Joint/Muslce pain (possibly HIV related)?

[ainxtein]

I am not native English speaker, so my description my be a little awkward (I can explain further if needed).

I had unsafe sex 4 weeks ago and the first minute after it I began to panic. Little sleep in the following week, and then I started to experience pain in my muscles and joints. The panic resulted from strong feeling of guilty, and a strong fear of HIV infection.

At first it is only some minor feelings like needles in my knees/toes, and later it developed into muscle/joint pain all over my body (it is not unbearable but it is clear) after three weeks of anxiety. Sometimes it is like that there is an aching line from my finger to elbow. Sometimes it feels like someone is using a drill or something on the bones of my finger/shin/lower arm. There is no simultaneous pain in two different places though. Sometimes my upper arms have pulsing pain.

And every time it last about 3-5 minutes, and disappear completely (by pressing the area afterwards there is no further pain, so I guess it is not muscle injury). It seems that these pain occur in muscles/bones/joints.

This is weird. Is it fibromyalgia? Does anyone have experience on similar situation? Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!

P.s. I suspect it is HIV related, but assessment of my risk is low. So I guess it may be more a result of anxiety/depression...

[PlateletGal]

Many people do not experience symptoms when they first are exposed to HIV. Those who do, get "Acute HIV Syndrome" and usually have a fever, headache, fatigue, nausea and/or enlarged lymph nodes. From my understnading, these symptoms would occur three to six weeks after exposure and would go away within a week to a month.

You mentioned depression and depression can cause muscle pain. A suggestion... I would consider working on your anxiety/depression and see if your symptoms improve. Since you have anxiety about HIV, then get tested and make sure you are tested again at least 6 months after that sexual encounter occurred.

[patsy10]

I don't think an HIV infection would show up this fast.  Infection with HIV is usually followed by a flu-like illness then the bad symptoms start later on.