Closure

[anxious89]

First of all, thank you for your time. I'm writing to try and get an assessment of my risk at this point in time. I'm a young male and Back in January 2008 I had unprotected, receptive anal sex with intra-rectal ejaculation. The biggest mistake of my life. Then I got into a car accident in March where I had to have emergency surgery for a broken nose. They gave me Hydros to take after my accident. I took the pills for about 3 to 5 days. I don't remember the milligrams but I know it wasn't too incredibly high. Well, 7 months after my high risk encounter I went to get tested for all STDs including HIV. All the tests came back negative, thankfully. Then, around September I started getting a sore throat, runny nose, sore muscles, and low-grade fever. This was around a time when a lot of people on our campus were getting sick. However, these symptoms brought back my anxiety about HIV. I just want to know if I should be still be worried about HIV even though I waited 7 months after my possible exposure (I don't know the status of the guy I had sex with) and the test came back negative. I want to know if the 3-5 days of prescriptions would extend my window period. I was taking the pills for the first few days of March and took the HIV test in August. Would this few day sof pills interfere with my test? Is a 7 month negative test conclusive? I read everywhere that 3 months is the window period and sometimes 6. I just want to know if I'm pretty much in the clear because I waited 7 months. I waited 7 months on purpose because I knew 6 months was the most most people say to wait. I would love to just put this behind me and say lesson learned because trust me this is lesson learned. Thank you for your time.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Stopping to answer after reading the first third of your question:  I don't know what medication you mean by "Hydros", but perhaps you are referring to hydrocortisone.  But it doesn't matter.  There is no medication or ************** that alters the antibody response to a new HIV infection or that delays positive HIV test results.  There has been speculation about very potent chemotherapy or immunosuppressive drugs, but only at the doses used for life threatening cancer and other serious diseases -- and even these are speculation, with few if any actual cases known. Certainly hydrocortisone would not have this effect.  Therefore, you can be 100% confident in the result of your 6 month HIV antibody test.

Now I have read the rest of your question.  The additional information makes no difference in my opinion. Congratulations -- you don't have HIV!  It is long past time to stop worrying about it and going on with your life.

I hope this helps.  Best wishes---  HHH, MD

[anxious89]

Thank you very much! This helps me a lot.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I saw this follow-up comment before my reply above.  It makes no difference.

Also, apologies for the bizarre software that replaced some of my words above.  I think they were "drug therapy".  Go figure.

[anxious89]

Also, I forgot to say that when I started feeling a little sick, I went to the doctor and she said that it was just a cold and that I should just stop worrying. My cold went away in about 2 weeks. I would really like to stop worrying so any advice would help. What is the accuracy of the HIV test at 7 months? I would just like to stop worrying. thank you.