[DemolitionRed]

I'm putting this in serious debate because it is serious, in fact its deadly serious.

Yesterday I did something stupid. Someone had dumped a load of rubbish in our backyard at work. I was out having a quick vape when some guys turned up to move it. I helped grab a couple of sacks to throw onto their truck but then noticed my hand was bleeding and on closer inspection, they looked like they could be needle puncture wounds.

We opened the packaging I'd handled and there were six dirty hypodermics in there. I ran inside and put my hand under running water, squeezing at the wound to make it bleed more. Under the advice of my work colleagues, I then got my coat and went straight to A&E.

So we have a situation where we don't know the blood status of the person using the needles. We know the recipient of those needles were likely a drug addicts and that the needle could of been passed around between various people. We have to assume that whoever it was is HIV positive and has Hepatitis C and B.

The chances of me contracting HIV is around 3 percent which is pretty low. The punctures weren't deep and the viral load was low and it had been some hours in between use and penetrating my skin. Even so, I was faced with, do I want to start post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment or not. Its important to know that if you think you could of contracted HIV, providing you start PEP treatment within 12 hours (the sooner the better) you drastically reduce the already small risk of getting HIV.

The treatment is cruel (I decided to take it). Its 30 days of feeling like siht and puking my guts up...though they do give you anti sickness meds too. I was sick for the first time tonight.

They will also take your bloods and shelve them. This is because when you are tested at a later date for HIV and Hep C, if you have a positive result, they will look at your bloods collected on the day it happened to make sure you weren't positive before the incident.

I had my first shot for Hep B yesterday and have another in 12 weeks and a final one in 24 weeks. They can't inoculate you against Hep C and so that one is now a waiting game.

I have protected myself against HIV and Hep B and I am going to have an utterly miserable Xmas and NY because of the anti-viral treatment but I consider its worth it. I have a husband so this isn't only about me. I'm scared and I keep bursting into tears and being unreasonable with Steve but that's not surprising. Like he says, I deserve to feel a little sorry for myself!

My message to you all is, when something like this happens its very frightening. It doesn't have to be a needle like it was with me, it could be random sex with a stranger when you've had too much to drink, it could be a drunken brawl where blood crosses from one person to another. What I'm saying is, don't take the risk, don't be embarrassed to go to A&E, they are honestly used to this sort of thing and they will want to help you.

IF you ever find yourself in my position, don't leave it, don't risk it, don't tell yourself that its nothing because there is a whole team out there who can stop you going on to get HIV and Hep B. DONT WAIT