Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
HIV Prevention (Expert Forum)
ARS Symptoms
Answered by
University of Washington
Seattle - WA
This forum is limited to prevention of HIV and to safe sex in general. If you believe you might have been exposed to HIV and want help to judge your risk, would like advice about HIV testing, or have questions about the effectiveness of condoms or the risks associated with specific sexual practices, this is the site for you.
IMPORTANT
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
ARS Symptoms
by DR79, Mar 07, 2007 12:00AM
Hi Doc...you do a great service to all of us out here, and I applaud your patience and knowledge. I'll try to keep it short.
On January 1st, I had unprotected sex with a woman. (I am a man). I did not ejaculate inside her. This woman and I had a discussion about her STD history before we had sex and she said she was "fine" but I guess you never really know. Additionally, the girl was on the final day of her period, and removed her tampon prior to sex. I did not see any blood on my penis after sex. (But WHAT was I thinking!!)
Now, 9 weeks later, I am as sick as I have ever been. I have a fever of 101 degrees, stiff neck, dry cough, diarrhea, chills, sweats at night - the whole thing. My doctor said it's a "flu-like" virus and I just need to grind it out, but I am worried that these could be ARS symptoms. What are your thoughts? Is 9 weeks too late for ARS to begin? If I was going to have the ARS illness, would it have happened already? Do these even sound like ARS symptoms? Any knowledge you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
On January 1st, I had unprotected sex with a woman. (I am a man). I did not ejaculate inside her. This woman and I had a discussion about her STD history before we had sex and she said she was "fine" but I guess you never really know. Additionally, the girl was on the final day of her period, and removed her tampon prior to sex. I did not see any blood on my penis after sex. (But WHAT was I thinking!!)
Now, 9 weeks later, I am as sick as I have ever been. I have a fever of 101 degrees, stiff neck, dry cough, diarrhea, chills, sweats at night - the whole thing. My doctor said it's a "flu-like" virus and I just need to grind it out, but I am worried that these could be ARS symptoms. What are your thoughts? Is 9 weeks too late for ARS to begin? If I was going to have the ARS illness, would it have happened already? Do these even sound like ARS symptoms? Any knowledge you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Doctor's Answer
by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Mar 07, 2007 12:00AM
, Mar 07, 2007 12:00AM
First, with respect to 'What was I thinking!!': People have sex during menstruation all the time. Any increased risk in HIV or other STDs is too little to worry about.
I agree 100% with your doctor. Your symptoms came on too late to be due to HIV, and they sound like a garden variety virus. Sure some of your symptoms are similar to those of ARS, but you can say the same thing about 80% of all infectious diseases. That is why symptoms simply never are a valid indicator, by themselves, of new HIV infection--especially in the virtually zero-risk situation you describe. And most of your symptoms are not suggestive of HIV, especially the cough.
Have an HIV test for reassurance. You can count on a negative result. And otherwise follow your provider's advice.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
I agree 100% with your doctor. Your symptoms came on too late to be due to HIV, and they sound like a garden variety virus. Sure some of your symptoms are similar to those of ARS, but you can say the same thing about 80% of all infectious diseases. That is why symptoms simply never are a valid indicator, by themselves, of new HIV infection--especially in the virtually zero-risk situation you describe. And most of your symptoms are not suggestive of HIV, especially the cough.
Have an HIV test for reassurance. You can count on a negative result. And otherwise follow your provider's advice.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
For future reference....symptoms such as mine past the 4-5 week mark after an encounter would be too late for HIV? Is that correct?
I already answered your question about timing of symptoms.