Aa
Concerned
About 3 months ago. i was drunk & had unprotected oral & unprotected vaginal sex (lasted about 2 mins) with a girl of unknown status. Afterwards I felt horrible especially when I found out that she had slept with a few more guys at this party as well that same night. The next day I flew home & felt SUPER sick & fatigued on the flight...*Felt hot & could barely stay awake*. The next day I felt feverish *NO actual fever 98.6-98.9*, had NO appetite, nauseous, & fatigued. *Laid in bed ALL day* That night I sweated myself to sleep, and woke up in the same sweat *DRENCHED* (the night sweats lasted for 3-4 nights). i researched my symptoms, which sounded like the flu to me (considering that it is flu season & I had yet to get my shot. Of course HIV popped up in the search and I began to FREAK OUT! I thought about my encounter that weekend before with the promiscuous girl and I lost it! .At work I could barely concentrate, the malaise feeling/nauseousness overwhelmed me!!! 2 wks later I noticed my groin area to feel very achy. I also developed a small painless lump in the bottom inside of my mouth/gum (i still have this, im thinking it might be an abscess from me using an oral thermometer). I made a visit for a physical. At this time I noticed my inguinal ligament to be somewhat swollen/tender with small nodes in close proximity. At exactly 4 wks (31 days) post exposure my results were negative for all STD's including HIV. This gave me a sense of relief. I have had a feeling of a lump in my throat & dry mouth; while awaiting my test results. At wk 7 i felt on/off nausea again. Just that watery feeling in your mouth as if you have to vomit, but I never have. I've been surfing the net non-stop trying to figure out things! I know that's not good for my health, but I can't help it. Around week 10-12 (currently) I have been experiencing slight muscle pains come and go, alongside with pins/needles sensation around body that comes/goes. I'm totally freaked out at this point!
Cool, you've lifted a tremendous weight off my shoulders and have given me some much needed knowledge about my situation. I've been reading the anxiety post in relation to hiv, and it's amazing how your mind can give you physical manifestations of anything!!! I've had just about all of the anxiety "hiv" symptoms! I think once I relax and calm down I'll soon be back to my old self.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Thanks for the thanks. There's nothing to apologize for. I didn't see anything suggesting that you "came off that way". Sorry is something in my wording suggested I was upset with you; I was not.
I apologize, didn't mean to come off that way. I never did anything like this before. I feel horrible and the anxiety is eating me up! I know i put myself at risk regardless of the odds. Thanks again for the helpful advice and I will take head to it. The girl btw was a 20 something y/o black girl and she didn't look like an iv drug user (looks are deciving) She actually proclaimed she never did anything like that before. (I don't believe her tho). Anyways thanks again for the fast response, and God Bless!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.
I reviewed your two threads on the community forum. While technically correct, I disagree with the tone of the responses you had. To the extent that any unprotected vaginal sex with an unknown partner carries at least some rchance of HIV, there was some risk. On the other hand, the statistical chance your partner had HIV is exceedingly low, probably well under 1 in 1,000 -- assuming, of course, she doesn't have special risk factors (injection drug use, commercial sex work, etc). And even if she did, your risk for a single episdoe of unprotected vaginal sex was on the order of 1 in 2,000. Taken together, these two facts translate into a risk you caught HIV somewhere in the range of 1 in 1-2 million. Pretty good odds! (And by the way, the oral sex event was even safer. Oral to penile HIV transmission is very rare, if it even occurs at all.)
As for your symptoms, nobody should freak out even when symptoms are consistent with ARS. The typical symptoms of ARS are also typical for many other conditions, all much more common than HIV.
Further, the HIV antibody test is always positive within several days of onsent of true ARS symptoms. In other words, your negative test at 4 weeks is proof that HIV was not the cause of your illness. As you first thought, almost certainly it was influenza or other respiratory infection. Your other symptoms, such as inguinal area pain, do not suggest HIV and in any case the negative test also disproves HIV as the cause of these symptoms as well.
My advice is that you have another HIV test. Enough time has passed to the result will be 100% reliable. In fact, you could have had a definitive test as soon as 6 weeks after exposure. On the community forum, they correctly stick to the official advice about testing at 3 months for definitive results. However, as discussed in the thread linked below, 6-8 weeks (or even 4 weeks, for the "4th generation" or "duo" test) in fact is always reliable.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1704700
So you can relax and stop worrying about HIV. Return with a follow-up comment to know the result of a repeat test, but stay mellow in the meantime. It will be negative.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
I reviewed your two threads on the community forum. While technically correct, I disagree with the tone of the responses you had. To the extent that any unprotected vaginal sex with an unknown partner carries at least some rchance of HIV, there was some risk. On the other hand, the statistical chance your partner had HIV is exceedingly low, probably well under 1 in 1,000 -- assuming, of course, she doesn't have special risk factors (injection drug use, commercial sex work, etc). And even if she did, your risk for a single episdoe of unprotected vaginal sex was on the order of 1 in 2,000. Taken together, these two facts translate into a risk you caught HIV somewhere in the range of 1 in 1-2 million. Pretty good odds! (And by the way, the oral sex event was even safer. Oral to penile HIV transmission is very rare, if it even occurs at all.)
As for your symptoms, nobody should freak out even when symptoms are consistent with ARS. The typical symptoms of ARS are also typical for many other conditions, all much more common than HIV.
Further, the HIV antibody test is always positive within several days of onsent of true ARS symptoms. In other words, your negative test at 4 weeks is proof that HIV was not the cause of your illness. As you first thought, almost certainly it was influenza or other respiratory infection. Your other symptoms, such as inguinal area pain, do not suggest HIV and in any case the negative test also disproves HIV as the cause of these symptoms as well.
My advice is that you have another HIV test. Enough time has passed to the result will be 100% reliable. In fact, you could have had a definitive test as soon as 6 weeks after exposure. On the community forum, they correctly stick to the official advice about testing at 3 months for definitive results. However, as discussed in the thread linked below, 6-8 weeks (or even 4 weeks, for the "4th generation" or "duo" test) in fact is always reliable.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1704700
So you can relax and stop worrying about HIV. Return with a follow-up comment to know the result of a repeat test, but stay mellow in the meantime. It will be negative.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the HIV - Prevention 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.
