High Risk Exposure

[ConcernedGuy34]

I am a bisexual guy who did a stupid thing about 3 months ago. I had unprotected insertive anal and oral sex with a 19yr old male. It was my first sexual encounter in over a year, and I have not done anything since. This kid claimed he was std free, and vaccinated for hep B. About 3 weeks out I had burning in my penis, went to the doctor and a urin test showed an infection with puss but no traces of blood. My doc said usually std related uti's show up within a few days of exposure, but he gave me a one day antibiotic and said it should knock out any std. The symptoms went away, but 4 days later they came back. He then told me it must be a non-specific uti, and put me on 30 days of Doxycycl. He never actually tested me for anything. The symptoms went away again, but returned again a few days after I went on the doxycycl. I went back to him and found that I still had a large amount of uti and some puss. I was most worried about hiv so he tested me for that(1 month out at this point) and it was neg. He referred me to a uroligist who told me to finish out the doxycycl and gave me a CAT scan because I had some dull pain in my left side. The CAT scan was normal. about this time I happened to notice two very tiny redish dots on the very tip of my penis which dissapered after a few days. I never mentioned this to my doctor because I didnt think much of it. I know they weren't there at the time of my encounter.
   Aso about this time a whole set of scary symptoms set in on me. Muscle pain and stiffness in my neck, mild nausea, pain in my armpits and down my arms, and aching in my groin. I also started getting nite sweats, actually day sweats too...feeling like I was swinging between hot and cold, but I never had a fever through the whole thing. I knew some of these symptoms could be the doxycycl, but I was scarred to death of hiv. My doctor said my lymph nodes werent swollen..just aching..I'm still not sure what the difference means, if anything. I finished out the doxycycle two weeks ago, and there does not apear to be any more infection although I still get burning in my penis when I urinate sometimes. I would be forgetting this whole thing by now if it werent for the fact that I still have the aching in my neck, armpits and groin, and swing from cold to hot all day and night, and I just feel yucky in general. Its going on three months out now. I took another hiv ELISA test last week(at 10 weeks out) and it came back neg (thank you lord) but is it possible that being on doxycycl for 4 of those 10 weeks could effect my bodys ability to produce detectible antibodies in the normal time? As of today I still have not been actually tested for Syphillis or any other std other than hiv..should I? my doctor is not being much help any more...he is just asking me what I want him to do ..I just need to find out what is still bothering my system and get on with my life! Thanks

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I cannot comment very well on your urethritis and/or UTI; it sounds like your doctors are on top of it and your treatment has been appropriate.  Follow through with their advice is symptoms continue to recur.  My guess is the "reddish dots" don't mean much, but if in doubt, you could ask your doctor about herpes.  That's an unlikely cause of urethritis, but conceivably you should be tested for it if the problem persists.

As far as your other symptoms are concerned, you can be certain that HIV doesn't explain them.  Anybody such symptoms due to HIV would have a positive standard HIV ELISA test within 10 weeks of exposure.  Neither doxycycline nor other antibiotics affect HIV test results.  There's not much point in testing for syphilis now; if you had it, the doxycycline would have cured it and such early treatment would have prevented developing a positive test result.

Much of what you currently are feeling might be anxiety over the event rather than ongoing infection.  You might want to ask your doc about that possibility.  But you can be confident nothing dangerous is going on.

Finally, you probably have learned a lesson and this may be unnecessary:  But keep those condoms handy!

HHH, MD

[LearnedLesson]

Thanks for your advice. My doctor said if there is such a thing as mental hiv, I definately have it. I have just never experienced all of my lymph nodes aching before...and unexplained muscle pain...and certainly not for this long. I have a younger brother who is hiv positive for about 5 years now...so that adds to my anxiety too. I am going to hope that your right about nothing serious at this point...and just wait a little longer to see if it goes away. It's amaizing how clearly you see your stupidity and foolishness when something like this happens! Thanks

[nsns]

I am just curious as to why in the world someone like yourself would have unprotected sex when you brother has HIV. Does that not put the fear of god into you when it had hit so close to home! This is something I really want to understand, why do people continue to take these types of risks!

[LearnedLesson]

No one has been beating me up over that more than myself. I have spent countless hours over the past few months asking myself that question. I think it is because I truly have a serious sexual adiction (addiction) that even though the physical encounters are few and far between, when I let that side of me take over its like I'm not even concious of what I am doing. It is truly scary. I have had to do a lot of crying and soul searching to come to terms with myself on this. I think this is a problem many people have...when you are horny and life is good, the thoughts of how dangerous something really is somehow doesnt have much effect until later on. All I can do is resolve myself to a new way of thinking and to put checks and balances in my life that help me to make wise decisions nomatter what I may be feeling at the time.

[nsns]

Wow I guess I never looked at it like that, good luck and I hope you get control over your issues. Take care!