Extreme health anxiety and Panic.

[wannabeuss]

Hello Doctor ,I will start my post by telling you that I suffer from severe health anxiety which has been tormenting me for about 12 years .I mention I am a 21 years old guy.
Last night I had the first ever sexual encounter with a man.I took his penis in my mouth for no longer than 10 seconds ,with no ejaculation ,but I can't tell for sure about pre-cum.Anyways immediately after the 10 seconds of sticking his penis in my mouth I spit out  everything I had in my mouth After no more than 5 minutes in which I didn't swallow at all i cleaned my mputh with some fresh water.I could also mention that 4 -5 hours before the contact i brushed my teeth with little blood pouring from my gums(but I brushed my teeth quite violently).I mention that no other sexual contact ever happened between me and a man ,and this guy assured me he was very healthy.
The problem is that now my health anxiety is overwhelming me and I keep thinking that I contacted HIV or other STD's but beeing to soon I can't take any tests.
1.Could you please tell what the risk of contacting HIV or an STD is and when should I first go to test myself?
2.Do you think that the 4-5 hours period has been enough for my gums to heal ,or the risk of an open wound was still there ?.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

LAst answer as I am concerned that my answers simply add fuel to your anxeity state.

Testing with standard antibody tests is definitive at 8 weeks following exposure.  If tested with a combined p24 antigen/HIV antibody test results are defintive at 4 weeks.  PCR is not recommended for testing because of increased risk for falsely positve results.  

Take care.  eWH

[wannabeuss]

Thank you very much Doctor ,it is really a great help to hear from a specialist that my risk is minimum or nearly unexistant and also from your first reply I understand there are no reasons for me to take a test.
Regarding the guy he assured me he has nothing but still my mind won't accept the idea and I am feeling so guilty that for 10 seconds I feel awful now.
Still if I decide to take the test after how long i should take it ?(1 month ,1,5 months,2 3?)

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Thanks for your additional comments.  An HIV test at this time will not be helpful. There are no tests which would be expected to be reliably positive for HIV a day or two after exposure.  The single best thing you could do to rule out any possibility of exposure (as opposed to infection) is to see if your partner is willing to be tested.  If he is negative, then there is no conceivable way you could have been infected.  If this cannot be done however, please remember, if you were to get HIV you would be the first person in whom this had clearly happened.  Your odds of being hit by a meteorite are far higher than your risks of getting HIV this way.  EWH

[wannabeuss]

Thank you very much for your help.As I already mentioned I never had anal sex with any guy ,or oral sex with other guy except the one from last night and that was about 10 seconds.Moreover this morning I made a check with salty water to see if I had any cuts or injuries in my mouth but I didn't feel anything.
Also I spoke with the guy ,who is a professional athlete and runs blood tests periodically(every 3 and 6 months ) and he assured me I had nothing to worry about because he hasn't been with too many guys and all of them were serious and his blood tests from january this year were OK.
I have concerns tough because I forgot to mention that I suffer from a severe health anxiety(hypochondria) and I follow specialized psychotherapy.You can imagine how tragic this feels to me now and how stressed I am mostly because I have to wait about 1 month to take all the tests in order for them to be concludent. My mind goes crazy right now and I am making all sorts of tragic scenarios and I distrust what the guy told me .
Doctor I kindly ask you to tell me if you think that I should run an HIV test?Giving my problems with the health anxiety it is very very difficult to wait 1 month but if I get some assurance both from you and from my psychoterapist i might feel better  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome ot our Forum.  I will try to help but in addition to the facts that I will provide, I should point out to you that the sort of anxiety disorder you are struggling with is also best cared for by a health care professional who you can meet with and have confidence in.  If you do not currently have a relationship with such a person, I urge you to form one sooner than later.  

There is no risk for HIV from the encounter you describe.  The quoted figure for HIV risk, if one has oral sex with an infected partner is less than 1 in 10,000 and, in my estimation that is too high. Some experts state there is no risk at all from oral sex.  Neither of us on this site have ever seen or reading the medical literature of a convincing instance in which HIV was passed by oral sex.  This includes by all of the people who had gum disease, bleeding gums, mouth sores, etc.  The sort of exposure you describe does not even warrant testing.

As far as other STDs are concerned, the only STD regularly acquired through performance of oral sex is gonorrhea of the throat.  This however is uncommon and again, not something to worry about.  If you wish to make sure this has not happened, you can have a swab test taken from your throat.  If you have gonorrhea of the throat it is easily treated.

I hope you find my comments helpful.  EWH