and in other times it can be so brief that you wonder if we're faking about it. But when those moments happen, depending on how much your partner likes being smothered with TLC, just don't start to think of them as a coffin. But a good blanket with access to Netflix can make a difference. Don't take it personally if I don't want you to come to my medical appointments Sometimes it may seem like we love our partner at every appointment we have with our HIV primary care doctor, but it really isn't necessary. It's worth taking a partner on an appointment just to introduce our new love to the doctor, but as a warning, if you go, you'll find out something about our visits. They are bored. You will learn that we are on time for our appointment only for the doctor to see us late and when we finally talk to the doctor, the visit itself can last less than 15 minutes. Then there is more wait to draw blood for their labs, the results of which are not provided until another day. Some visits are anti-climatic. So if we say no, we're actually doing you a favor and saving you from boredom.

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