Aa
Need Help, lots of symptoms
Hi dear Doctor,
I had protected sex with sexual worker on May 05th when i was in China. I'm sure that the condom did not came off, but I didn't check if the condom is intact or not ( I saw my semen was inside condom after I took it off). And my glans may had one small wound on it, but no bleeding or paining.
Here is my symptoms:
1, May 12nd, i started to dry cough, then I ate Levofloxacin, the cough goes less, and lasts for around 10 days. No sore throat. No running nose or stuffy nose.
2, 13rd, In the morning, I got low fever, then I ate some chinese medicine of antipyretic every day, usually 37.5 C in the night and lower than 37 C in the morning. Fearful night sweat ! last for 5 days. No headache.
3, 14th , after i came back to canada, diarrhea,3 to 4 times per day. and very tired, lasts for 4 days. ( is diarrhea caused by jet lag?)
4, Two weeks after all of those symptoms went away (around June 2nd) , my two of my submaxillary lymph nodes enlarged for 2 weeks. people can't see them but people can touch them, now the nodes on my right side is normal, but the left one is still bigger. and No any pain feeling when I touch them.
On May 17th, I went to doctor, he didn't find any problem on my lungs, heart or throat by looking and listening. and I did the blood test and HIV test. every thing was fine. and i will do one more HIV test in next week.
I feel very anxiety this month, I really need your analysis, doctor, but not comfort me please. i would like the truth..
1, Was the condom intact if i saw my semen inside it? if there was a small breakage, can i feel that?
2, if I'm not infected with HIV, how to explain those symptoms? dry cough, fever, submaxillary lymph nodes enlarged and diarrhea. Usually, cough and diarrhea are not happen in the same time, right?. and i don't have running nose or stuffy nose.
3, no matter how the quality is the condom, once it is not broken, even my glans may had one small wound, then I'm safe?
Thanks for your help!
Sincerely!
I had protected sex with sexual worker on May 05th when i was in China. I'm sure that the condom did not came off, but I didn't check if the condom is intact or not ( I saw my semen was inside condom after I took it off). And my glans may had one small wound on it, but no bleeding or paining.
Here is my symptoms:
1, May 12nd, i started to dry cough, then I ate Levofloxacin, the cough goes less, and lasts for around 10 days. No sore throat. No running nose or stuffy nose.
2, 13rd, In the morning, I got low fever, then I ate some chinese medicine of antipyretic every day, usually 37.5 C in the night and lower than 37 C in the morning. Fearful night sweat ! last for 5 days. No headache.
3, 14th , after i came back to canada, diarrhea,3 to 4 times per day. and very tired, lasts for 4 days. ( is diarrhea caused by jet lag?)
4, Two weeks after all of those symptoms went away (around June 2nd) , my two of my submaxillary lymph nodes enlarged for 2 weeks. people can't see them but people can touch them, now the nodes on my right side is normal, but the left one is still bigger. and No any pain feeling when I touch them.
On May 17th, I went to doctor, he didn't find any problem on my lungs, heart or throat by looking and listening. and I did the blood test and HIV test. every thing was fine. and i will do one more HIV test in next week.
I feel very anxiety this month, I really need your analysis, doctor, but not comfort me please. i would like the truth..
1, Was the condom intact if i saw my semen inside it? if there was a small breakage, can i feel that?
2, if I'm not infected with HIV, how to explain those symptoms? dry cough, fever, submaxillary lymph nodes enlarged and diarrhea. Usually, cough and diarrhea are not happen in the same time, right?. and i don't have running nose or stuffy nose.
3, no matter how the quality is the condom, once it is not broken, even my glans may had one small wound, then I'm safe?
Thanks for your help!
Sincerely!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
Thank you for your post.
I always tell patients not to trust symptoms. From the point of view of HIV sero-conversion, symptoms are not relevant as they are not specific. Your symptoms are consistent with hundreds of other conditions, much more common than HIV. What iti is important is to assess the risk of any possible sexual encounter and then correlate this with possible symptoms, and not the other way around. Your sexual encounter seems to be low risk as the condom appeared intact and that is safe. Therefoe I think it is highly unlikely that you have been infected with HIV, and to confirm this, you have had a negative HIV test. The fact that your test was negative, that would exclude in itself that the symptoms that you had prior to the test had anything to do with HIV sero-conversion. Let me answer each of your questions here below:
1.) Most likely. If a condom breaks, the semen does not remain inside and the condom rips and you would have noticed this.
2.) Those symptoms can be explained by hundreds of conditions. A cough is not a typical symptom of HIV sero-conversion I do not beleive that they have anything to do with HIV. They are more likely to be related to a simple viral illness, compounded with all the stress and anxiety that you are going through.
3.) Exactly. if the condom remains intact and in place, it is safe.
Best wishes,
Dr José
Thank you for your post.
I always tell patients not to trust symptoms. From the point of view of HIV sero-conversion, symptoms are not relevant as they are not specific. Your symptoms are consistent with hundreds of other conditions, much more common than HIV. What iti is important is to assess the risk of any possible sexual encounter and then correlate this with possible symptoms, and not the other way around. Your sexual encounter seems to be low risk as the condom appeared intact and that is safe. Therefoe I think it is highly unlikely that you have been infected with HIV, and to confirm this, you have had a negative HIV test. The fact that your test was negative, that would exclude in itself that the symptoms that you had prior to the test had anything to do with HIV sero-conversion. Let me answer each of your questions here below:
1.) Most likely. If a condom breaks, the semen does not remain inside and the condom rips and you would have noticed this.
2.) Those symptoms can be explained by hundreds of conditions. A cough is not a typical symptom of HIV sero-conversion I do not beleive that they have anything to do with HIV. They are more likely to be related to a simple viral illness, compounded with all the stress and anxiety that you are going through.
3.) Exactly. if the condom remains intact and in place, it is safe.
Best wishes,
Dr José
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
1.) The HIV antibody test (3rd generation) is not reliable as early as 10 days after a possible exposure-only fully conclusive after at least 6-8 weeks . However symptoms could never happen that early anyway. Seroconversion symptoms would normally only happen after 2-6 weeks after exposure and normally one would have a positive result after ahving had these symptoms, if these were related to sero-conversion. A better test would have been the 4th generation Duo or Combo test, detecting the p24 Antigen, already detectable after 14 days.
2.) With most infections, you would have had some abnormalitis in the white cell count, with elevation of neutrophils with bacterial infections, and lymphocytes, with viral infections. If those parameters were completely normal, they would exclude infection or anything else serious.
Kind regards,
Dr José
2.) With most infections, you would have had some abnormalitis in the white cell count, with elevation of neutrophils with bacterial infections, and lymphocytes, with viral infections. If those parameters were completely normal, they would exclude infection or anything else serious.
Kind regards,
Dr José
Can anyone answer me those two questions? Help...
Thanks!
Thanks!
Thanks for your answer!
But I have two questions that relate to your answer..
1, My test was negative, that would exclude that the symptoms that I had had anything to do with HIV sero-conversion. But I heard that the windows period is at least 6 weeks.. But I did the test in the 10th day.. Or you mean, once the symptoms came out and they were caused by HIV, then, no matter how long is the windows period, the antibodies can be found? ( I did the test in Canada, HIV 1 and 2 antibody test, I guess it is the 3rd generation test? )
2. The hematology panel from this test shows everything was fine, WBC is 5.8, lymphocytes is 1.6. etc.. If my symptoms was caused by other viral, is it common that the hematology panel shows everything was fine?
Thanks again for all of your help!
But I have two questions that relate to your answer..
1, My test was negative, that would exclude that the symptoms that I had had anything to do with HIV sero-conversion. But I heard that the windows period is at least 6 weeks.. But I did the test in the 10th day.. Or you mean, once the symptoms came out and they were caused by HIV, then, no matter how long is the windows period, the antibodies can be found? ( I did the test in Canada, HIV 1 and 2 antibody test, I guess it is the 3rd generation test? )
2. The hematology panel from this test shows everything was fine, WBC is 5.8, lymphocytes is 1.6. etc.. If my symptoms was caused by other viral, is it common that the hematology panel shows everything was fine?
Thanks again for all of your help!
Oh, note: the temperature i said, was measured under armpit.
You are reading content posted in the HIV - International Forum
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
Can I get HIV from surfaces, like toilet seats?
Can you get HIV from casual contact, like hugging?
Frequency of HIV testing depends on your risk.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) may help prevent HIV infection.
