Posted here for Dr. Response

The last possible chance I could have contracted anything was in early April, the 8th to be exact, of this year. That was when I had blood drawn because I was told from a local health official I had contact with someone who tested positive for syphilis (negative for HIV) The bloodwork was negative.

A week or so after that I had a white coating on my tongue. When I use a tongue scraper, a little of the coating comes off in my saliva, but there's still some on my tongue and it just re-forms so to speak. It has NOT gone away since then. If I eat anything with lots of sugar the coating increases and becomes more pronounced. I noticed too that I recently have very little saliva and it's hard to spit after a few times. I have tried drinking more water assuming dehydration but that hasn't helped, the coating remains to this day.

I noticed in mid-June some acne on my upper arms and shoulders, and then on my forearms and even stomach and legs. The acne is mostly around hair follicles, but sometimes (though rarely) not with hair follicles. That acne comes and goes, sometimes more prominent, sometimes hardly noticeable.

I went to my doctor on July 11th  and he ordered a series of tests: HIV, syphilis, herpes, and while we were at it he did tests for diabetes and cholesterol. They all came back negative. "No abnormalities" to quote the secretary. The only thing that stood out was my triglycerides were a little high.

Then this week, I developed a canker sore. It hurt for two-three days and then stopped hurting. The third day I noticed another pain in my mouth, and sure enough it was ANOTHER canker sore, and then today I looked and there's yet ANOTHER sore on the other side of my mouth for a total of 3 sores, one diminishing in pain and the other two somewhat painful.

Why do I have these symptoms? When does someone test positive after 90 days? What about the initial syphilis scare? What's going on?

Thank you!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum. The tests for HIV are extraordinarily good and you should believe your negative tests.   If your last exposure was in April an you ha negative tests on the 11th of July, believe the tests.  When tests an symptoms o not match up, the tests are virtually always correct.  

As far as your symptoms are concerned- two comments. First, neither alone or in combination do they suggest HIV.  Secondly, they may not be related.  You may be having a stretch of bad luck or just noticing these things due to your concern about HIV.  I would not worry about them and would deal with them as they occur by having your doctor take a look.

Take care. EWH