Worried about exposure to hiv

[contrite]

Dear Doc,

On the 26th of May I did the most stupid thing, I got really drunk at a club and went to a motel with a woman I met there.
She gave me oral sex after I put a condom. However, because I was unable to maintain an erection she took the condom off and and tried to stimulate me that way.My erection still, was not suffuicient enough. Next, Ijusst went and tried vaginal sex, trying to penetrate her(minus a condom)without success, but I had lots of contact with her vaginal opening with my naked penis. I was unable to perform the intercourse and I think I passed out after that. I have not ejaculated in the encounter.

The woman has told me that she hasn't had sex in the last two years(but if i can take her out in one night, can i believe her?).

Two days after this episode, I had urinary urgency, frequency and pain in the inside of my thighs and associated headache,but I had no penile discharge, went to the clinic and was tested for gonnorhea and chlamydia which was negative. After about 5 days the symptoms wentaway.  

However, since Monday June 11, I have had continuous headeache, fatigue, feeling of hotness on my back, insomnia, chest discomfort and occasional dry cough, general sense of unease and sense of doom. I had three episode of diarrhea and I think I lost about three pounds.I have checked my temprature, althogh ,I feel hot my temps are on the normal range, I have no lymphadenopathy , but I am getting freaked out by the general malaise I am feeling and insomnia. And I have to wait more than a month to have a reliable hiv-test result. I am so anguished please help.

[plzhelpme7]

thanks

[PammySue]

The doc will tell you that the risk of any single encounter is only about 1 in a 1000, and it doesn't really sound like your encounter was that successful.  Your symptoms suggest severe anxiety, as most people here exhibit after an event such as yours.  Try to relax while you wait for the doc to reassure you.

[confused516]

The doctor will tell you no risk as long as this was it.  You never penetrated her and vaginal fluids outside the body is not a way people get hiv.  Recieving unprotected oral is also not a risk for hiv. Not a single documented case in over tweny five years.  Plus you dont even know if she had hiv which she probably didnt.

[contrite]

Thank you Doc,for your candor and explanation. I will certainly test by 4wks. Again, much appreciated comments from the participants.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

PammySue and confused516, who responded before me (below), have me down pat.  Your symptoms do not  suggest HIV or any other STD (but they are typical of the physical symptoms of anxiety or depression).  And for practical purposes, you could not have acquired HIV from the exposure you describe.  And you describe a partner at low risk as well.  There is no reason for the anguish you describe, and I would not recommend testing at all except for your obvious need for a negative result to settle you down.  But you don't have to wait so long.  Have a test 4 weeks after exposure; then, if you wish, another one at 6-12 weeks.

All HIV foum users:  Many of you will be interested in the following comments posted June 13 on Dr. Bob Frascino's HIV/safe sex forum at thebody.com (http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/SafeSex/Current/Q175376.html).

"Hi Dr Bob. Just thought I'd share this with your readers. This is the current policy from ANCARD (Australian National Council of AIDs and Related Diseases). The passage below was taken from the 'Clinical Screening and Case Detection' section.

'Where there is reasonable concern about the risk of HIV infection, a patient with a negative test result should be retested one to three months after exposure or a specific event, and retested if there are clinical signs or symptoms. The seroconversion window period ranges from two to six weeks after infection (Schreiber et al., 1996). To identify very early infection, p24 antigen or nucleic acid amplification testing may be carried out.'

I found another officaial Aussie site that also suggested that when using current testing methods, one month is adeqaute to allow for detectable antibody production. I see that your 'New York Health Department' site also concedes that one month is ample time in almost all cases of seroconversion. Hope this helps ease the minds of some WW's out there."

I couldn't agree more.

HHH, MD