Hello there,

It’s your blog buddy, Lady P – revitalizing the trust in your relationship through real life stories. The year is gradually running to an end, so whatever you do, remember safety first. Nothing is well if it’s done at the expense of safety. Now that we have established that, let’s gist!

I got an interestingly interesting email from one fine bobo with pink lips. So, for discretion purposes, we shall call him Pink Lips. LOL! He sent an email on how he innocently contracted Hepatitis B, without sexual intercourse.

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Pink lips

Actually, I have heard about hepatitis from different mediums but I never really paid much attention to it. I thought it was one of those sexually transmitted infection. I actually did not know that there are other means through which one can contract this infection, neither did I know that hepatitis has different types.

Celibacy could not save me…

 I am very conscious of my body, so the moment something is off, I notice instantly. There was a period during my national youth service program at Calabar, I observed that whenever I take any proteinaceous food, I get really uneasy. I treated malaria, but to no effect. Then one morning, I just looked into the mirror and noticed my eyes were yellow. I immediately ran to the airport, took a flight down to my family hospital in Lagos. I didn’t want to go home because I was unsure of what I was infected with.

The doctor ran series of test on me, before he came to the conclusion that I was infected with Hepatitis B. Ha! How come? I was so pissed because I had been celibate for almost 7 years, so how did this come about? Then the doctor explained that there are other means through which one can be infected, like coming in contact with an infected person general body fluids; sweat, urine, saliva, blood, and breast milk. Then it dawned on me that I could have contracted this in a public transport or somewhere congested.

Regrets!!!

There was nothing I could have done differently, no one to blame. The person through whom I was infected may not even know they have hepatitis. So, I took my medication religiously, changed my diet, and in about 6 months I was Hepatitis B free. I was lucky because my immune system was able to detect and fight it early enough. There were people I met at the centre, who noticed their infection really late, and so it was difficult to control.

Trust!

In relation to trust eh, lol! Trust no one o, there are a lot of infections out there, most of which don’t show on the face. So before you decide to get down with anyone, you must be sure of the person’s status. Even if he or she is your long time bae, you still have to verify and keep it that way. One can’t be too sure.

Advice

If I had a 16 year old younger one, I will advise them to first of all know their status. Then I would give them the proper gist on the importance of sexual safety. Abstain from sex if possible, but if you can’t, no judgements. Just be smart about it; use a condom, and know your status. Also, to anyone reading this, do a regular checkup for hepatitis and other transmittable infections, HIV, syphilis, and the likes. This is so that you can quickly get treatment, you should not wait till you start showing symptoms. It may be late!

The Slide Safe innovation is really good because then you can test yourself and your partner at the comfort of your home, and you get your result in less than 15 minutes. So even if your partner hates hospitals and uses that as an excuse, the excuse won’t be valid anymore with a pack of Slide Safe.

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Pink lips has said it all, just get your own pack of slide safe and get tested. Don’t wait for symptoms. Whatever the result is, just get back to us and we will take it from there. Let’s get talking. Send your stories, or that of your friends to blog@slidesafe.ng. Let us help make the world a safer place.