doctors unsure, white blood cells do show anomalies

[123xyz098]

Exposure: Jan. 16, 2010 3 a.m. Tijuana, Mexico. Stabbed in the back with a syringe right before briefly passing out in a room inside a club.(Unknown how long needle was in me or if anything was injected. Needle was missing upon waking up.)
Symptoms following exposure:
*36 hours later a hard swollen lymph node appeared below my ear at the corner of my jaw followed by another one shortly thereafter spaced exactly the same but on the right side. The left one was sore when it first appeared but the pain went away within days. (Lymphs were confirmed by nurse practicioner and most recently a UCSD doctor.) The chain of lymphs in both sides of my neck have started to come up, with the ones at the top being the roundest/biggest and the ones lower on the neck smaller more flat/rope like.
*I've had a headache and waterlogged pressure feeling in my head constantly that is only now starting to lessen a bit.
*Daily excessive lower intestinal activity, gurgling, mild pain, worse in the morning.
*I've had diarreah every day (except when I take a Lysine pill or probiotics it turns from diarreah to just loose stool.)
*Needle mark was red around edges and painful to touch with a round dot of dried blood in the center. Now it just looks like a flat red pimple or scar. No longer painful.
*Stomach aches, abdominal aches on both left and right sides.
*Rash under left jawline that hurt and formed lots of white pimples after I shaved. Eventually went away after a week. (1 week after exposure)
*Rash across chest and shoulders that has red dots, itched when it appeared. (3 weeks after exposure)
*Loss of appetite (week 1)
*Weakness in grip that hasn't gone away.(1 week after exposure)
*Eye pain when looking sideways and general difficulty focusing and controlling eyes properly. (getting better as other head related problems get better)
*Shooting pains in parts of body mainly the wrists.(1 week after exposure, now gone)

Treatments/Tests/Diagnosis:
11-20-09 Gon/Clamydia test-negative
1-18-10 Test for urinary tract infection-negative
NP said I may have a prostate infection and mild sinus infection and gave me a 10 day course of Doxycycline that I started Jan 23 and finished.

On Jan 25, (9 and a half days post needle exposure) the following tests were done by Labcorp
HIV-1 Antibody With Reflex to Nucleic Acid Testing
HCV RNA, PCR, Qualitative
Hep B Core Ab, IgM 
Gon/Clamydia
All tests came out Negative.

Feb 19th (35 days post needle exposure) the following tests were done by UCSD
HIV-1/2 antibody
Rapid Plasma Reagin
Both tests were reported back as Non Reactive.

Blood work was also done that day looking for Lymphoma.

WBC 5.6 4.0 - 11.0 (1000/mm3)
RBC 5.40 4.70 - 5.70 (mill/mm3)
HGB 16.2 14.0 - 17.0 (gm/dL)
HCT 47.4 40.0 - 50.0 (%)
MCV 87.8 82.0 -98.0 (um3)
MCH 30.0 27 - 31 (pgm)
MCHC 34.2 32 - 37 (%)
RDW 14.8 10 - 15 (%)
PLT COUNT 227 130 - 400 (1000/mm3)
MPV 9.0 7.4 - 10.4 (fl)
NEUTROPHILS 43 (*) 45 - 70 (%)
LYMPHOCYTES 40 20 - 40 (%)
MONOCYTES 11 (*) 1 - 10 (%)
EOSINOPHILS 5 (*) 1 - 3 (%)
BASOPHILS 1 0 - 2 (%)
DIFF METHOD - AUTO

My body temp has averaged between 97.6 - 98 this whole time with only one instance of it getting as high as 98.7
Also, I had mono 3 1/2 years ago.

I feel swollen lymphs, nausea, headach/malaise, intestinal disturbance ALL DAY everyday. No vomiting though. Every morning I wake up feeling like garbage and have started to feel a little more tired than I should. I also have trouble sleeping all through the night and tend to wake up after 4 -5 hours of sleep.

Anybody have any ideas?

[LivingInHope]

As far as anxiety, perhaps I have a propensity toward GI symptoms due to IBS, but for awhile some years back with anxiety, I had daily multiple times of diarrhea, nausea and frequent throwing up episodes besides.  The mind is a powerful thing and can cause very real physical problems- but this may not be a factor in your case.  

I had an LVN at one time, but am not a health professional, but I remember in nursing school they talked about a 7 month window period in which HIV would reveal itself even after being infected.  Perhaps science in that field has advanced since that was about 20 years ago.

Regarding getting retested for hepatitis, a quick check online tells me the answer is a definite yes, because it says the blood test is searching for antibodies which don't usually show up in the blood until about six months after getting infected.

Dr. Steckelberg on mayo clinic's website states that most people only get mono once, but rarely it can recur months or even years later.  So, you may want to get that ruled out as well.

[123xyz098]

Fixed my gender (electronically). Thanks so much for the insight.
Ever since my negative hiv tests I have also been thinking it could be parasites because I ate sushi the night of the incident and the chef gave me a free bottle of sake. ("free" doesn't equal trustworthy or quality)

" did anyone consider an increase in cerebralspinal fluid in your head? "

No doctor mentioned this, but one did say she might consider doing a head scan if nothing shows up on the tests. The needle puncture was just left of the spine (very close to it), mid back.

As far as mono, everything I've been feeling (outside of the intestinal stuff) feels like "mono-light." It's like mono, but I still have slightly smaller lymphs, and slightly more energy than what mono felt like. My tongue is getting the white stuff on it now but still doesn't look as bad as mono did.

If you don't mind more questions, do you think I should test again for hepatitis?
Do you think I should test for mono even though I've already had it once before?
There's only 2 things I'm totally certain on as far as anxiety because I know my body well. One is the lymphs, the other is the intestinal issues. I had the best digestion (even in lots of stress) before this. Unless the alcohol damaged that, I'm certain it would be caused by some bug or infection. In the past anxiety only messed w/ my heart beat, never the stomach. Thanks again.

[LivingInHope]

You need to change your profile to read male rather than female, as I see you are not a woman from your post.  Regarding your lab tests outside the normal range:
NEUTROPHILS 43 (*) 45 - 70 (%) looks like low neutrophils puts you at increased risk of infection, but lab values can vary and on one US gov website it states the normal range is 40-60 percent, so not sure that your level is really abnormal.  
MONOCYTES 11 (*) 1 - 10 (%) On same website, it puts normal range at 2-8 percent for monocytes.  The potential causes it lists for an elevation are:
Chronic inflammatory disease
Parasitic infection
TB
Viral infection (for intance, infectious mononucleosis, mumps, measles)  
EOSINOPHILS 5 (*) 1 - 3 (%) Same website lists 1-4 percent as normal range (again lab ranges vary).  It suggests reasons for increase in eosinophils can be due to:

Allergic reaction
Cancer
Parasitic infection
Hodgkin's disease

Seems to me with your symptoms maybe they should not only be focusing on the needle incident but thinking outside that box as to what might be wrong as well.  I'm wondering if they injected something though that you had an allergic reaction to with the rash symptoms.  And the waterlogged feeling in the head with headache- did anyone consider an increase in cerebralspinal fluid in your head?

And also consider the stress and anxiety factor in all this, because diarrhea, insomnia, nausea and headache can all be symptoms of being stressed out too.  You might try some vitamin B 50 and check with a psychiatrist about a temporary mild tranquilizer, like librium and see if you don't get an improvement in any of your symptoms.