Despicable Me,

I am new here, and far from an expert on matters relating to bipolar disorder, but I wanted to weigh in on your post specifically because you sound very distraught about the possibility of having contracted HIV and passing it on to your wife.

Though it might not change how you feel about your current set of circumstances, the statistical odds of acquiring HIV from one "typical" sexual encounter (barring extremely risky behaviors I will leave to one's imagination) with a prostitute are actually quite low, esp. since the hypothetical transmission would be female to male (generally overall much lower than male to female).

One widely quoted statistic on medical websites about HIV is the infection rate of medical employee needle sticks, which is a surprising mere 0.3% (variable based on amount of blood in the dirty needle and the viral load of the patient but still so much lower than the average Joe on the street would probably ever guess).

Furthermore, the odds of passing it on to your wife are also low, albeit higher because of physiology alluded to above, but this obviously goes with the assumption you have actually been infected first, which again, is quite low.

This doesn't condone the behavior or lessen its impact on your marriage or completely erase the risk of HIV (or other sexually transmitted infections including hepatitis... a full screening for all STIs is advised), but I thought it would not hurt to point this out.

But probably more importantly, that your wife has been so incredibly supportive and is willing to work with you and sees that this may have been brought on by a manic episode is really a testament to her faith in you and your marriage and is cause for you to take heart. She sounds like a wonderful ally to have on your side, and with the help of some competent professionals and time, there is no reason why you can't get your marriage back on track with proper treatment. My heart goes out to you and your wife, and I really wish you all the best.