Very Important?

Question: Ok, I know I am gonna catch alot of slack for this already, but every so often, on occasion, my ex husband and I still have a sexual relationship. Problem is, he is a drug addict, and his method of choice is IV. This is a problem in and of itself, but I asked him tonight if he had EVER used a dirty needle, and he said he used his ex girlfriend's ONCE. I said once is no excuse, and he went on to say that he had sterilized it first, and he only used it cause there was no other needle around (this of course was not good enough of an excuse for me!). His ex girlfriend was diagnosed with chronic hepatitis, but then the drs later recanted that and blamed it on liver failure from doing too much dope. Should I be tested for HIV and hepatitis? How long does Hepatitis take to show up? I know HIV has a window period of six months.
Also, I am only a FORMER drug user, and we do use protection on the occasion something does happen between us, but still...theres always that chance, isnt there

Answers:
You need to wait 3 months for the virus to show up in your blood. And hepatitis c is the virus to be worried about, but there are treatments out there so its not all doom and gloom. Also Hepatitis C is very difficult to catch through sexual contact alone as it is a virus that is only passed blood - blood contact, and not in semenal - vaginal fluids. (but there is still a chance)
HIV as you know is passed through sexual contact but its a very weak virus and does not live outside the body for very long, its not as easy as you think to catch HIV from a dirty needle.

NO amount of sterilising done by your x boyfriend will have cleaned that needle he used.

In short, yes get the tests done. And ALWAYS in future, wear a condom. You should also think about getting immunised against Hepatitis B.

And tell him to go to a needle exchange, so he doesn't need to share....

Good luck

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yes there is a chance...i'd go get checked just in case. And ask the doc all the questions,they should know.

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