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Doctor says anything before 6 months is not conclusive
Hello, id like to start by stating what exactly has lead me to here. I've run out of options and I feel totally alone and scared. I am a male who performed oral sex on a male, and he ejaculated in my mouth that is all that happened and this was my last "unknown" exposure.
This was on Feb 20th / 2017 around 12:30am. It didn't last long, by 1am he was done and gone. This was the early hours of Monday morning, on Saturday morning (6 days later) I got a cold sore (something I've had 100s of im sure, which was a bad one and lasted for quite some time.
Next, on the following Monday my arm pits were burning and when I checked they were broke out very badly, but again I had recently switched deodarnt and after I stopped using the new deodarnt within a week things went back to normal, but I made the biggest mistake to date I do believe, I started to google.
It started with googling about cold sores and why it was taking so long to clear up, and somewhere along the way it took to me to an article about HIV. Then I was obsessed and convinced I had contracted HIV. Around this timeframe I also suffered with very bad pains in my knees and thighs, however I went through 3 pairs of work boots in just over a month, so all my "syptoms" were hard to actually relate to HIV yet I was still convinced and continued to google.
I also got sharpe pains in my throats and after going to a walk in clinic I was told therwas was no infection and it was most likely from stress and anxiety and I needed to relax. I asked the person who I had performed the oral sex on, and said he was tested negative two years ago and has not put him self in any risky situations (only protected vaginal sex, no anal sex of any kind, no needle use, and has only ever had oral sex performed on him and he has not performed any) but 2 years is hard to still consider accurate.
I went to the local AIDS clinic on March 8th (17 days post exposure) and had blood work done (I'm in Canada and contacted CATIE who informed me all blood tests are 4th gen and check for p24 and antibodies) and it came back negative, but the nurse stressed I come back because I was in the "window-period".
Fine and dandy, it's been consuming my entire life and has ruined my day to day life with anxiety and worry. However I made it to week 9 and on the 64th day post exposure I was seeing my family doctor and requested he send me for more blood work to check my HIV status.
Today I went back for my results (now in week 10) and he said they were negative, which I thought was going to make me extremely happy and finally relax some, but when I asked if he thought that things were "looking good" for me, he insisted that any testing before 6 months is no good.
This is when I feel like I hit my lowest. I thought I was almost out of the woods, and he's a doctor, a real live doctor, and he didn't reassure me at all. He made me fear even more. I'm a healthy 24 year old male, I don't have diabetes or any autoimmune disorders, no cancers or chemotherapy.
When I contacted CATIE they said I'm at extremely low risk, and that most people can be detected within 4-6 weeks, while testing at 12 weeks is still the guideline. However if there was no p24 detected after 17 days, and no antibodies detected after 64 days, why does my doctor insist and demand that any testing done before 6 months is inaccurate. I thought this was almost behind me, now I feel like it's all just starting all over again.
This was on Feb 20th / 2017 around 12:30am. It didn't last long, by 1am he was done and gone. This was the early hours of Monday morning, on Saturday morning (6 days later) I got a cold sore (something I've had 100s of im sure, which was a bad one and lasted for quite some time.
Next, on the following Monday my arm pits were burning and when I checked they were broke out very badly, but again I had recently switched deodarnt and after I stopped using the new deodarnt within a week things went back to normal, but I made the biggest mistake to date I do believe, I started to google.
It started with googling about cold sores and why it was taking so long to clear up, and somewhere along the way it took to me to an article about HIV. Then I was obsessed and convinced I had contracted HIV. Around this timeframe I also suffered with very bad pains in my knees and thighs, however I went through 3 pairs of work boots in just over a month, so all my "syptoms" were hard to actually relate to HIV yet I was still convinced and continued to google.
I also got sharpe pains in my throats and after going to a walk in clinic I was told therwas was no infection and it was most likely from stress and anxiety and I needed to relax. I asked the person who I had performed the oral sex on, and said he was tested negative two years ago and has not put him self in any risky situations (only protected vaginal sex, no anal sex of any kind, no needle use, and has only ever had oral sex performed on him and he has not performed any) but 2 years is hard to still consider accurate.
I went to the local AIDS clinic on March 8th (17 days post exposure) and had blood work done (I'm in Canada and contacted CATIE who informed me all blood tests are 4th gen and check for p24 and antibodies) and it came back negative, but the nurse stressed I come back because I was in the "window-period".
Fine and dandy, it's been consuming my entire life and has ruined my day to day life with anxiety and worry. However I made it to week 9 and on the 64th day post exposure I was seeing my family doctor and requested he send me for more blood work to check my HIV status.
Today I went back for my results (now in week 10) and he said they were negative, which I thought was going to make me extremely happy and finally relax some, but when I asked if he thought that things were "looking good" for me, he insisted that any testing before 6 months is no good.
This is when I feel like I hit my lowest. I thought I was almost out of the woods, and he's a doctor, a real live doctor, and he didn't reassure me at all. He made me fear even more. I'm a healthy 24 year old male, I don't have diabetes or any autoimmune disorders, no cancers or chemotherapy.
When I contacted CATIE they said I'm at extremely low risk, and that most people can be detected within 4-6 weeks, while testing at 12 weeks is still the guideline. However if there was no p24 detected after 17 days, and no antibodies detected after 64 days, why does my doctor insist and demand that any testing done before 6 months is inaccurate. I thought this was almost behind me, now I feel like it's all just starting all over again.
Hello. MedHelp adheres to the position of the CDC as well as the input of expert physicians that HIV is only transmitted through unprotected vaginal or anal sex, the sharing of needles, or from mother to child. While there may be a theoretical risk, there are no known cases of someone contracting HIV through oral sex. This information should give you reassurance that anything you are experiencing is not HIV related. This should answer your question and we are now closing this discussion. We wish you the best.
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Doctors are only as good as their training and continuing education. And there are plenty of doctors out there who don't keep up with the latest news on every disease, especially general practitioners, because their bread and butter is simple stuff like colds, the flu, and things of that nature. So your doctor is way behind in studying HIV research because literally the 6 month window period has been outdated since 2004. And the 3 month window period only applies to older HIV tests. The current HIV test on the market is the 4th generation duo ag/ab test, which has been determined by actual current HIV specialists to be conclusive at 28 days post exposure. So, you can choose to believe HIV specialists who actually know what they're talking about or you can choose to believe your uninformed and uneducated doctor who clearly needs a serious update to his training if he's going to be giving advice to people.
Additionally, the 2 expert doctors who used to post on here have said repeatedly that oral sex is not considered a risk for HIV because the HIV virus is very fragile and unable to survive in saliva. Digestive enzymes present in human saliva break down the virus and render it inactive and unable to infect. Which is why there are no documented cases of HIV infection by oral sex, because it's not scientifically possible given the fragile nature of the virus.
Additionally, the 2 expert doctors who used to post on here have said repeatedly that oral sex is not considered a risk for HIV because the HIV virus is very fragile and unable to survive in saliva. Digestive enzymes present in human saliva break down the virus and render it inactive and unable to infect. Which is why there are no documented cases of HIV infection by oral sex, because it's not scientifically possible given the fragile nature of the virus.
2 Comments
Not to condriact you, but if you look up "oral sex debate" on google, it says there is documented cases over the years of people becoming infected from oral sex. I understand you guys are very educated on all this and I respect and love having somewhere to talk this out, but if there has been reported cases over the years, how come everyone on here is so adamant that it just can't happen.
But also in other words, a negative result at 64 days which is well over double the 28 days is a very good indication, and unlikely to change on the 93rd day
HIV is inactivated in air and in saliva so you didn't have any risk with oral. Only sex risks are unprotected vaginal or anal which you didn't have. No one got it from oral in 40 year HIV history so no sense taking HIV tests.
1 Comments
I wish that I could believe that, but why is there so many websites that state there has absolutely been reported cases of it being a way of transmission? I understand that the CDC and all those organizations needs to cover themselves, but they all state that it is a risk, although low. So if it is a low risk, and there has been studies and cases documented apparently, how come so many people on this forum seem to believe it is basically no risk. I didn't brush my teeth before doing this, but I do have gum disease/bleeding gums when I brush at times. Other then that I didn't have any other open cuts/sores that I was aware of. Also why would my doctor stress so much that I had to wait 6 months? I am just barely to my 3 months, and now he says wait 3 more!
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