My Experience

I am not a doctor. However, I have, over the course of the last two years, consulted with many doctors and specialist labs on the matter of contracting HIV, symptoms of Acute HIV, testing for exposure, etc. – all due to four questionable sexual encounters that I was extremely concerned about. Some of the professionals I met and corresponded with are from South Africa and have extensive experience with the disease in all its stages. This is what I have learnt about the fear and anxiety I went through during these episodes whee I thought I had contracted HIV and this is the sharing of the knowledge I have gathered along the way so that anybody reading this might deal with your ‘hell period’ between your encounter and your test results in a more effective and positive manner. Many of the web sites supposedly familiar with the disease offer complete BS and once you read this, you will be easily able to spot them and avoid them.
Contracting HIV
HIV is not a hearty virus and does not survive well if exposed to the elements or saliva. Net result: condoms work, use them. If they fail, they fail catastrophically and you will know they failed. Do not worry about the ‘what if’ scenario where they might have leaked – that’s not realistic. There is an extremely low risk of catching HIV from oral sex. Yes, one hears the ‘what if’ scenario that it is possible to contract it if the giving partner has open sores in his/her mouth, etc. However the situation is that there have only ever been a few questionable documented cases where transmission supposedly occurred orally. If it were prevalent, literature would be full of such cases, and it is not. Unprotected sex, particularly anal, is the high risk transmission method – everybody ought to know that by now. However, if you are reading this, you think you have done something that has put you at risk – so that bridge has been crossed.
Testing
If you fear you are at risk, get tested. That’s the first and only logical thing to do. You owe it to yourself and to potential sexual partners to find out. The PCR test will be accurate from 7-10 days after exposure. It is more expensive ($100 - >$350 depending on where you are) but it is worth it to know. It’s a financial hit but I look at it as the price you pay to put yourself in the situation you think you are in and more importantly, to put your mind at rest about the outcome, hopefully the right one. The P24 antigen combo test will generally detect exposure pretty accurately after 25 days. The standard antibody test is accurate after 3 months, although there is some debate about it being accurate around 10-14 days after subsidence of  Acute HIV symptoms (if you were symptomatic), even if that is prior to 3 months. However in my opinion, go for one of the first two tests and be done with it. Anything is better than the anxiety that goes with this situation. Many doctors and/or labs will not be familiar with the PCR test, particularly if they are in low risk areas. In fact, some areas with socialised medicine such as Canada will not even do the test due to their lack of knowledge about it and their inability to bill you if you are not a resident. You will need to find a private lab in this case.
Acute HIV (Early Signs)
This is one category where I have talked at length with my doctors extremely familiar with the disease. Most people (~90%) who are exposed will be symptomatic; you have just contracted one of the deadliest viruses known to man – chances are, you are going to show some signs of it. What symptoms and when? If you are symptomatic, you will have FLU-like or Glandular Fever-like symptoms starting as early as 3-5 days up to 2-3 weeks after exposure. It is very rare for symptoms to appear 4-6 weeks after exposure. Primary symptoms are: fever, swollen glands – particularly in neck, sore throat, rash on face and/or trunk, malaise (feel like absolute crap / wiped out), diarrhoea and to a lesser extent: nausea, vomiting, muscle pains (particularly in neck) and oral symptoms (thrush or lesions). You will feel like you have the flu. Symptoms generally last at least 5 days and if you look at studies, the median (average) length of time symptoms last is 14 days. Many people are hospitalised as it will seem like a bad flu. Symptoms will come all at once. You will not have nausea one week, fever the next, sore muscles the week after that. It does NOT work that way. Sniffles, wet cough, cold-like symptoms are NOT symptoms of Acute HIV. This is your body’s reaction to a severe viral infection and it is rarer for people not to be symptomatic.
Anxiety
This is the killer and believe me, it is serious. I had severe anxiety in every session I went through when I thought I was exposed. In my experience, anxiety caused: nausea for many days (until test results came back), loss of appetite, weight loss (4.5 kg in less than 1 week in one case), rash/pimples running from back, under arm to trunk, headache for days (until test results came back), stomach disorders and general malaise. I thought I had HIV, 100% sure, and had I not had the PCR and/or P24 tests, God knows what other symptoms I would have had or what condition I would have let myself get into. These, and other, symptoms are all classic anxiety symptoms. The condition is called either General Anxiety Disorder or an Acute Anxiety Attack. Regardless of what you want to call it, anxiety can cause just about anything, including many of the Acute HIV symptoms. Get tested, find out and put yourself out of the pain of not knowing.
Doctors (experience)
Most doctors, through no fault of their own, do not see HIV exposure on a regular basis, are not familiar with the symptoms and are not familiar with the tests. This can also be said for some labs in certain areas. Workers in STD clinics will be very familiar with the symptoms and tests and if you are unsure of who to see, try starting there. They are at the front line of this issue and see STD (including HIV) symptoms day in/day out, all the time. That’s what they do.
I have more but I want to keep this brief enough to post on as many sites as possible. I saw so much crap on the internet and I want to avoid undue stress for anybody who, like me, finds themselves in the terrible situation of thinking they may have contracted HIV. Feel free to contact me at ***@**** if you want to ‘talk’ but again I want to make it clear, I am not a doctor and will not offer a medical opinion. I’m just a guy who went through this and wants to share the experience to help others.



This discussion is related to Can you have acute HIV symptoms 9 weeks after exposure?.