Aa
how big is my risk?
Hi Doctor,
I've been debating this for a while because I have read on here about similar situations that I have, yet a little different.
I am 18 years old, and in college. One night I did something extremely stupid. Something I said I would never do. I had unprotected vaginal sex with an 18 year old male. It was at most 30 seconds, with no ejaculation at any point. I do not know his status. I asked him afterward (which is stupid) and he said he is clean but I do not know if he was tested. I have high anxiety all the time and this is not good for me. I know testing will let me know if I have it or not but I am really scared. This took place on February 12, 2009. I noticed this past Friday that the lymph node behind my right ear is a little swollen. A little smaller than a pea. I read somewhere online that lymph nodes being swollen are the first signs of HIV and now I am freaking out. I had a lymph node swollen before because of a piercing that was infected, and it is infected again but not the same ear that has the lymph node. The male I had intercourse with had a relationship for 2 years. Not that it makes a difference, but he was monogamous for quite some time.
What exactly is your opinion on this situation with my risk of being infected with HIV? I was calm for sometime until this lymph node swelled up.
I've been debating this for a while because I have read on here about similar situations that I have, yet a little different.
I am 18 years old, and in college. One night I did something extremely stupid. Something I said I would never do. I had unprotected vaginal sex with an 18 year old male. It was at most 30 seconds, with no ejaculation at any point. I do not know his status. I asked him afterward (which is stupid) and he said he is clean but I do not know if he was tested. I have high anxiety all the time and this is not good for me. I know testing will let me know if I have it or not but I am really scared. This took place on February 12, 2009. I noticed this past Friday that the lymph node behind my right ear is a little swollen. A little smaller than a pea. I read somewhere online that lymph nodes being swollen are the first signs of HIV and now I am freaking out. I had a lymph node swollen before because of a piercing that was infected, and it is infected again but not the same ear that has the lymph node. The male I had intercourse with had a relationship for 2 years. Not that it makes a difference, but he was monogamous for quite some time.
What exactly is your opinion on this situation with my risk of being infected with HIV? I was calm for sometime until this lymph node swelled up.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Yes, wrong forum as you recognize below. But the response would have been just as brief had you asked on the HIV forum. Almost every time someone says they found similar questions but thought theirs was sufficiently different to ask it again, they are wrong: the differences are sufficiently minor that they make no difference. Same here.
It is the rare 18 year old who has HIV in the US and other industrialized countries -- and it does make a difference that your partner was in a long term monogamous relationship, it lowers his risk still further. If he was infected there was only an average chance of 1 in 1,000 that you caught it. And a single enlarged lymph node, if that's what the bump is, does not suggest HIV.
As a sexually active teen, you ought to be getting standard STD testing at least once a year, preferably every 6 months. Statistically, the main reason is for chlamydia, by far the most common STD in teens. But testing routinely should include gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV as well. So if you haven't had such testing recently, do it now, since it's on your mind. But you can pretty much ignore HIV in relation to this particular exposure. No chance.
Since it's the wrong forum, there won't be any follow-up discussion. Best wishes.
HHH, MD
It is the rare 18 year old who has HIV in the US and other industrialized countries -- and it does make a difference that your partner was in a long term monogamous relationship, it lowers his risk still further. If he was infected there was only an average chance of 1 in 1,000 that you caught it. And a single enlarged lymph node, if that's what the bump is, does not suggest HIV.
As a sexually active teen, you ought to be getting standard STD testing at least once a year, preferably every 6 months. Statistically, the main reason is for chlamydia, by far the most common STD in teens. But testing routinely should include gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV as well. So if you haven't had such testing recently, do it now, since it's on your mind. But you can pretty much ignore HIV in relation to this particular exposure. No chance.
Since it's the wrong forum, there won't be any follow-up discussion. Best wishes.
HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
You're welcome. Stay safe.
Thank you Doctor for answering even though its in the wrong forum. I appreciate it alot.
I posted to the wrong forum. I'm sorry, I didn't know.
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
