Dating can be difficult for people with HIV

 

Thanks to advancements in modern medicine and safer sex practices, an HIV diagnosis no longer means the end of a person's life. Individuals with HIV are free to live full and productive lives, but that doesn't mean that there won't be challenges. For example, dating can be difficult for HIV-positive individuals, because they want to be honest with their partners about their status and may be concerned that they will be rejected because they have the virus.

The Seattle Times recently profiled Nicole Price, an HIV-positive woman who councels other women with the virus on going out into the dating world. According to Price, whose support groups is called the BABES network, many women she counsels choose to never have sex again, but that's not a choice they have to make.

Go Ask Alice, a sexuall health resource created by researchers from Columbia University states that with consistent and correct condom use, a HIV-negative person can date someone with the virus and there is a strong likelihood that they will not contract it.

Of course, people still face the challenge of having to tell their partners that they have HIV.

"There's really no right time to tell someone you're positive," said Brenda Higgins, a BABES peer advocate, quoted by the news source. "If you're getting into feelings and caring for someone, you have to tell them because they're going to see you take your meds, go in to the doctor every three to six months. They're going to see the fatigue."

Price recommends that people with HIV don't disclose their status on the first date - unless, of course, they intend to have sex. Instead, she suggests that HIV-positive individuals give a new partner time to get to know them and appreciate their personality, and then tell them about the HIV.