piercing

[ackmedsgirl666]

one of my good friends pierced my belly button yesterday
it doesn;t hurt
the only thing is that she used a needle that she could have used on her self first even tho she sanitized it before she did mine
i woke up this morning forgetting i had it and i moved it outta plzce
now all day blood and puss has been coming out of it and it is swollen
it it possible that i could have contracted HIV
im worried
and i can;t tell my group home as there is a no piercing policy there and with childrens aid
what shud i do?
shud i first of all get the HIV test so if i do have it i don't affect anyone else
or shud i just got 2 walkin clinic when im away with my nan this weekend??
any idead?

[Ardiys]

yeah, it's possible.
but it could just be an infection, i think. don't worry too much.
get it checked out, it doesn't matter who checks it out.
but it could get serious. so. good luck!

[byee]

Wait! It's highly unlikely it's AIDS, unless the previous user had it and you used the needle almost immediately after. The AIDS virus is (thankfully!) very fragile outside the body. It dies shortly after being in contact with the air, so even if the blood was on it, unless you immediately put it in your skin, the chances are the virus would be dead. Also, the sypmtoms (flu like) don't occur immediately after contact/infection, so although it sounds like you've got some infection there, its the result of the trauma itself, not infection form AIDS. (As an FYI AIDS is easily transmitted thru IV drug use b/c the drug user pulls some blood up thru the hypodermic and mixes it with the drug before shooting it into themself *yuck*, so there's live blood in a basically air tight hypodermic, which makes it contagious. Likewise, blood trasnfusions form an infected person lead to contagion b/c there's greater concentration of live virus in a medium that is air tight and 'nutritious' for it).

Regardless of the 'no piercing policy' common sense and your health always trumps the rules here, go tell *whoever* is in charge what's happened, and let them get you to a doctor.

[ackmedsgirl666]

gonna take a pic of my ring 2morrow then i will show u guys the damage
its been ok the past few days just still kinda sore and red and itchy

[AutumnDae]

I'm going to guess that the piercing has gotten infected. Even if she sanitized the needle after using it herself, she's not a professional piercer, and its most likely that she didn't do it the correct way. Take the ring out and make sure you keep cleaning it. Don't put the ring back in unless you get it professionally done, and in which case make sure the infection is fully cleared up before getting it done.

[DecemberRain]

it sounds like its just infected.

[INFERNO]

Wait! It's highly unlikely it's AIDS, unless the previous user had it and you used the needle almost immediately after. The AIDS virus is (thankfully!) very fragile outside the body. It dies shortly after being in contact with the air, so even if the blood was on it, unless you immediately put it in your skin, the chances are the virus would be dead. Also, the sypmtoms (flu like) don't occur immediately after contact/infection, so although it sounds like you've got some infection there, its the result of the trauma itself, not infection form AIDS. (As an FYI AIDS is easily transmitted thru IV drug use b/c the drug user pulls some blood up thru the hypodermic and mixes it with the drug before shooting it into themself *yuck*, so there's live blood in a basically air tight hypodermic, which makes it contagious. Likewise, blood trasnfusions form an infected person lead to contagion b/c there's greater concentration of live virus in a medium that is air tight and 'nutritious' for it).

Regardless of the 'no piercing policy' common sense and your health always trumps the rules here, go tell *whoever* is in charge what's happened, and let them get you to a doctor.

Just a few things that I disagree with. A virus technically wouldn't be "dead", as many don't even consider it to be alive without being in a host in the first place, so it functions if there is a living host. It'd be more proper to say something along the lines of the virus being nonfunctional because something does not require to be living in order to function.

AIDS is not transferred by needles and such. AIDS is a result of HIV. AIDS is a syndrome, caused by HIV so you would get HIV transmitted which would lead to AIDS. Deleting that very important step makes the statement of "AIDS being transferred through needles" completely incorrect.

Aside from those corrections, I agree with what you said: take the piercing out, clean it up a bit, tell someone, let it heal, get a test if you wish and after it's healed, you've learnt your lesson. I'm quite certain that you simply got an infection from the piercing. I'm not sure what exactly caused the infection nor what kind it could be, however, a doctor could have some tests done to determine what infection it may be and then treat it accordingly. You may also want to tell your friend to get tested just to rule out AIDS.

[ackmedsgirl666]

i said i'd take the pic
now judging by the red around the lil black ball it may be infected
wut do u think or judge by looking at this photo?
don;t mind im kinda outta shapehttp://i43.tinypic.com/2j4wuiu.jpg

[AutumnDae]

Looks like its infected to me.

Hmmm, for an infection? I'm not 100% sure, but I'll take a whack at it. Take the ring out definitely, for starters. And then keep it clean I'm going to guess, meaning with soap and water (I hear Dial soap is good for piercings) and try not to play with it/pick at it or whatever too much.

[ackmedsgirl666]

ok thanks
i figured it was infected