Oral sex from another male

Hello Doc.  
      I am a 28yr old male.  7 days ago i had unprotected oral sex with another male.  Since then i have expierenced a dry mouth and white coating on my tongue.  In addition to that, loss of appetite and digestive problems.  I did not ejaculate and he did not ejaculate in or around my mouth.  He has been with one partner for the last three years and was tested negative for HIV before that along with his partner.  I myself have tested negative before entering a long term relationship.  What are my chances of contracting HIV from this expierence?  Is the tongue and stomach problem too early for symptoms?  Could this be anxiety related from reading about this everyday all day?  Will anything show up on test 4-5 weeks from now?  

Thanks for your time,
Reallynervous81

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the HIV forum.

The risks of HIV transmission via oral sex are among the most common questions on this forum.  As has been discussed innumerable times, oral sex is safe sex -- that is, the chance of transmission is extremely low, if not quite zero.  For the oral partner the average transmission rate is once for every 10,000 exposures -- equivalent to men once daily for 27 years and maybe never getting infected.  Without ejaculation, your risk is lower than that -- and all this is if your partner had HIV, which most likely he does not.

Dry mouth and "stomach problems" are not HIV symptoms, and coated tongue occurs with any number of trivial viral infections, changes in diet, etc.  And it is not possible to show HIV symptoms in under 7 days.

"Could this be anxiety"?  Yes.  Whenever someone suggests a psychological origin for his or her own symptoms, usually s/he is correct.

You don't need HIV testing on account of this exposure, at least not from a risk assessment perspective or for your symptoms.  But if this reassurance doesn't settle your fears, you might benefit psychologically from having a negative test.  A negative test at 4-5 weeks will be reassuring, since 90% of newly infected people have positive tests by then.  For 100% proof you weren't infected, wait a little longer and have a test 6-8 weeks after exposure.

Let's not have any "yes but" or "what if" follow-up questions.  It is very unlikely you can provide any information that would change my opinion or advice.  If you need further infroamtion, pick just about any 10-20 threads at random and you'll find lots of other discussions; or use the search function.

Regards--  HHH, MD