*talking about important stuff u should watch it*
Alright and now we're moving on to our third category of STIs
which is viral. This includes herpes, HPV and HIV
So I wanna start with herpes, and the reason why is because 1 in 6 people in the United States have herpes
Many of those people have absolutely no idea that they have herpes
so herpes is transmitted through oral, anal and front hole sex
but also if you touch the area. Now usually
herpes comes with sores so you would imagine that you would just get
transmitted if the person has an outbreak, and sores and they touch you and then you have herpes.
But, that is a very big miconshep- misconception because
you can actually be infected with herpes if the individual does not have
sores as well. The reason why a lot of people don't know that they have herpes, 1, they
don't get tested, but 2, it mimics a lot of other
um, types of- not 'diseases' but skin conditions problems that we,
as humans have, like pimples and ingrown hairs
So with herpes the main symptom is blisters, so these blisters can be one, it can be multiple
in a cluster, um, around the mouth, around the front hole,
or the anus, and there are other parts of your body that can also get herpes
um, now these blisters break, and they turn into
very painful sores that takes weeks, weeks to hill-
hill...HEAL
without medication. So other symptoms that herpes has is smelly discharge
um, painful urination and, if you are pre T, you will be bleeding between the
monthly thing that happens. So like I said with herpes,
you get these very painful sores. So, when an individual gets their first herpes
outbreak, um, they get these flu-like symptoms
So yeah, you get the sores but you also get like the fever, you get like, swollen lymph glands
and you get the muscle aches, everything that comes with
having the flu
Um, now over the years, the outbreaks that your gonna have
will be reoccurring, but they will be less and less
reoccurring throughout the years. But what
individuals and peoples and what everyone needs to understand
is that once you have herpes, it will always be in your blood.
So in order to get tested for herpes you have to go to a doctor
I'm always gonna say that, you have to go to a doctor.
Alright, but the thing is, there is a really big misconception that I have learned
is that you can only be tested for herpes if you have an outbreak
I had a very serious bladder infection, a long time ago, and I had other infections that led to it
and the- doctor, one of the doctors thought that I had herpes
and he said "we can't test you, because cos you don't have an outbreak"
it absolutely made no sense to me, but I went around
thinking that that's what it was like, like "oh you don't have an outbreak, you can't get tested"
So I guess I don't have herpes, right? Wrong!
You can get tested EVEN if you don't have an outbreak
*phwoo*
Alright, so how do you treat herpes. Well, unfortunately
there is no cure for herpes. BUT
there is medication that you can take that can help prevent or
shorten the outbreaks that you have, and there are also
medication that you can take daily if you already have herpes
to help, um, with the reduction of transmission to a potential partner
so you can still have sex, even if you have herpes, you just need to
inform your partner and inform your partner of the risks, because even with
a condom on, you can still transmit the herpes to your partner, or partners
the reason for that is if you have sores, and um, they
touch someone else, they can get it directly. It doesn't even have to be, like an internal thing
Its the same thing for you, if you have sore next to your mouth and you put your hand
somewhere else right after you touched a sore, you will be
moving your herpes somewhere else, and you will have herpes in two
places. Like we all know people who have coldsores, and that IS part herpes
but that is just like, oral herpes. What I'm taking about here is genital herpes
I should have made that clearer, but I'm sure that you got the point
when i talked about like, anal. So because herpes
gives you these open sores, unfortunately it makes the individual
twice as likely to contract HIV
Moving on, so the second on is HPV, now HPV stands for human papillomavirus.
This is the most common STI. *sighing* Almost every single man and woman
who is sexually active will get HPV at least once
in their lifetime. That is very scary, and i did not know this before
making this video. It is a very scary statistic. Now, the reason why it is so
common, is because it is transmitted through, uhh
anal, oral, or front hole penetration, EVEN without symptoms
okay so, its like herpes, you don't know you have it
and you're giving it to people. So HPV is pretty scary because, it can
go away on its own, which is cool, but if it doesn't,
go on its on, you can develop genital warts, and
cancer
so genital warts can be small, they can be large, they can be raised, they can be flat,they can be
cauliflower shaped, it doesn't matter, there's not one way that a genital
wart is, so if you think you have genital warts, you should go.
Now, the scary part about HPV, is that if its left untreated, it can eventually develop
into cervical cancer, and other types of cancers. So these other types of cancers are like
vulva cancer, um, front hole...cancer, it starts with a V
don't wanna say it, don't wanna cause dysphoria for anyone
Penis cancer, anus cancer, also throat cancer and tonsil cancer
So with the cancers that develop through untreated HPV, it takes decades for them to show up, um
and there's no way of knowing who will get cancer and
who will not get cancer, because not everybody who has HPV
that's untreated will get cancer, um
It has been researched that people with lower immune system
and weaker immune system, um will develop cancer at a higher rate
than people who don't. The reason why, is because
the immune system is not strong enough to fight off the HPV. So there is not test to know what your HPV status is
But, they do have screenings for cervical cancer, but they are usually
reserved for "women" who are over thirty
Now I say women with the quotations because obviously I am including
us in there, and the reason why is because, we have this
part, this is why I'm talking about HPV, because its common
and some trans guys might have it and never get a pap test, never
want to get that area checked, and it is very dangerous
I have made a video about the importance of pap tests, which I will
link, but its just to let you know that there are
certain screens that you can do, and if you are on hormones
you are not at more risk of developing cervical cancer
or, developing, if you have HPV developing cancer because
you're on T. Like they-there is absolutely no link, there is research, um
that is done about higher testosterone levels in women, and
from what I have gathered, there is no correlation
So we've all heard of the vaccines that you can get to treat HPV
I am too old to have been in school when they are mandatory, um but they were free, if you are under 18
and now if you're over 18, you can get it until you're 26
And it comes in three doses which you need to take over a 6 month period
So this vaccine helps to prevent and fight certain strands of HPV
but not all of it. Alright so the last one that I'm gonna be talking about is HIV/AIDS
Now, HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, this is
transmitted through some sexual contact, and the use of needles or syringe
So there's a lot of misconceptions society about HIV and people living with
HIV, and its usually brought on by the media. So hopefully I can shine some light on a couple of things
and um, you can understand, and learn a little more
So HIV attacks the body's immune system, and more specifically the CD cells, and
The CD cells are also known as the T cells (not testosterone chill)
which help the body's immune system fight off infection.
So if you contract HIV, your T cells lower, which means your body is more prone
to infection. So, HIV is transmitted through blood, semen
pre-cum, rectal and front hole fluids and breast milk
Now when these fluids get in contact with the mucous membranes, so like the penis
mouth and rectum, um or if the fluids get in contact with damaged tissue
on or in the body, or if its injected directly
into the bloodstream. So. anal sex is actually the highest risk behaviour, especially
if you're a bottom, um you can contract HIV through oral, but it is less likely
unless you have like, bleeding gums and you just like
flossed your teeth and then you're goin' to give someone
a blowjob and they cum in your mouth, like
probably not the best idea to do that. So you cannot contract
HIV through sweat, unless its mixed with blood, um through saliva, unless you're
kissing passionately and you RIP each others gums when you're kissing
and you- someone's bleeding, anything like that
Um, you don't get HIV through hugging, the toilet seat,
um, holding hands, nothing like that. So in order
to know if you have HIV you need to get tested, and there are 3
ways that you can do that. The first one is the standard blood test
okay? it takes about 12 weeks for your body to develop anitbodies
against HIV, so this test that you will be having, is the antibody screening test
that takes about a week to get the result.
So the second one is rapid testing, now this one is getting
more popular because its very easy to do, you just have to go in, they prick your finger
you put it on this, they put it in a little tube and they put it on this plastic thing
and you get the results in like two minutes, um.
Now with this, you can go three to four weeks after you think
that you were infected with HIV, ehm, this is not 100% accurate though.
Only about 90% of people develop enough antibodies for the test to pick up.
Pick up? Sure.
Um, so that means that if you test negative on that test, then you're fine,
but if you test positive, you need to go get a standard blood test
in order to make sure that the rapid testing was accurate.
So the third one is one that I had never heard about before,
it's one that you can take twelve days after you think that you were infected
but the results do take a little bit longer.
So before I talk about the treatment of HIV, I wanna talk about the *prevention* of HIV.
There are two amazing medications that have come out
that everyone that I have talked to has literally none - no knowledge on
and I cannot believe this, because these medications are changing the world.
This is amazing.
So what I'll talk about is PREP and ...PEP
I think that's how you pronounce the second one.
Pep. P E P.
Pep? Sure.
So what is PREP?
PREP is pre-exposure prophylaxis.
It's is a pill that you take every day and it reduces your risk of getting infected by 90%.
So it's not 100% accurate
so if you are having unprotected sex with someone who might be HIV positive
there is a percentage that - percentage chance? - that you may be, may become HIV positive
but, um, this pill is 90% accurate
and that is better than what we had before
and can I just say how awesome that is.
This is my personal opinion, i just think it's amazing that we do have that.
So the second one is PEP
and PEP is a medication that you can actually take right after you think that you were infected.
So you can take it within a 72 hour window, um
and it's a medication that depending on the situation
the doctor will prescribe 1 or 2 pills to take every day for 28 days.
Now, the medication that they're prescribing to you are antiretroviral meds
and that is the medication that they give to people who are HIV positive, um
in order to treat them.
So, if you take it consistently for 28 days after you think that you might have been infected
you will not develop HIV.
Now there obviously is a small percentage that you may develop HIV
but the fact that there are medications that you can take that reduce that risk like crazy is amazing.
So I don't know if you noticed the very large correlation but it is very similar to birth control and plan B.
If you think about it, PREP - you have to take a pill every single day, um
in order to reduce your chances of being infected with HIV.
Birth control - you have to take every day in order to reduce your changes of getting pregnant
PEP - you take every, not every day sorry, you take, um, after you think that you were infected
for 21 days.
Plan B - you take the pill after you think that you might have become pregnant
um, after ...
(I-I'm not really sure how many pills you have to take, I think it's three, I'm not really sure though)
so sorry about that, I should know that info...
So how do you treat HIV?
Well, you take an antiretroviral medication every day
and if you're on top of your medication and you are able to take it every day
then your status becomes undetectable.
This means that your risk of transmitting HIV to a potential partner or partners
is very very low.
So you can't talk about HIV without talking about AIDS.
Now AIDS starts for Aquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
So this is the late stage of HIV.
If you are not able to take your antiretroviral medication, um, every day
and you're not on top of it or don't have access to it
then the HIV that you have will develop, eventually, into AIDS.
But please remember that not everybody who is HIV positive will get to the final stage of HIV
and develop AIDS.
If the person is able to access their antiretroviral medication every day and take it
they will not get to that stage.
Now, AIDS is basically something that affects the immune system *so* badly
that the body is now susceptible to something that is called "opportunistic infections"
So if you do get to the late stages of HIV and develop AIDS
and you are diagnosed with this, you have about 3 years to live.
Umm, if you have an illness on top of that
because of the "opportunistic infection" that your body has been more susceptible to
you have about one year to live.
And I'm gonna reiterate something here and probably later on in another video that I have
You do not die of AIDS.
A lllot of people say this
and this is one of the biggest misconceptions I have heard people who have PhDs
people who are extremely smart, people who work with queer individuals and STIs
people keep saying "you die of AIDS"
"he died from AIDS"
Absolutely not. No.
You die from complications from AIDS
and that's the "opportunistic infections" that your body is more susceptible to
that's what you die of.
So, example, pneumonia.
So, as I said before, AIDS is the final stage of HIV
there are actually three stages
In the final (first*) stage the individual will get
mouth ulcers and flu-like symptoms
so fever, night chills, um
swollen lymph nodes, um
muscle pain, sore throat, uh, fatigue
and all of those symptoms who are closely linked to the flu.
So the second stage is the clinical latency stage
or also known as chronic HIV infection
In this stage the HIV is active in the person's body but it reproduces at a very low level
um, an individual who doesn't take antiretroviral medication can actually live with this for over *ten years*
without it ever changing and ... turning into late stage HIV
which is also known as AIDS.
So the final stage of HIV is AIDS
and that's when an HIV positive [person] is not on any medication
uh, they're body's immune system weakens so much to the point where
HIV turns into AIDS.
So because the immune system is no longer able to fight off the infection
some of the symptoms that you get here are pneumonia,
diarrhea that lasts more than a week,
sores on the mouth, um, or genitals
there's also blotches that are about pink, purple or brown that you can get on or in the skin
that go on the eyelids and all around the skin
uh, extreme tiredness
hair loss,
uh, rapid weight gain, wait wait, *loss*, sorry, not weight gain
All right, I'm done
I'm very sorry that this video was so long
but I'm not very sorry either because I wanted to say this information
so I made it long on purpose
because this stuff is so important, I just wanna raise awareness to make sure that everyone gets tested
we need to get tested, if you're sexually active, if you've ever been sexually active
if you think you have nothing, just go anyways.
As you saw in this video, there are so many things, like gonorrhea and chlamydia
that don't show symptoms and it's terrifying.
It terrifies me, I've been doing all this research, I like, I wanna, I wanna get tested like every week
I mean I'm not having sex but like, I'm just saying
It's just - it's scary.
And, uh, it sh- no symptoms.
Come on.
We need to raise awareness about getting tested
we need to raise awareness about um,
... talking about *having* an STI.
Because a lot of people do have STIs, and it happens
people are HIV positive
but a lot of people choose not to talk about it because it's so stigmatized in this society
and in this community and we just need to have an open conversation about it
and not treat people who have STIs or are HIV positive like shit
because people are people, right?
So, hopefully this video helped a little bit, thank you for sticking it out till the end if you did
and if you need any, any, any questions answered
go ahead and put them in the um, comments down there
I will also put the links of a lot of the information that I got
and, uh, hopefully you will watch more of my sex ed videos that will not be this long
this will be the longest one, don't worry.
Took me about two hours to film this one so
have a great week
thank you for watching and again,
*exhale*
thank you.
Go get tested. Love you, bye!
*tu tu tu tu tu*