Sex with prostitute & condom broke

I am going to spare you of how stupid I was, etc. Especially being prone to hypochondriac moods I should have known better. I am 29/Male/heterosexual.

I had sex with sexual worker (for the first time in my life) with her starting on top, she got up in about 30-45 secs to find condom broken, so exposure could last anywhere from 0 to 45 seconds. We replaced it and finished (pretty soon, since I was getting increasingly stressed).

In 3 days I travelled 9 time zones and started developing 'symptoms' right away (about 5 days after exposure), headaches, anxiety, lack of appetite, hot flashes. This coincided with me getting on ciprofloxacn (antibiotic prescribed by nurse for 'enlarged prostate' (problem I had even before possible exposure). (I could not have had any STDs before the exposure). I did all the STD tests 8 days after exposure and still have no results.

It's been about 16 days since the exposure now and I have weird feelings of pain in my lymph nodes in my neck and maybe some in my groin area but I am not sure but not swollen: at this point I am not sure whether they hurt by themselves or because I poked them a lot... I also start every morning trying to swallow and see whether I got sore throat: sometimes I think I feel slight pain..

I don't think they are swollen though. I also noticed I feel 'worse' physically after I get home from work... Feel weak and depressed.

My questions:

1) Can HIV symptoms come 'separately'. First headaches, then they disappear, then painful lymph nodes (not swollen though), but no fever.

2) ARS lymph node symptoms: are lymph nodes usually swollen and painless or it can be painful but not swollen and is it usually accompanied by fever?

3) How accurate is test at 28 days after exposure?

Thanks! I hope to keep my sanity till I have my test: I intend to take one at 28days, 6wk and 3 months, but I still have
to wait 12 days for the first one.

Thanks guys...

[Teak]

Your symptoms have nothing to do with HIV. They came on to early.
1. NO
2. Lymph are not painful
3. It's not for a recent exposure.

[anxious123]

Thanks... But painful lymph nodes came 2 weeks later after exposure..

[LIZZIE LOU]

would you mind explaining what "painful lymph nodes that are not swollen" is???  i'd like to hear this.

[anxious123]

Well my neck hurts in weird places...just hurts even when i turn my head a little sometimes...if i poke in the right spot it hurts...also behind the ear it hurts a little when i press there...

But also in my groin area on one side it kinda hurts sometimes too...sometimes it just aches suddenly and then disappears...

[LIZZIE LOU]

oh lawd...i knew it!!!!!  another "poker"

you neck hurts because you are anxious and staying all tensed up.  your "symptoms" are not indicative of ars

[anxious123]

today i have dull pain in groin area, on legs sorta...nothing swollen though....i am anxious and can't believe that my mental state or poking can make that area hurt...

[Teak]

You can't? Leave them alone and you will see that the soreness goes away. There is NO PAIN with swollen lymph nodes due to HIV.

[alienshadow]

geezzzzzzzzzzz you dont believe it hummmmmmmm its the same as pinching yourself it hurts at first but its sore later same thing with your neck you poke and poke and rub and rub and the next day you wake up and its SORE get your ANXIETY under CONTROL

[anxious123]

Thank you for reassurance guys... I will try to keep my insanity for few more weeks :O

[diver58]

Relax and wait for your conclusive test sometime around 12/13 weeks after exposure. Your condom broke, that put you at a risk. Never focus on your symptoms, since they do not mean much and more you think about, more you feel them.

There are many people who never seen any symptom but were actually infected. The only bad thing associated with condom is, it is as bad as not having it, if it fails, though an intact one protected you very effectively against HIV and other STD's.

[anxious123]

One more question guys: I still have 3 weeks to go for my 6week test after exposure.
I keep measuring my temperature and it is normal, i keep checking my lymph nodes and today I think they might be lil bigger. And my throat is not completely sore but it kinda hurts a lil when i swallow and my right ear hurts too sometimes.

So normally when HIV symptoms come: do they sorta come together as in fever+lymph nodes+fatigue+diarhea (diarrhea) or some ppl experienced swollen lymph nodes and no fever or fever and no lymph nodes... I know this is pretty vague, but I just want some reassurance...

[anxious123]

my throat hurts sometimes not a little...like it would hurt with couple of swallows here and there it was sorta like that for few days..

[nursegirl6572]

Your anxiety is making you hyper aware of sensations that you wouldn't even notice if it weren't for this situation.  Anxiety can wreak havoc on a person physically...causing a myriad of VERY real symptoms.

You had a minimal risk.  Even though the condom broke, you WERE protected at least part of the time.  It is actually MUCH harder to get HIV than most people think.  Even if you had sex (unprotected) with an HIV POS person...there is still no guarantee that you would be infected.

Get a test at 12 weeks post the exposure....I'm willing to bet you are perfectly fine.  

If you don't quit searching the internet, poking and prodding at yourself, taking your temp constantly, and examining every inch of yourself all the time...all you will end up with is massive out of control anxiety.  Try to bring it under control NOW, even if you have to go to your doctor and ask for something for the anxiety until you collect your test results.

Good luck.

[anxious123]

Hi,

Just have few more questions about this.

3-4 days after this exposure I started experiencing sorta itchy irritated feelings around groin area and before exposure I also had some aches in my prostate. It also hurt a little when peeing.

8 days after exposure nurse prescribed ciprofloxacn and I gave all STD tests (which are not back yet).

Irritated feelings and itching sorta disappeared for about the period of me taking antibiotic, but I felt tired and depressed about HIV possibility and started imagining symptoms.

Now 28 days later I think I didn't really have swollen nodes or fever.

However few days (or a week) after getting off antibiotic I started developing that irritating feeling around groin and sorta pain around that area.

Laying off antibiotics helped my physical state and helped anxiety though.

Now my questions are:

1) That irritating feeling and pain around groin area: could it be symptom of HIV? Herpes? I am confused, because it's been 28 days since the exposure and I had antibiotics... And I do not really have any rashes or pimples or anything in the area: just the feeling.

2) Is HIV test 29 days after exposure fairly accurate? I heard 85% accuracy? I will take it at 12 week anyway, but just checking.

3) How easy is it to contract Hepatitis B and C? I had 15-45 seconds of exposure during vaginal intercourse with woman (broken condom). I heard hepatitis C is rarely transmitted via sex, is it true?

4) Finally, I tried to look up testing centers for rapid hiv testing and couldn't find anything except some clinics that offer results in 1-2 days. Anyone has a link to find places that offer quick HIV tests by zipcode?

Thank you everyone!

[anxious123]

Update: I couldn't wait any longer and went and took the test. It was negative after 28 days!

[anxious123]

If someone answered my questions 1,2,3 I'd really appreciate it...

[bamagun]

not really sure about the hepatitis or the rapid test, but is the feeling in your groin just a tight kind of sore or is it a sharp pain, if it  is just  really tight,  it might  be from stress, and you are in the ballpark plus or minus a number or two on your percentage after four weeks,  it is probably closer to 85% though from what i have read..

hope this helps

[anxious123]

not sharp pain...mostly sore feeling...and sometimes even feels like it is muscular, coz it hurts when i turn, some days it is not there at all..some days it is there, i tried to find the lymph nodes but couldn't

[supadave]

i had the same experience as you: first time having sex with a CSW and condom broke.
for over a year i thought i was HIV positive. I just recently tested negative. It took a lot of courage but it did it and i can finally move on with my life