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Avatar universal

Do people ever post positive result

I notice reading in this forum people who experianced ARS symptoms after a risky encounter that post their test results after 4, 8, and 12 weeks. On all of these posts the result always comes back negative. Does this mean  symptoms should be ignored? because i experainced all the symptoms you can think of right around the start of the 8th and 9th day after my exposure. diarrhea, nausea, headache, oral thrush, nightsweats, and swollen glands in the neck. Having these symptoms couldnt be any worse, i autumatically felt as im 100% infected. This was only a 1 time vaginal sex with a woman of unknown status , in which she claims to not have the virus but tends to give fishy responses. At the time i was drunk, this was my 1st ever encounter taking such risk i couldnt be so unfortunate. its now 2 months after the exposure and im planning on my 9th week antibody test. So far both of my 2nd and 4th week test came back negative. My doctor told me i dont have it and i dont even need further testing.
I can surely agree these symptoms are meaningless only after this test as i know 9 weeks will very good indication around 90%.
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Avatar universal
Thanks Ricky, that's an answer to a question many of us seem to want to know. Because the site is quite large it can be quite hard to get a handle on those sorts of statistics. It's interesting.

Thanks also to Lizzie for her time in dealing with my questions.
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Avatar universal
You are going to have to pay to post in the exper forum then.
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Avatar universal

Hi Doctor,

I have asked this before in the forum from one member, but I would also want to get an answer from a medical practitioner.

Two weeks after engaging in a brief protected oral sex (both receptive and insertive) and protected insertive anal sex with another male, I started to have symptoms - cold, cough, sore throat and feverish feeling.  Are my symptoms indicative of acute HIV infection? The condoms we used are latex condoms, new and did not break from start to finish;   however, I'm very worried, as I am going home soon to my family.  Do I need HIV testing based on the scenario I mentioned?  I will appreciate very much your response.

Sincerely,

Leo2011
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186166 tn?1385259382
ppl post their results all the time.  they also come back to tell how once they received their negative result, their symptoms disappeared...leading them to accept the fact that anxiety can and does cause very real physical symptoms.

you had no risk as you have been told repeatedly.  kindly move along...you do not have a hiv concern and therefore this forum has nothing left to offer you.
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Avatar universal
To the OP - great question.

I too was long wondering how many people post back positive (or where they go, as I've never seen such posts)?

Dr HHH on the expert forum suggests that no heterosexual poster asking about an exposure in the years he has been on this forum has reported back positive. Is that true? I thought a few female members had? Is it simply that people who test positive can gain nothing from the site and never bother to post back their result, or do the experts and/or regular contributors delete posts which by showing a positive result conflict with the advice they gave?

I just find it curious that nobody seems to report back positive, or do they post their results in a different forum?

I'm not flaming or trolling, this site has been very beneficial to me, and all that take the trouble to answer questions deserve everyone's utmost thanks and admiration. Nevertheless, it is an obvious question that has always struck me if I'm honest, and I am clearly not alone.

Re hypochondria, I was believing my symptoms since exposure were purely down to anxiety, but the last few days (5 weeks give or take) I have definitely had physical ARS-like symptoms (fluey) which must be down to 'an' infection (anxiety cannot give you swollen lymph nodes or fever AFAIK). I'm currently too scared to even look for a rash. It is too much of a coincidence that somebody who has not been ill like this since he can remember can suddenly go down like this around 5 weeks after the exposure, and in such a 'textbook' manner. Assessed no risk (or not) on here, my feeling is something must have gone wrong (probably with condom usage or integrity that I did not notice) as the evidence seems overwhelming now. Not my bed, but I chose to lie in it. I test next week, results 10 days thereafter, and I hope that I am the most happily surprised person that ever lived (my only hope stems from your words that symptoms mean nothing, but that is a tough leap of faith for anyone, especially when they never ordinarily get ill like this). Somehow I doubt this will end well, disconcertingly leading me to one conclusion, and I am gearing up for the frightening life adjustments ahead, which I will have to keep secret from everyone. Whatever the result, I will post it on any thread where I have discussed my risk.

I fully expect a 'move on', or, 'we've assessed your risk' reply to this post, which is sort of connected to the question. It seems that if one posts a set of circumstances, even if they later ask another question concerning, say, ambiguity in their possible recollections, it is as if the forum's original response was cast in stone. I am not asking for any reassessment btw, the only thing that can assist me now is my test (the internet cannot save me!). But, with no obvious way to appeal when questions etc are removed or you are told not to post again, that nobody ever seems to post back with an HIV+ result is less reassuring than it might otherwise be.
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Avatar universal
I agree many do seem to have very little or no exposure risk to HIV. However, when you do become at risk and experiance some of these symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, headache, oral thrush, nightsweats, and swollen glands in the neck. Then you cannot rule out that these are causes of stress because stress can have some of these symptoms such as diarrhea and headache but dont think oral thrush, nightsweats, and swollen glands are caused by stress.
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186166 tn?1385259382
regarding symptoms?  most ppl on this forum fall into this category:

A lot of people have been writing questions about early symptoms of HIV infection. Many of these people do not seem to have any risk for HIV, but may be having some kind of anxiety related to an encounter with a sex worker (or as in the case of question one, a strip club). Most have tested negative for HIV and are beyond the window period. They report a wide array of symptoms, some of them are very severe. I think it is also significant that many of them appear to have been reading a lot about HIV since the incident which caused them to worry. Since these people are HIV negative, it seems logical to see a connection between their anxiety and their learning about HIV symptoms. Some of these correspondents report this connection after reflecting on it. For example, they develop diarrhea the day they read about that particular symptom.

The history of psychoanalysis is full of cases of people with severe physical symptoms which appear to have no organic cause (i.e. their labs are all negative), and which persist until some psychological movement is attained. Some people (called hypochondriacs) have this illness their whole life. They become obsessed with every symptom and continually shop for a doctor who will take their illnesses seriously. The saddest part about this pattern is that, for people who invest a great deal of their identity in being sick (and, as a result, sacrifice a lot of their relationships, time, and emotional energy), it can become very difficult to accept that they are not sick.


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Avatar universal
it seems just so difficult to find such data to support this. I hear the porn star that was widely headlined in the news about the HIV scare in the porn industry intially tested negative in the first month, he gave it to 3 people right after testing negative. I think it was done on a PCR test.
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Avatar universal
A 6 - 8 week test may be conclusive but until the testing guidelines are changed it will stay 3 months.
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Avatar universal
My Doctor and few other doctors including one in this forum claim earlier dates to be conclusive. They claim tests are more accurate nowadays and the 3 months standard date is outdated. Im not sure why my doctor would say 4 weeks negative is almost conclusive, are they just saying this to calm stressed and  worried  people like me?
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Avatar universal
everyone is different, Most do not test POS after a 8 week NEG test but a conclusive result needs to be at 3 months. As to how many people have tested pos on this forum I am unsure of. A 8 week test is VERY unlikely to change at 3 months
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Avatar universal
As i here all these negative conclusive test results, do people ever test their positive results after 4 - 6 weeks negative test. According to what i read most seem to find out their infected earlier on before 30 days.
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Avatar universal
I think its very unlikely that would be the case knowing you are infected, i was just very curious if anyone ever tested positive as almost everyone seems to turn out fine.
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Avatar universal
Your symptoms are all likely due to anxiety. But only your 3 month test will tell you the answer you are seeking here
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Avatar universal
its seems one symptoms leads to another. in my case felt the the stomach ache, swollen lymp node and  then i immediately begin to feel stressed and axiety about testing positive. In which followed by other symptoms which may be caused by stress such as headache, diarrhea and nightsweats. Having being so stress i smoked almost half a pack of ciggaretes a day in which i know also causes thrush in the mouth, because it started to appear again now after 7 weeks as i begin to be stress and smoke more ciggaretes. After the 4 weeks i was reliaved by my negative result and was begging to regain myself however now im feeling anxious toward my 2nd month test.
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Avatar universal
These types of symptoms happen to many many people when they thing they were exposed, and even after having all the ARS "LIKE" symptoms they test out NEG.  This is why symptoms do not prove anything only a test at 3 months
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Avatar universal
i understand symptoms are not good indication but if you are a perfectly healthy person that rarely gets sick maybe once a year. then suddenly you're feeling these weird possible ARS symptoms which happen to be after your only 1 time unprotected exposure. Thats what makes it so difficult to ignore these symptoms?
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Avatar universal
Does this mean  symptoms should be ignored? YES

Test at 3 months for your conclusive result
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