Your assessment please....dumb mistake

[MJ23scores]

Hi Docs,

Last September, now 29 weeks ago I met a CSW when I was intoxicated.  I believe our vaginal sex was unprotected but by this point I was completely blacked out.  Since this event I have felt like crap, somedays are better the others, but overall not great.  My initial thought was I got an STD and then damn my symptoms match up with what I read about HIV.  Symptoms  which started  soon after exposure included upset stomach, soft stool, stiff neck, swollen lymph, fever (25 days post)., tingling in hands, itchy skin but did not really see a rash,  white tongue, and headache.  To date I still feel like my nodes are sore but multiple doctors have not really found anything when feeling around.  Soreness in my shoulders and in the back of my skull and a cough that has lasted 2 months but is not terribly chronic ( sometimes no coughing for a couple hours and sometimes coughing 4 to 5 times an hour), and in the morning I also feel a little nausea.  My white tongue also persists.

Here are my test results and my doc gave me an all clear.

7 weeks- Negative; for all STD's in 8 panel test including HIV antibody blood test
15 weeks Negative; HIV PCR RNA test and negative antibody
19 weeks Negative; full panel and negative HIV 1/2/O
25 weeks Negative; gonn, syph, HIV duo p24
29 weeks Negative; 8 panel screen and HIV rapid test

The DR I feel thinks I'm crazy or overreacting but what can I do since I have these persistent symptoms?  I feel crazy at times but these symptoms feel real and I feel Ill.  Not debilitated but definitely unwell.  They did not test for mono or CMV but being 29 could those be possible explanations for how I'm feeling?  The test I took are the common tests but are there rare stds that I could have contracted that I should test for that have these symptoms?  I'm at a loss and look for some guidance to ask the right questions.  I will do what I need to in order to get better but at this point I have no idea what to do or what to ask.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

HIV-2 would have been detected by the tests you have.  As I said, I think it is time to get away form the STI concerns. continuuing to focus on this possiblity may well delay your finding out what is really going on. EWH

[MJ23scores]

I want to give up on STD's being the cause...I really do but the timing in a normally healthy person seems too coincidental but as you said I'll seek more clarification from my doctor.  I do believe the tests I've had so far with respect to the common STD's but what about uncommon STD's including HIV-2 or a new strain of a similar virus that the tests don't detect.  I really want to press my doc on Monday to explore everything as I feel I'm off.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back to the Forum. From reading this and your prior interaction with Dr. Handsfield, it appears to me that you are focused on a POSSIBLE exposure that occurred over 6  months ago.  Since then you have had a variety of symptoms which have not been verified by your doctors and have been tested for HIV and for STIs on several occasions.  Yet your symtoms persist.  I have several suggestions:

1.  I would suggest that you give up on the possiblity of having acquired HIV or another STI from the possible encounter you describe. Your tests are to be believed.  AS we have said on this forum again and again, when test results and symptoms do not match up, the test resutls are to be believed.  

2.  You need to find a doctor who you feel good about working with and then stick with that doctor to thoroughly evaluate no- STI.non-HIV casues of your symptoms.  Many systemic illnesses can cause the symptoms you describe and the only way to even start to evaluate them is with a thorough history and physical examination.  

3.  Sometimes problems such as yours come on and then go away without health care professionals ever really knowing why. This may occur with you as well

I hope these comments are helpful to you. EWH