If you're pulling out before you cum and you do not cause any bleeding in the process, the chances of HIV transmission assuming that the person you're having contact with has a manageable Viral Load count are not very likely. Don't get me wrong though, it is still possible for transmission to occur, it's just not very likely. That all being said, even if you're in a partnered relationship, take it from someone who learned things the hard way, you still don't want to run that risk when you know the factor is there. The type of moral and mental strain that it puts on both the person who infected you by knowing what you're going through, as well as what it actually puts you through when you find out really isn't worth the risk.

Did you know that in Canada, the cost of the medications required to stay alive (using my case as an example) is a whopping $1,533.53 Canadian every 30 days? When you do the math, that adds up to a price tag of $18,657.95 Canadian per year for the medications required to live. What's worse is that the average wage job with somewhat decent pay assuming that you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks of the year, and get paid for 52 weeks of the year only adds up to $23,400 per year before taxes. That means that on the average, for someone that has managed to obtain a more "decent" paying job would only be left with some $266.46 per month (or $4742.05 per year) after paying for the medication you need to live. Such a task is simply impossible to do. Also keep in mind that these income figures are before taxes. On average, an income of $23,400 Canadian would only equate to approximately $18,500 Canadian after taxes, thereby effectively forcing you to either bite the bullet on expensive insurance that's at least substantially cheaper than the cost of the medications, or forcing you to resort to a disability pension to be able to cover your medication costs and provide you with a slap in the face by dropping you from a take home income of $18,500 Canadian per year after taxes to a mere $1053.00 Canadian per month in my case, for a now grand total income of $12,636 Canadian per month. Either way, it's a substantially life changing adjustment that one must make to accommodate for such a thing. While I'm on this topic, I'm not even going to get started on the issue of insurance companies either refusing coverage or terminating people's drug coverage for being HIV+. It's a sad thing to say, but it is a reality.

Aside from the financial burden of the matter, it is commonly known that 95% of persons who become infected with HIV are diagnosed with depression with depression within 5 years of finding out their diagnosis. Of that 95% of the population, 90% of them would not have otherwise been diagnosed with depression. What's even more frightening is that 80% of persons who are diagnosed with HIV attempt suicide either as an initial reaction to their diagnosis, or generally shortly after diagnosis. It should also be noted that of the 80% who attempt suicide, 98% of such cases occur within the first year following diagnosis.

I truly can't emphasize the importance of playing it safe enough. It's not just your own well being that you're taking into account, but it's likely also the mental state and well being of the person you catch it from if you know who they are. Those points as illustrated above in this post are only a few of the highlights of some of the things that you can learn about HIV in the textbooks. What they don't teach you however is what it's like to actually live with the virus, how it changes your body, making you adjust to a new "normal" as it were. In some cases it can cause weight gain or abnormal growth such as a hump on your back. Did you know that in some cases, you have may have to be reduced to Depends under pants because of the incontinence (literally) that can be caused as a result of the drugs that you need to live? For that matter, did you know that you can spend time on a semi-frequent basis getting well acquainted with the toilet as you're delivering the gospel according to puke so violently that people around you are wondering how in the hell you can still breathe or fit that much stuff into you?

All I'm saying is if you choose to have such a practice, make sure you understand what it is that you truly are opening yourself to the possibility of. I am not saying that barebacking or that your way is "wrong", because what is right for one person may not be right for another. I just want you to truly understand what it is that you potentially open yourself up to by taking such an approach.