HIV PREVENTION COMMUNITY
am I infected? Please help!

am I infected? Please help!

Hello there
I know the only way of knowing if I have HIV is by taking the test, which I am going to do next week, but my nerves are killing me and would like your imput/advice/comments... at this stage please.
This is my situation:
About six weeks ago, I had unprotected sex (the first and last time ever) with a girl I met on a drunken night. Everything happened very quickly - 5 minutes of vaginal sex - in a public toilet of a Night club ... the reason to mention this is because I did not have the opportunity to wash until approx. 6 hours later... not that washing helps in preventing anything... but just wanted to mention it...
Any way, exactly 8 days later, I woke up with an itchy red rash on my neck, no pain, no fever... just the rash similar to heat rash. I went to the doctor and he gave me some sort of hydrocotisone cream and some allergy tablets. The rash subsided after 4 days. I felt OK and tried to forget about the incident. However, 4 days later I woke up in the middle of the night with a mild sweat on my neck and chest. I had never had this before. The following day a mild pain on my muscles and joints (shoulders and fingers in particular) started to develop. The pain continued for the rest of the days until the fith week post exposure. The pain was now on my lower back and neck. During this time a new rash developed on both my arms but this time the rash was more like mosquito bites, non blanch nor itchy... just with a burning sensation from time to time. I also noticed that the original rash had come back around my neck, similar to heat rash again but this time did not itch, it only had a burning sensation like on my arms... I had a couple of mild night sweats but I never felt any high temperature.
Three days ago, reaching my sixth week after exposure, I noticed that my tonsils were a bit swollen and that I had a mild rash (like heat rash) on my cheeks. This rash seems to appear after I take a shower and dissapears an hour later.
I went back to the doctor but he did not seem to see anything strange with my two types of rash nor the swollen tonsils. I have made an appointment with a different doctor and I intend to take the HIV next week... in the meantime... I feel hopeless, disappointed with myself, frustrated and don't know what to do... Many thanks for reading this and any comment/ help would be very much appreciated. God bless.
Related Discussions
3 Comments Post a Comment
Blank
173692_tn?1334017348
Rashes with ARS don't itch. Your 3 month post exposure test will be conclusive.
Blank
Avatar_n_tn
Thank you for your prompt reply. Would you say that the described burning sensation does not occur on HIV rash either?
Thanks.
Blank
Avatar_n_tn
Un update
I took a HIV test at week 7 post exposure and came back negative. My symptoms, however, never improved: my night sweats got worse, I started to feel a pain in my groin and the ache in my lower back and joints never disappeared. The rash on my arms subsided a little but my heat-like rash on my neck come and went until approx week 9 post exposure. I took the test again and came back negative. To cut the story short, by week 12 all my symptoms were gone except for the swollen lymphs but to be on the safe side, I took the HIV test on week 14 again which came back NEGATIVE, Thank God.
Anyway, I'm writing this to say thank you for being part of this nice forum. I hope that this "happy ending" in my story may at least help those going through similar situations to get the courage to go and get tested or to be optimistic and not fall into despair as I did during the last three months NAIVELY thinking that "my life was over".  I said naively because life is not over as we all know ... but you feel it is because it takes some balls to deal with the turn it takes.  (I did not have sex with my wife during this time and every time I saw my son I could only think of how stupid I had been that night).
My point here is that it is true what they tell you again and again in this forum : having one of ALL the symptoms does not mean you are infected. So do not let your head play tricks on you.  
I have not come back to this forum to preach nor do not I want to sound patronising here, forgive me if I do but I hope this story also helps those who, like me, sometimes live life to the fullest without thinking of the consequences on those who love you. (Something I did not mention in my previous message: "the girl" i met on my drunken night was in fact a group of girls and boys with whom, without going into more details here, I did several stupidly unprotected things.)
The endless loss of sleep, the constant pain in my bones and joints and the thought of having to tell my wife what had happened have made think, that that night wasn't worth it. If you did not stop reading two minutes ago, good luck and good bye.
Sonny  
Blank
Have an HIV question?
100,000+ doctor answers
Post a Comment
To
Comment
Post A Comment
Go
Blank
HIV Tracker
Log your HIV progression
Start Tracking Now
MedHelp Health Answers
Submit
Top HIV Answerers
Avatar_f_tn
Blank
sandra12r
United Kingdom
1642137_tn?1336198113
Blank
RainLover71
Canberra, Australia
186166_tn?1333381149
Blank
LIZZIE LOU
Auburn, AL
Avatar_m_tn
Blank
gumm_BIH
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
173692_tn?1334017348
Blank
Teak
OH
580755_tn?1323883171
Blank
Vance2335
Buffalo, NY
RSS Expert Activity
1741471_tn?1336957856
Blank
LIVE WEBINAR TOMORROW!-SUPER BODY, ... Blank
May 22 by Michael Gonzalez-WallaceBlank
2126606_tn?1335910182
Blank
Fibromyalgia Awareness
May 11 by Clare Waismann Kavin, RASBlank
2126606_tn?1335910182
Blank
Opioid-induced hyperalgesia reduces...
May 03 by Clare Waismann Kavin, RASBlank