Belief that I have HIV

[Tony_2014]

Hello expert doctors,

I hope that you can answer my questions. You see, I am seeking your professional opinion, but have already convinced myself that I am HIV positive since the onset of many symptoms. I will explain what I did:

I am a 23 years old male who had never had sex before. I made a mistake April 11, 2014 of meeting a 31 year old male of unknown HIV status on Craigslist.org. I had just planned on touching each other’s penises and no sex, but he tempted me to have anal sex with him. He stated that he only plays safe, so to speak. Before we did anything, I went to CVS pharmacy and bought a pack of Trojan Dry condoms that are made with natural rubber latex and I bought Trojan lubricant. I don’t know if this lubricant is water-based, just that it said on the packaging that it’s condom compatible. Anyways, I went over to the male’s house where he led me to his room. He masturbated my penis for a while; I did it to him a little bit and got some of his pre-seminal fluid on my hand. He then opened the lubricant I bought and put and rubbed a lot of the lubricant all over my penis. He then placed some of the lubricant inside his rectum. He then placed one of the condoms on my penis, but didn’t pinch the tip to allow the air to escape. He tried to sway me to have anal sex with him without a condom, but I refused. The anal sex was short. The male that I was about to penetrate laid with his back down on his bed with his feet up. I then tried to penetrate him and my penis went in only a little bit. I did this in and out two times, but was having trouble getting my penis in his rectum so he wanted to try one other position. I was asked to lay on his bed with my back down; which before I did I remember making sure that the condom ring was at the base of my penis and that there was no air in the tip of the condom.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Finger web pain is unrelated to HIV.  There are no medications, including vaccines, that have any effect on HIV testing.  And the HPV vaccine is not the cause of any symptoms you have had.

Time to move on.

[Tony_2014]

Thank-you for your response.

I have three more questions only.

First, the only symptom I have now is pain and burning in the webbing between my fingers and toes. Could HIV or any STD cause this?

Second and finally, I received my third and final HPV vaccine exactly one day before I took my 26 day rapid antibody test at the clinic. Do you think this vaccine would've affected the 26 day rapid test or even the 8 weeks *(59 days) test for HIV AB which I recently received? Could this vaccine affect my other STD results as well?

I ask these questions because I feel my own doctor has done nothing to help me on this and also because immediately following the last dose of HPV vaccine I started to obtain all the symptoms I outlined in my initial post. Could the vaccine cause all these symptoms, if no other STD is?

Thanks.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Either your doctor doesn't understand HIV, or you misunderstood.  It can take 5 years (or sometimes 10 or 20 years) before someone with HIV develops overt AIDS.  However, the blood tests accurately detect all HIV infections within a few weeks.  With the modern, standard HIV tests, there are no exceptions -- that's an urban myth.

Here is a link to another thread that discusses modern HIV testing in detail; as you will see, it also contains a link to another discussion about it.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV---Prevention/RNA-and-oraquick-swab-test-/show/1891685

So do your best to move on without worry.  Don't confuse your (emotional?) reaction to a sexual decision you may regret with STD/HIV risk from it.  They aren't the same.  Deal with the former as you need to, but disregard the latter.  From an infection standpoint, you're home free.

[Tony_2014]

You truly are a great doctor by being so certain that I would be negative that you would bet your life on it. I received my STD tests today all were NEGATIVE, including the HIV screen.

Here is the problem:

You may not believe this, but it is true. My doctor told me that there is a 5 year window period before HIV shows up on a blood test. She said I must test once yearly for five years and that HIV can remain dormant in your body. I wish you were able to talk to her and tell her that is false information. I can provide you with her contact information.

She gave me the HIV AB, HIV 1/2, EIA, with reflexes test at Quest Diagnostics. Is this a good test and is she right that it takes 5 years for HIV to show up? Maybe perhaps she was referring to this particular test? I tried to tell her to give me an early detection test, but she said its included.

I have lost faith in my doctor by this misinformation.

Finally, is this test conclusive for me or should I do another rapid test at 3 months?

Thanks so much.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Thanks for the compressed question.

Even here, most of the details you provide aren't necessary. The important information is in your HIV test results.  Your symptoms don't matter and neither does the exposure.  The HIV blood tests are among the most accurate diagnostic tests ever developed, for any condition.  If enough time has passed since the last possible exposure -- 4-8 weeks, depending on the specific test (or combination of tests) -- they are always 100% accurate.  Your negative results prove you did not catch HIV during the exposures described and that HIV isn't the cause of your symptoms.

To answer your specific questions:

"Can I have your professional opinion if I have HIV or not?"  Definitely you do not.

"Do you know why these symptoms are occurring to me?"  All I can say for certain is that HIV isn't the cause.  Many if not all could be physical manifestations of anxiety or stress. If they persist, you'll need to continue to work with your doctor to sort it out.

"I am getting my June 10 results tomorrow, can I have your opinion on what the HIV result will be?"  Negative.  I would bet my life on it.

I hope this has helped settle your fears.  Best wishes--  HHH, MD

[Tony_2014]

Hello Dr. Handsfield,

I am a 23 years old male and met a 31 year old male of unknown HIV status on Craigslist.org on April 11 this year. I went to his home where he rubbed lots of condom compatible lubricant all over my penis, then a couple seconds later put on me a Trojan Dry condom without pinching the tip of it. The anal sex encounter was short. First, he laid with his back down legs up while I tried penetrating him, my penis going in just a little. I did this twice, having trouble getting my penis in so he told me to lay on his bed with my back down while he went on top of me with his face facing me. He went all the way down on me, but then went back up as my penis was not upwards so he placed my penis upwards and went all the way down on my penis slowly. It was painful for my penis as he did this and I am unsure if penetration occurred as his body weight hurt my penis. After he went all the way down on my penis, and we had skin-to-skin contact I asked him to get off me as I was about to ejaculate. After he got off me, I ejaculated inside the condom and noticed it was still on and didn’t appear to have rips or tears. I even had trouble getting it off.

About 26 days after the encounter I started feeling like I was getting sick and that my neck glands were swollen, so went to my clinic to get a rapid HIV Antibody Test which was negative. My glands were just getting a little swollen when I went for the Rapid testing. My glands got more swollen the next couple of days and lasted in total for about 5-6 days. When my glands were swollen I also had earaches and ear pains. On May 13, 2014 after I went to my doctor and she said my glands were not swollen and nothing seemed wrong and that I probably had SOME viral infection, I went home that night after I showered and got lightning-like pains widespread which subsided the next day followed in the continuing days with muscle aches and joint pains; with the joint pains occurring in my fingers and toes. After May 13 until now I still have muscle aches and finger and toe joint pains. My most severe bout of symptoms happened on June 10, 2014 when I went to Quest for a full STD Screen including HIV. I woke-up June 10 to the most severe finger and toe joint pains. The night of June 10 I had severe finger and toe joint pain with weakness in my legs that I could barely walk; almost resulting in hospitalization.

Can I have your professional opinion if I have HIV or not? Do you know why these symptoms are occurring to me? I am getting my June 10 results tomorrow, can I have your opinion on what the HIV result will be?

Thanks.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the forum.  However, you have greatly exceeded the 2,000 character limit (about 400 words) for a new question.  The initial question just fit in the initial window, not spilling over into the comments section.  The moderators cannot be expected to read such long essayst.  Compress your question to the salient points, under 2,000 characters, then re-post it in a new comment window -- then I will respond (although probably not for several hours).

HHH, MD

[Tony_2014]

My question is divided into two parts, as I couldn't upload my whole question in one post. Sorry for all the details, just want to make sure everything is included.

[Tony_2014]

Anyways, I laid with my back down on his bed. He then went on top of me, with his face facing me. He went all the way down, but noticed that my penis wasn’t sticking upwards so went back up again and placed my penis upwards. He went down on my penis trying to put it in his rectum, going all the way down on me. I am not sure at all if my penis went all the way inside of his rectum or if it only went in a little because my penis suffered pain from the weight of his body going down on my penis; so am not sure if penetration occurred as my penis was hurting. The male went all the way down on my penis, I held his buttocks and after he went all the way down on my penis and the skin-to-skin contact occurred I told him that I was going to ejaculate so he went off of me. After he got off, I noticed that the condom was still on my penis and I ejaculated inside of it. When I was taking off the condom, it appeared to be on almost all the way although the ring of the penis could have went up just a little. When I took off the condom, I was even having a little trouble getting it off as I believe it was on pretty good. I didn’t notice any apparent rips or tears, but am not certain. However, I kept the condom in a bag in tissue and a couple of weeks after the encounter I cleaned the condom outside and inside with cold water and filled the condom with water and didn’t notice any leaking. Does this mean I am in the clear? This is the description of the encounter. I don’t know what the condom did while he was trying to put my penis in his rectum as it was out of sight; all I know is that the condom was on after he went off me. Sorry for the long post, I wanted to include all details.

Finally, I wanted to include a timeline of my symptoms for you to see if these add up to HIV/AIDS symptoms. I didn’t notice any symptoms until about 24-26 days after the encounter. The only symptom that I believe was affecting me after 24-26 days was my neck lymph nodes felt and appeared swollen. When I moved my head back and forth I felt them swollen; this symptom lasted for about 5-6 days. Didn’t notice any other symptoms that were apparent. I took a rapid antibody finger-prick test approximately 26 days *(on May 7, 2014) after the encounter at my local clinic and it was negative although I believe it was too soon and my glands only felt slightly swollen at the time that I was at the clinic; I felt the swelling more in the upcoming day(s). I also experienced earaches and ear pains while the glands were swollen and went to my doctor May 13, 2014 and she felt my neck nodes and said they weren’t swollen and that the welling could have gone away. She also examined my ear and throat and couldn’t find anything. She stated that I probably had SOME viral infection and stated it was too soon for HIV to be causing this. That same day May 13, 2014 after the appointment I came home and had lightning/shocking pains widespread in my body that night after I showered that hurt and lingered on until the next day. After the shocking pains on May 13, 2014 the next week or so I had severe muscle aches and joint pains. The muscle aches were widespread and the joint pains started with my big toes and the joints in my fingers. Also, I had pain in my fingers and toes that feels like shooting pains. After that week or so, my fingers experienced partial numbness and so did the soles of my feet. This lasted for about a week and a half and is now better. From May 13, 2014 until now I have generalized muscle aches and the joint pains that occur mostly in the joints in my fingers and toes that come and goes. One more final point that deserves mentioning is that I had a blood test screen for all STD’s including HIV June 10, 2014. On this day when I went to wake-up to get the blood work done I woke-up to severe joint pain the worst thus far in the joints in my fingers and toes. The night on June 10th after I had the bloodwork done, I felt extremely weak with the severe joint pains in fingers and toes. During this pain in my joints my legs were so weak that I could barely walk or even keep my foot on the pedal on the car. I almost needed hospitalization, it was that bad.

I am so sorry for the long post, but want to include all the details. Can I have your professional and experienced opinion on if I am infected with HIV and if this is the cause of all of my problems, or if something else is possibly going on here? I am getting my June 10th result hopefully tomorrow or in the upcoming days and just want to be prepared. I am already convinced that I am infected, so want to see if you agree with this. I am terrified, but need the honest truth. I know this man I had sex with has sex with many men off of Craigslist. The other symptom that I am noticing today is a burning and painful sensation in the webbings of my fingers and toes with the joint pain and muscle aching still here.

Thanks.