Late sercoconversion?

[ebro]

In late january, i slept with a woman in the dominican republic 3 times. Always protected, unprotected cunnilingus. I know, minimal risk. I may have lubricated my penis with saliva after going down on her, which concerns me.A few weeks after my return, i came with a viscious case of epididymitis. Tested negative for chlamydia and gonnorea, negative, but was given doxycyline anyway. So i probably had chlamydia. Cleared up mostly. Then I got a huge rash all over my torso consisting of flat red spots that didn;t itch, a fever, etc. HIV paranoia began to sink in. I also noticed that my lymph nodes were swollen in both my groin and neck, which lasted for about 2 months. I got a test @ 6 weeks, negative. The doctor wasn't very nice and did nothing to ease my worries. She had no explanation for my symptoms, suggested maybe syphlis or HIV, perhaps a non-specific virus.The rash kind of dried up and left these weird slighlty raised patches near my armpit, which eventually went away. Even though you say a six week test is definitive, I continued to worry. Got an oraquick rapid test done @ 9, 11, and 14 weeks,all negative. That calmed me down a bit but recently i came down with shingles and I am horrified! Does this mean I need to test out to six months because my immune system is compromised, or worse yet, that I am infected? Also, my testicles do not feel fully healed and swell up sometimes more than 3 months after treatment. What should I do? Is the oraquick reliable? Do i need further testing? Would you yourself retest or are you confident I am negative? Thank you so much

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Oraquick is reliable.  Whatever is causing your symptoms, it isn't HIV.  Shingles happens in entirely normal, HIV-negative people; for example, me 3 years ago and my son when he was 14 years old.  I do not recommend you be retested; and no, I wouldn't do it if it were me.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD

[tfe]

Hiya,

I'm not a doctor, however the CDC website ( http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/PUBS/faq/oraqckfaq.htm ) states that 3 months (12 weeks) is MORE than sufficent for a timeframe. In fact, Dr. Handsfield suggests that even 4-6 weeks is conclusive.

Take a deep breath -- you're OK :)

Congrats, take care!

- F.

[ebro]

Thank you for the quick response. It just seemed too much of a coincidence for all of these things to happen at the time they did. I mean, the D.R. has a high prevelance rate, and I caught one STD and had symptoms of ARS 3-4 weeks after exposure. A few more questions, if you don't mind:It is unusual for one's testicles to continue to swell and hurt 3-4 months after being treated for epididymitis? It seems like they are constantly fluctuating in size.I also noticed a bump on the bottom of each testicle which is about the size of pea, could this be causing my pain? I had a sonogram in Feb. which was normal.Also, would you say its safe to sleep unprotected with my girl @ this point?
Thank you so much for your invaluable time and advice. You are a benevolent man.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I factored in the high rate of HIV in the Dominican Republic in my response.  You can relax about HIV.

Residual discomfort is common in any part of the body after a significant infection or injury; just think of how often someone still has a painful ankle a long time after the sprain has healed.  A urologist would know more than I do about how often it happens following epiditymitis.  The pea-sized swelling probably is the lower pole of the epididymis, perhaps now more prominent because of residual inflammation, scarring, etc.  I doubt your testicles really are fluctuating significantly in size; it's anatomically more or less impossible, without being so excrutiating you couldn't walk.

With the normal sonogram and the antibiotics you undboutedly were given, you can be sure you don't have any continuing infection you can transmit to your girlfriend.  From that standpoint, it would have been safe to have sex within a week of starting treatment.

HHH, MD