Hypochondriac. Scared of STD or HIV.

[Scared1984]

Last April I became very scared that I had contracted and STD or worse HIV after an unprotected encounter with an ex. I was told by friends that he had used heroin and it scared the hell out of me. After weeks of worry anxiety and beating myself up I called my aunt and she made an appointment with my gyno. I was so freaked out that I was shaking and crying and my poor doctor had to console me the whole way through the exam. A few days later all of my tests came back negative except for HSV-1 which I knew I had since I was younger. I felt a great rush of relief until I found out that a 3 month test isnt full proof and a 6 month test is. This was only recently. Since the first test Ive dated one person and have had 3 partners. Now Im freaking out once again wondering if I need to go get tested and its so bad I believe Im manifesting symptoms. So far Im experiencing vaginal irritation, anal irritation (comes and goes), achy muscles and pain in the back of my neck, and what I think is soreness in my thighs and arm pits. I drink everyday (because of the stress this has been causing me) and wake up hung over and its hard to tell if this is related to my alcohol abuse or my self diagnosed hypochondria or even worse a disease.
Like I said Ive gone through this whole mess before and had convinced myself I had HIV or and STD to the point that I felt like my test results would absolutely be positive.(They werent)
Am I just scaring the hell out myself or do I have genuine reason to be concerned?
Do these symptoms even sound legit?
Please any info suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

[johnjkau]

Hi,

New member to the forums here and I believe this is all down to panic as I've / I'm going through the same thing.

3 months after an encounter for HIV testing is all you need and nothing more unless you have had more partners in between which will skew the results.

I think all your symptoms are related to you drinking alcohol everyday. You have to cut down on the alcohol as I've seen some of my friends do very bad things when in that state.

I think you should do the following; I know this might sound crazy but think of it all logically without emotion until whatever actually happens.

Whatever has happened so far has happened and we can't go back in time to change it so the best thing to do is ask your partner that you both go for sexual health checks for everything and maybe you could ask being together on both your results days so you both know you're healthy.

For your peace of mind, you might want to go again in 3 months after your last sexual encounter to make sure so just jot it in your diary and move on with life.

The next step is to stop drinking alcohol, and get out into the world... Go for walks, go exercise, go to a gym and make yourself the best you can be and slowly all the worries will start going away. Maybe even start a new set of hobbies.

Before you know it, the three months will be up, you will feel much better and then just take the test again, listen to the results and then move on and ensure this never happens again!
John

[Vance2335]

From an unprotected encounter everything is valid at 3 months and most before that.

You would be best suited to stop drinking and see a therapist.