Question 10/12 Year Post Exposure

[helpshake]

    Doctor

I’ve been searching the boards but can't seem to find much information about my possible situation. 10/11 years back I had what I would consider a high risk multiple (3 times) exposure with a stripper in Canada (all unprotected)- don't know much about her other than she was bruised, she says from her master and also she went to University downtown- My concern now is that 10 years later I’m having some weird things happen- I have always been a very healthy person- it started back in Dec 07 with a bad cold that was going around borderline phenomena- it lasted over 2 months but I seemed to kick the worst of it- next I started getting light headed from time to time and started seeing floaters- next notice swollen glands on the back of my head-next I started to notice thrush white spots in my mouth and mouth ulcers- about 6 weeks ago I went for a orasure (mouthswab) rapid antibodie test which came back negative- this eased my mind for a few days- yesterday I noticed shingles on my forehead- I know symptoms are never a good sing of HIV but I can’t help but think I’m getting every symptom of advanced HIV or someone with an extremely weakened immune system- I guess my question is could this test be no good because I’ve stopped producing antibodies? I’ve read this can happen- Would you suggest I try other types of testing? How often will people stop producing antibodies? At this point I feel fairly healthy eating right and exercising daily- Doc how should I proceed from here

My wife wants to try having kids but I’m very nervous- I haven’t told her any of this the symptoms anything    

Thanks for the great work and help
  

[helpshake]

Thanks for the response I hope I can really start to put this behind me- a few more questions just to follow up on my original post and I hope to be moving on- you say the rapid test are very good, then a poster above (god bless his soul I know he's just trying to help) suggests the rapid oral test are very sensitive- is it possible it could produce a false negative or just not pick anything up? He suggests taking a UNI-GOLD RECOMBIGEN is there any advantage to this over the rapid oral test I’m taking? How common is it a patient would stop producing antibodies in the final stages of aids? Is EBV a sexually transmitted disease and could this be causing my problems? Should I be tested for this? Would I know I had it?

Thanks in advance

[crf250x]

I was in the exact same boat as you. At age 16, I had unprotected and caught EBV from this girl. At age 18 - 19 I had a few CSW encounters, now I'm going on 23 and the reality of HIV finally hit me in the face. I'm also getting weird bumps, floaters, folliculitus and what looks to be seborrheic dermatitis on the face. I too took the Oraquick Oral Adv. tests twice and they both came back negative. What helped me was too swing by Planned Parenthood and finally put my mind to rest with a rapid blood test (UNI-GOLD RECOMBIGEN). The bottom line is, the Oraquick test gives a decent amount of false-positive results - in other words, the damn test is REALLY sensitive. Also, the day your body stop producing antibodies generally means you're in the late stages of AIDS (on your deathbed) and not HIV. Good luck, God bless.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Actually, some of your story is familiar but I can also understand why having shingles (are you sure that is what you have?) might concern you.  Remember however, most people who get shingles do not have HIV or other forms or immune compromise.  

In general, HIV tests, when performed properly (it's not rocket science) are highly accurate and reliable.  The orasure tests are very good.  If you have concerns you might get the test repeated for peace of mind's sake but, resuming the test was done right, you can be comfortable that you do not have HIV.  

People do not stop making HIV antibodies until the very end of the disease.  If you had the disease, now, 10-12 years later, you would still have antibodies.
My advice.  Stop worrying.  If you need to, repeat the test once.  It will be negative.  Following either course, then you should concentrate on moving forward with your life.

Hope this helps.  EWH