Symptoms worsening

[Gaz1234]

Hi Docs,

Well it's now been about 1 1/2 years since I last posted on here. Here is the link to my last thread http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV---Prevention/False-Negatives/show/1522467#post_6915521

I've still no resolution to what is happening to me. The seb derm I have has worsened and I'm struggling to control if with the creams I have since it's now affecting the whole of my face, scalp, ears and I'm also getting patches in my pubic region. Plus, I'm getting repeated fungal infection like athletes foot and jock itch. Pretty much as soon as I clear it with cream it comes back. So I'm still convinced it must be HIV even with 14 negative tests (mostly 4th gen NHS tests and several 3rd gen rapids and 1 Taqscreen MPX test).
My biggest worry are the symptoms my son has started to experience. He has quite bad folliculitis plus, he has 2 very noticable enlarged lymph nodes. They're so large that you can see them. One has been there for about a year and the other about 3 months. He has used our toothbrush many times either by mistake or because he couldn't find his own. Plus, he had a blood exposure from me. I cut my hand in the kitchen and a fair amount of blood came out. My son grabbed my hand to see and ended up with a smudge of blood across a sore on his hand. His sore was from a graze from falling and was about 3 days old.
Anyway, since my last post I had a CD4 CD8 test done. The results were cd4 8422 (59%) and cd8 245 (17%) and cd4/cd8 = 3.36. I guess fairly normal.
But, I can't believe it can be anything other than HIV because of the symptoms so I don't know what to do next.
Thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You are correct, there is simply no meaningful way that you have HIV.  If you can't get your doctor to refer you to a dermatologist and, after thatn if needbe a clinical immunologist, my advice would be to seek a second opinion, perhaps from a physician whom one of your friends likes and has had good experiences with.  There is no rule that you cannot seek another doctor if you and your current one do not mesh.

Nothing more to say on this.  EWH

[Gaz1234]

Thanks for the reply Dr Hook.
The last time I saw my GP he told me they would normally only refer people to a dermatologist with potential skin cancer. So i need to wait for the seb derm to get really bad before I get a referral. To be honest I'm probably at that point now. Especially if is stop treating it.
It's been difficult to disassociate the symptoms from HIV. Because that seems to be the only immune impairing chronic acquired illness I can find. Everything else seems to be genetic or an acute effect of some viruses.
I haven't been referred to an immunologist yet. I did get a referral to a general medicine clinic but, they were pretty useless and even used Wikipedia as part if their investigations. I could do that without the 3 month wait for the appointment.
I have worried about diverse strains causing false negatives with me but, I guess their rarity and the tests I've had even make that 1 in many billions chance.
  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back to the Forum and sorry to hear of your continuing concerns.  I'm going to presume that you are addressing what you describe as your severe seborrheic dermatitis with an expert clinician such as a dermatologist.  If not, you should be.  Like all such problems seborrheic dermatitis is manifest as a spectrum of disease with variations in therapeutic approach.  

The evidence against you having HIV (from your prior posts as well as your current CD4) is overwhelming.  You do not have HIV.  If indeed you to have other manifestations of diminished cellular immunity such as recurrent fungal infections (which again, should be verified by a trained clinician, not by yourself), then you may want your dermatologist to refer you to a clinical immunologist for further assessment.  That said however, you have proven your dalliance over 7 years ago did not give you HIV and you need to stop perseverating on it.  EWH

[Gaz1234]

Sorry, that should read CD4 822