I am so scared that I have HIV

[Dunnlopez]

Hello Doctor,

I have read many of your posts and I have found them very informative.  I'll get into my story.  I had protected anal sex with a Brazilian woman of unknown status about 5 weeks ago, however we were both intoxicated and I noticed that the condom was inside of her after we were done so basically the sex was unprotected.  This is my first time having unprotected sex in my life.  I was worried sick and I found out that this woman has been a stripper in the past. We met on the subway in New York and she was very flirty with me and we ended up having intercourse.  I was worried about the encounter however I was unaware of post exposure prophylaxis at the time, I should have done more reading about this in my life.  I just never thought I would have been possibly exposed to HIV because I always use protection, but this time it failed.  Anyway about two and a half weeks later I began to feel ill, malaise, muscle twitching, my pulse felt like it was jumping, not really any headaches, more of a malaise feeling and I didnt want to get out of bed.  At first I thought I may have contracted Herpes and so I immediately went to a urologist and he said that I had no herpes or genital warts.  I also read online which may or may not be true that one can feel herpes symptoms without an outbreak, the urologist told me that this was false.   I thought I got herpes because I was reading about the symptoms and they seemed similar to some of the HIV symptoms and I didnt immediately jump to an HIV possibility.  the feeling continued and then I began reading about acute HIV symptoms and I felt like I had a lot of them.  My heart rate was high, I had malaise, I didnt really have muscle or joint pains.  It was more like muscle twitching all around my body especially in my legs.  I smoked some weed and these symptoms were even enhanced and when I was hungover a couple times they got worse too.  Some of this seemed Neurological and I know this can occurr during acute infection.  I felt confused and depressed even my friends said that I was acting strangely and that I was quiet, normally I am not.  I definitely felt something, and i did not feel well.  I took my temperature about a week and a half into this awful phase and my temperature was 99.6 or 99.8 degrees.  Is that too low to be a fever.  Maybe it would have been higher in the early acute stages, I really dont know.  I would pace around my apartment because I was thinking  I was going through HIV acute.  I never threw up or had diarrhea really, maybe a little diarrhea but not severe.  I eat a lot of protein so i normally can have some diarrhea.  I think I may have had thrush but I have been smoking almost a pack a day since I thought I had HIV so that could have cause my thrush feeling although I did notice white on my tongue and eventually almost brown after I had been smoking so much.  Can a flu or other viral infections cause thrush that would make me have all these symptoms as well.  I have been so depressed, I have gone out at night less.  I have just not felt like me at all, I reall think I have HIV and that I just went through the acute stage.

I did notice dark urine and light colored stools so I suspected possible hepatitis, but i think i have been vaccinated for Hep A and B when I was younger and I know many other things can cause light colored stools and dark urine.  I have had no jaundice.  I am not sure when I was vaccinated, I am 24 now arent these vaccinations pretty much routine now and I have read that they can last for 15 years or indefinitely.  I went to a doctor yesterday for a physical but I told him that I was very concerned about HIV, I have been freaking out everyday and I try to hide it around friends.  The first thing he checked for were swollen lymph nodes and the rash and I had no swollen lymph nodes and I never developed an acute HIV rash which he was the most worried about.  He happened to specialize in HIV and he said what worried him the most about potential HIV infected people is the rash and swollen lymph nodes, that is what he says seem to be the most blatant symptoms of the people who come in and eventually test positive.  The lab was closed after my appointment but I am going in either thursday or Friday for a rapid HIV test.  I am so nervous, I cannot get anything done at my job and I think I could get fired from this whole mess.  What do you think from what I have told you.  I have also had unprotected insertive oral sex with a couple of call girls in my life, but my doctor told me that insertive oral sex is practically zero risk and that there have never been any documented cases of this.  He said even if there was blood or semen in the woman's mouth it would almost certainly not infect through your urethra, he said hes never seen a case from insertive oral sex of all the HIV cases he has seen and he specializes in HIV.  He was much more worried about the condom falling off in the anal sex.  I still have twitches in my body but most of the symptoms have left me which is another reason that i am worried because it said that the symptoms of acute just sort of disappear.  Many viruses have been going around NYC recently, but I felt some psychological stuff going on in my brain which a regular flu I feel like would not do.  Also I dont think Ive had the flu since i was a young kid so I dont really remember what it feels like, but can a flu last for 3-4 weeks.  I really dont know.  I guess I could have gotten Mono, sorry for rambling I am just so nervous and this would just ruin my life.  My friends and family and the stigma, the pain, side effects of anti-retroviral meds.  I dont think I could live with HIV.   Maybe my anxiety prolonged it, I really dont know.  I just would love to have your thoughts on this

[nursegirl6572]

it possible for acute HIV symptoms to begin in 2-3 days


NO

[Dunnlopez]

One more quick question for anyone, is it possible for acute HIV symptoms to begin in 2-3 days or does it always occurr within approximately 2-4 weeks

[Dunnlopez]

Thanks for your help Teak,

I am sure Im getting annoying now.  I will follow your testing guidelines, Im getting a rapid test this week.  Insertive oral sex really is zero risk isnt it?  Also a couple more quick questions, what else can cause thrush besides acute HIV?  Can a regular flu cause it or is it only certain viral infections, I know there are many types of viral infections.  Also are muscle twitching caused by ARS or not?  flus dont typically last 3-4 weeks do they? Thanks a lot Teak and Nursegirl for responding to my posts.

Best to both of you

[Teak]

Then go by the testing guidelines I gave you earlier.

[Dunnlopez]

Thank you so much nursegirl, but what actually happened was the condom was inside of her anus.  I actually did not ejaculate in her anus, on one of my thrusts during the sex when my penis was outside of her anus I realized that the condom was not on anymore and I did notice some fluid on my penis from her anus.  And this is kind of gross but I actually finished from her giving me fellatio so I did not ejaculate in her anus or vagina.  I am not sure how long my penis was in her anus, not too long though and I really dont know how long the condom was off for, like i said I was intoxicated.  Realistically for all I know it could have been off the whole time, I really dont know.  And yes you're right alcohol and sex are the worst combination ever, this caused my terrible condom mishap.  The thing is, I was very anxious about it but I wouldnt have expected this woman to have HIV even though I met her on the subway and really knew nothing about her so i should have been smarter about it.  If I had known about PEP i would have done it to be safe but I was not aware of this treatment.  So I thought about the incident a lot but I wasnt too worried a week after too much because I figured what are the chances that she has HIV until these symptoms struck me two to two and half weeks later.  The malaise, lethargy, confusion really were the symptoms that struck me the most along with the muscle twitches, this is when I really started getting worried.  Like I said I had never really felt like this.  Then reading about HIV symptoms made it worse im sure but right now even as I am typing this I still have random twitches or even tiny muscle spasms, is this a symptom of ARS?  What symptoms of mine are not typical of ARS besides the high fever, I feel like all of them are? I feel like my temperature could have been higher prior to me measuring it, plus no one knows if they have a fever unless they take his/her temperature.  And honestly I have not taken my temperature in years so that is the only way I would know.  And yes I have been reading a lot about this, my main worry is how these symptoms are just sort of disappearing which is what I feel like ARS symptoms do, at least I have read that a lot.

[Teak]

Temps with ARS are over 101 degrees and you would have known.