HIV 1 RNA test

[needhelp4321]

I had a possible exposure on 10/24.  Vaginal unprotected.  Actual I blacked out and don't even know if I had sex.  But could have.  I am assuming the worst case senerio.  The status of woman is unknown.  The following are my results so far:
11/16 EIA: Non-reactive  (22 days)
11/25 EIA: Non-reactive  (31 days)
11/30 HIV 1 RNA real time PCR: Not Detected  (37 days, 5.2 weeks)

I am going crazy thinking about the tests and I have headaches and nausea. I am forcing myself to eat.  What to do with myself?  I can't concentrate on anything.  How conclusive is the RNA real time PCR test?
Thanks

[needhelp4321]

Thanks for all the reassurance online.  I really needed it.  I have my anxiety under control, and looking back, I can't even believe I was acting in such a way.  Apprehension about such a serious subject can drive a person to think and act in odd ways.  I had an antibody test and RNA PCR test ran in parrallel at the 56 day mark and both came back negative.  I will most likely get an EIA at the 4 month mark and call it quits.  This is now off my mind and I can get back to my resposibilities--lesson learned.

[songa]

sir ,if  a persons blood group is not detected ,then is it a risk i of hiv

[needhelp4321]

Does the medication you are on help you?  What meds are you on?  How do they work?

[needhelp4321]

Do you ever get migraines that come and go when thinking about it.  

[needhelp4321]

I told her on 11/19.  She knows.

[CG822]

are you just anxious your wife will find out???  

[CG822]

YES YOU DO!!!  Your just like me.  I have basically trained myself to think this way.  I am in therapy and I take meds.  My therapist thinks that I have this obsessive thoght of HIV because I am afraid I will destroy myself or my life or I am afraid that I already have.  hence, HIV.  Does that make sense to you?  I have struggled with dep and anx for years so this doesnt surprise me about myself!  and you sound just like me.  I'd go get help for it!!!!!

[needhelp4321]

Yes, the more I think about it the more I suffer.  The symptoms go away at night when sleeping.  I wake and about mid-morning I start getting nausea and headache.  I have had no fever to report, no rash, no sore throat.  I seem to be getting just a slight hacky cough today, but I get that every winter like clockwork.  The symptoms have been going on and off for 3.5 weeks.  After I got the Neg RNA PCR results on 12/03 the symptoms left for 2 days straight.  Then they returned that Saturday and were gone on that Sunday.  This past Friday 12/12 was especially bad.  I was just dwelling on it all night and around the family.  Yesterday I took Advil every 3 hours to avoid the headaches and today I am just taking half the dose every 4 hours.  It seems to keep the headaches away.  I get anxious when my wife leaves the house too.  I need to stop thinking and wake up it seems.

[CG822]

When you have these headaches are they worse the more you think about it?  Anxiety has so many physical symptoms.  I was so panicked about HIV, when I never even had exposure, that I caused such bad stress on myself, I had a rash on my arms, went away in 48 hrs.  I couldn't eat and all i did was sleep.   It causes so many more crazy symptoms.  numbness, tingling, spacey feeling...

[needhelp4321]

I am having headaches that start in the mid-morning and last all day.  They cause me to feel nauseated.  They only subside at night.  Advil helps a little.  Is this also due to anxiety?  They are so powerful.  I am still fightened.  

[needhelp4321]

Thanks for the advice, it means a lot.  I was tested for all the other STDs and was neg.  FYI

[Teak]

RNA tests are supplemental tests used inconjunction with antibody tests. A 3 month test will be conclusive.

[CG822]

Your symptoms are def anxiety!!!  I go through HIV anxiety myself.  I did the same dumb stuff u did, and panicked for about 4 months for nothing.  It has become an everyday thing for me now, I am trying to control my anxiety with meds and therapy.  Its like I am obsessive compulsive over HIV.  It *****.  Dont let it get that bad for u!!!!  Like horneyboy said, Be worried about getting her knocked up! and be worried about all the other STD's way before HIV.  I read a 2008 fact that said less then 1% of americans under 50 have HIV...not even 1%!!!  

[needhelp4321]

Thanks for the advice.

[horneyboy]

I hope you didn't get your friend pregnant......then you'd have a reason to sweat.    Your chance of dying from HIV is zero......Your chance of dying at the hands of your wife if you knocked up a girlfriend are significantly higher.    

All the symptoms you are describing could be from guilt and anxiety.   Now maybe you caught some flu like virus, but you certainly don't have HIV.  Heck, if you know this girl well enough to sleep naked with her you sure as hell can ask her if her birth control is effective AND if she is STD free.  Pick up the phone and call her, tell her you are worried about bringing something home (you really should be worried about fathering a child from her).   This isn't the Victorian era in late 19th century England; this is 2008 and men and women talk about these things to each other.    She might be worried about something she could have gotten from you and might be relieved to hear from you.  

And trust me on this one, you don't want to get a girlfriend pregnant while your are married......You could buy a hooker a day for the cost of the child support alone!  Always carry a box of Trojans.....It's cheap insurance!

[needhelp4321]

She was a friend of a friend that I met that night, woke up next to and that was it.  We kissed, and she was naked the next morning.  I just assumed that I had sex.  I have to because I am married and do not want to give anything to my wife.  She knows now and we are also dealing with that issue.  I want to believe that this is all due to anxiety, but the headaches, nausea, and sweats are real.  I am serviving on Advil today.  I have not run a fever at all, though.  And I have taken my temp almost everyday since.  I am just going through every senerio in my head.  Should I get more tests?

[horneyboy]

I just plucked this quote off the expert forum; from Dr. HH
" 2 hours ago
Yes.   A negative PCR test at 40 days is definitive proof you don't have HIV.  No further testing is necessary. "

My friend, you are pretty damn close to 40 days.
My guess is that your headaches and nausea are from your worry and anxiety.

Your exposure was pretty minimal, perhaps non-existent.  Was this gal you maybe had sex with a prostitute, a girl you picked up in a bar, a IV drug user.  What makes you think she might have HIV.  I doubt she was a prostitute because they almost always demand you wear a condom (unless you are stupid and will pay big bucks for "bareback service").  And let me say this about prostitutes, and this I know something about, If you black out with one you don't have to worry about them sticking around and having sex with you; they'd be gone and out the door before your head hit the floor.  Now maybe a girl you picked up in a bar might have tried to consummate the evening's activities, if she was really hard up; but most likely she would just get disgusted and leave.  Now an IV drug user is easy.  If you blacked out and you still have your wallet.....she's not a drug user.

I for one don't know how a guy would maintain an erection while passed out unless you have a penile implant or took too much vitamin V, so really the chance you had sex and don't remember it is close to zero.  If you did have sex, then hit your head and sustained a concussion and have total amnesia for the event, and let's suppose she was HIV pos (she most likely wasn't) your chance of getting HIV was only 1:1000.

So relax, chill out and celebrate your HIV negative status.  But don't celebrate too hard.......You want to remember what you did to celebrate (jk) :)

[needhelp4321]

I am a guy and I have to assume the worst case senerio.  I am having severe headaches, nausea now.  How conclusive are those tests I took?  I just need help, I don't know where to turn.  I have trouble sleeping too.  

[horneyboy]

I am assuming from your name you are a guy.  If that's true, If I were you I'd stop worrying about HIV and try and figure out why you can't remember whether you had sex or not.  I can understand a woman passing out and not knowing if she was penetrated; but damn, it's pretty hard for a guy not to know where he's put his private parts :)