TW: How did you survive?

[+ sniper]

20 hours ago, ShortCutie7 said:

Yes, I first heard of PrEP around 2015. I have had allergic reactions or very uncommon side effects (in some cases delayed) to various medications, hence my reluctance to try a relatively new one.

I have also received yearly COVID and flu vaccines, and am still generally very pro-vaccine, but my reactions to the vaccines have consistently been worse than any time I have had the viruses themselves (yes, I am aware that that is the point of vaccines, but I am also including times I have had the flu before a vaccine). As for masks… masks are not meant to be worn 24/7; it is just not a natural way to breathe. Going straight from never having worn a mask to wearing an N95 all the time caused shortness of breath, skin irritation, headaches where the straps were, etc. I dabble in an industry where I’m acutely aware of these things, and I’m 99% sure that wearing a mask so much permanently impacted my lung capacity.

I would expect working harder to breathe, i.e. exercising, would increase your lung capacity...

[ShortCutie7]

10 hours ago, sniper said:

I would expect working harder to breathe, i.e. exercising, would increase your lung capacity...

Why would you assume I haven’t done that? I don’t want to get too personal on here, but in a nutshell, I had almost superhuman lung capacity pre-pandemic. Now no matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, it’s still above average but not the same.

[+ claym]

Just a suggestion. While you can only test your lung capacity moving forward, you might find it interesting to see what your lung capacity is now compared to others of your gender and age group and based on scientifically-established norms.  Pulmonary function testing is offered in many medical settings.  If you ever feel in the future a change in your lung function you would have a baseline.

[+ sniper]

On 3/21/2026 at 9:50 AM, ShortCutie7 said:

Why would you assume I haven’t done that? I don’t want to get too personal on here, but in a nutshell, I had almost superhuman lung capacity pre-pandemic. Now no matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, it’s still above average but not the same.

I'm saying that breathing through the mask was in fact exercise. I don't see how that causes your breathing to be worse after. Now if you contracted COVID at some point, it would make sense that that could cause lasting lung damage. But masking most certainly did not.

[+ Lucky]

On 3/19/2026 at 11:46 PM, ShortCutie7 said:

Yes, I first heard of PrEP around 2015. I have had allergic reactions or very uncommon side effects (in some cases delayed) to various medications, hence my reluctance to try a relatively new one.

I have also received yearly COVID and flu vaccines, and am still generally very pro-vaccine, but my reactions to the vaccines have consistently been worse than any time I have had the viruses themselves (yes, I am aware that that is the point of vaccines, but I am also including times I have had the flu before a vaccine). As for masks… masks are not meant to be worn 24/7; it is just not a natural way to breathe. Going straight from never having worn a mask to wearing an N95 all the time caused shortness of breath, skin irritation, headaches where the straps were, etc. I dabble in an industry where I’m acutely aware of these things, and I’m 99% sure that wearing a mask so much permanently impacted my lung capacity.

Pretty off topic.

[ShortCutie7]

2 hours ago, Lucky said:

Pretty off topic.

This was a response to someone’s response to my on-topic comment.

ETA: on that note, all of my comments and the responses to my comments have veered way off topic, so I’ll stop responding to this thread.

Edited March 23 by ShortCutie7
ETA

[jeezifonly]

I'm one of the long term (40y) survivors of HIV, thanks to clinical trials getting me through until the protease inhibitors became available. But why have I never had any opportunistic infections? I dunno. Genes? Having been nursed as an infant? Minimal exposure in transmission, just one time with someone who was exposed just one time?

Some of us who came out in the 80's are lucky to have emerged only with survivor's guilt, and although we took safe sex precautions and gave 95% of our sexual activity to video rentals, the virus caught up enough to change the course of our lives, without running us six feet under as the end game. 

"I'm older than I ever intended to be" ––  Roxy Hart, CHICAGO

[mtaabq]

1 hour ago, jeezifonly said:

"I'm older than I ever intended to be" ––  Roxy Hart, CHICAGO

You and me both, Roxy. 

Apologies for veering off-topic. 

Thanks to everyone who has responded thus far with your AIDS/HIV survival stories. 

[marylander1940]

I guess I was lucky to be in a relationship from 1980 until 1988, by then people know what to do not get infected with HIV. Late on PrEP changed everything but from early 80's until 2012 when it came out having sex BB was playing Russian roulette. It's unfortunate that so many folks did it...

[+ Pensant]

And there was always that small cohort blessed with natural immunity.

[BSR]

5 hours ago, Pensant said:

And there was always that small cohort blessed with natural immunity.

“Natural immunity” — what exactly does that mean?  I think it’s people who contract HIV yet whose immune systems are never compromised in any way, but I’m not sure.

[+ robear]

"HIV immunity is extremely rare, with most people susceptible to infection. However, some individuals possess natural resistance due to genetic mutations (like CCR5-Δ32) that block the virus from entering cells. While no absolute vaccine exists, research into these resistant individuals and immune responses, such as neutralizing antibodies, is ongoing."

That blurb is AI, but it references NIH documentation. There is ongoing research into factors that seem to protect individuals. From the earliest days it has been anecdotally apparent that some few individuals remained negative event after repeated, unprotected exposure to the virus. Others contract the virus but never become ill.   

[+ sniper]

Specifically Paul Michael Glaser never got it from his wife who got it from a blood transfusion, and one of their two HIV+ children lived because he had the mutation. I think he tests positive but doesn't need meds. I'm not even sure if strictly speaking he has HIV or just the antibodies.

[+ Pensant]

A bit of an odd theory, but I recall reading back in those days that those with that genetic mutation may have descended from Europeans who had survived the Black Plague. Why I remember that I can’t fathom!

[Whippoorwill]

When AIDs hit the scene, I was living in the Castro with a lover, but we were both having lots of extracurricular sex in addition. By that time I had had the clap many times, which I just regarded as an easily cured occupational hazard. When what was first called GRID started showing up, the Star Pharmacy at the corner of 18th and Castro posted Polaroids of the Kapsoi's Sarcoma lesions, with a warning, this terrible disease was showing up...a lot...in the gay community. The photos were enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone. 

The "scientific community" didn't have an answer where this was coming from. I remember my gay GP saying, "I don't care, but I'm not going to stop kissing my lover." The homophobic political community gets the blame for not funding the study of the disease, because at the time it was only hitting gay men. But the problem was also gay men. We had just been liberated, for the first time it was OK to be living for sexual pleasure, and a lot of it, and many of our gay political leaders denied this could have anything to do with sexual practices...that would be a denial of who we were and what we had been preaching...gay is good. 

I guess I wasn't politically correct enough to deny that this was a venereal disease, and I also observed that it was the bottoms who were dying. I immediately switched to condoms every single time. Lots of guys didn't. Until a couple of years ago, I never fucked or got fucked bare since 1982. This also meant that I stopped getting clap. Now on Prep, a couple of years ago I got fucked bare, and ended up with syphilis for the first time ever. Now I am on doxy also. 

I also wonder if there is a genetic component that has protected some of us. 

[TonyDown]

My mother volunteered at the AIDS service in my hometown.  She probably knew more AIDS patients than me.  Sometimes I wonder if she chose that role as a way to generate karma for me.  I guess it worked.

When I started dating, back then a lot of guys opted to avoid anal.  Of course some laughed at that idea.  But, as others mentioned above, that was a frightening time.  

Also, back then, in my memory, being the "bottom" had a stigma attached.  I remember a famous, super masculine porn actor being asked, "why do you bottom?". He said "because it feels good".  But many of us weren't taught much, including why anal can feel good.  

So with that stigma attached, and the terrible fear of AIDS, avoiding anal made sense. It scared me.

I didn't understand the "feels good" part until later.  So, as I mentioned in the prior post, my naivete was in my favor.

My sense today is young men are much more aware of sexuality and their body, and more apt to want to receive anal.