some of you are plain mean. others (including several health care professionals) have written me very kind and informative and helpful private messages.
first, thankfully, i have now been seen by two doctors who say i have no symptoms of any std, but there is not test for hpv in men, so i may or may not have it. he said considering the number of sex partners i've had, i probably had contracted at least one strain of the virus, but that i had no symptoms. the bumps i was freaking out about are not genital warts, but irritated hair follicles in my pubic area.
second, i said i was exposed 8 years ago, meaning after i had sex with a woman while wearing a condom, she called and told me that she had a positive pap smear for hpv, and that i had therefore been exposed, and that i needed to be checked. i went to a dermotologist and was checked, but (like i said above) there is no test for hpv in men, and i never developed any symptoms, and i never thought i had anything wrong with me. but i know i was exposed, since condoms don't protect from this virus. exposed to the disease is not the same as contracting the disease, and if the cdc's statistics are correct, I now believe that most of the people who read this board have also been exposed, irrespective of whehter they contracted it.
if i had thought i could transfer anything to anyone, i would have told my wife and abstained from the hobby.
third, i always wore a condom with providers, but apparently that isn't enough to protect against hpv or crabs. bbbj or cbj doesn't matter. condoms help, but since the disease is frequently transmitted from pubic area to pubic area, outside where a condom would cover, you can't rely on condoms. hpv and crabs are the two stds not transmittted by human fluids, and therefore the 2 stds that condoms can't prevent.
fourth, i think everyone should read the facts and statistics about hpv for themselves on the cdc website.
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/ i am not going to try to argue with all of you. i feel like i was trying to get some advice, and all i got was criticism. sorry if i hit a nerve.
fortunately, i have now been to two doctors, and have been cleared. but i will say that the stress and fear and depression i felt when i though i might have an std was something we should all consider.
read the cdc's website. hobby as safely as possible.
