Dr. Hook

[al1234]

I am married with three children.
I had an affair and I told my husband about it. I had multiple unprotected sex with another man. I do not know his HIV status. I started having a sore throat, lots of allergy problems and my knees were killing me. I still occasionally have a sore throat. I went to the doctor and told them that I was sick. They checked my white blood count and said everythig was fine that it was viral. I insisted on having and std scan. Everything came back negative at 12 weeks. My husband, by the way, had and HIV test about 6-8 weeks after my affair. His also came back negative. Can I trust these results. Could my throat hurting be from crying and allergies and not HIV?? What about my knees. They pop when I walk.
Thanks for your time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

The advice you got is overly conservative.  You do not have HIV and the white patches on your tongue, no matter what they are, are not related to HIV.  No doubt about it.  EWH

[al1234]

Thank you so much for your advice. I was a little skeptical about my lab work because I was told by the lab that i needed to come back at 6 months and then possibly a year. They said that is the only way my test would be conclusive. I am still a little worried. Now I have white pathces on my tongue. I am freaking out DR.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Sorry, I forgot to comment about your knees.  The popping of your knees is due to something else.  This is not and has never been a sign of HIV or STD.  

Having just re-read your entire post, once again, I think that much of what you are experiencing relates to feeling bad about your affair.  Disease however is not a part of it.  having spoken with your husband, you have taken the first step to working through this.  I hope all works out well.  EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Reading your post, I can see that you feel bad about your affair.  I hope that, having spoken about *** with your husband, you will be able to work through it. In addition, I hope that I can help by telling you that you have no reason to worry any further about whether you have STD or HIV, you do not.  For starters, it is unlikely that your partner had HIV. On a statistical basis HIV is uncommon in heterosexual men.  Furthermore and even more importantly you were tested for HIV, as well as for other STD about 12 weeks following your affair.  Negative tests at this time assure you that you do not have HIV. You have nothing to worry about, the 12 week results are totally reliable.

As for your other symptoms, what you describe are non-specific an could certainly represent a community acquired, non-HIV viral infection that you caught from someone else -one of your kids, a co-worker or just out in the community,.  It is not HIV however.


Good luck with working through this. Please don't let concerns about HIV or STD worry you however, you have been tested, the tests are reliable and you do not have them. Take care.  EWH

[al1234]

about 2 weeks after the hiv test was negative.... i meant to say that

[al1234]

one other thing. about 2 weeks I ended up in the hospital because I woke up hot. Not sure if it was a night sweat. Just was really hot and had to get up out of bed and splash my face with water. I went into full panic attack. When I got to the hospital, they checked me out. I had a broke out tongue and they checked my white blood cell count and told me that everything looked fine. They said I was having an anxiety attack and sent me home.