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Oral exposure with neck pain
Hi,
Thanks for your help. I am a strait male. I twice received oral sex from a local student while I was in Russia a few weeks ago. About two weeks later, I started feeling a weird pain in my lymph nodes and a bit of stiffness in my neck. A nurse told me that she could not feel any swelling in my nodes, and I have only noticed the feelings in my nodes in the neck and back of neck. I AM able to touch my chin to my chest, do not have any sensitivity to light, no headache, no sore throat... pain in lymphs and stiff neck are the only symptoms I have noticed. They have continued for 5 days now. Otherwise I feel fine.
I realize my risk for HIV infection from this instance is extremely low, but I have been quite worried given the correct time frame between possible exposure and these symptoms.
-Does it sound as if I am experiencing ARS manifesting itself as viral meningitis?
-Would you characterize risk from insertive oral sex as only theoretical? I have read several experts saying that this sort of transmission (from HIV+ oral sex giver to male inserter) has never been documented. Thank you, I will get tested as soon as I can, but I am, obviously, very very worried.
Thanks for your help. I am a strait male. I twice received oral sex from a local student while I was in Russia a few weeks ago. About two weeks later, I started feeling a weird pain in my lymph nodes and a bit of stiffness in my neck. A nurse told me that she could not feel any swelling in my nodes, and I have only noticed the feelings in my nodes in the neck and back of neck. I AM able to touch my chin to my chest, do not have any sensitivity to light, no headache, no sore throat... pain in lymphs and stiff neck are the only symptoms I have noticed. They have continued for 5 days now. Otherwise I feel fine.
I realize my risk for HIV infection from this instance is extremely low, but I have been quite worried given the correct time frame between possible exposure and these symptoms.
-Does it sound as if I am experiencing ARS manifesting itself as viral meningitis?
-Would you characterize risk from insertive oral sex as only theoretical? I have read several experts saying that this sort of transmission (from HIV+ oral sex giver to male inserter) has never been documented. Thank you, I will get tested as soon as I can, but I am, obviously, very very worried.
I apologize for my lack of logic previously. It seems that Globus Sensation perfectly fits this symptom. I swallowed constantly for several days before I noticed the symptoms (while checking every few seconds to see if I had developed a sore throat) which apparently can bring this on. There is no pain as associated with throat thrush, and the symptoms go away when I eat or drink.
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec02/ch007/ch007e.html
Thanks for everyones help and reassurance through this. Good luck to everyone else.
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec02/ch007/ch007e.html
Thanks for everyones help and reassurance through this. Good luck to everyone else.
Any thoughts Doc? I'm sorry for being a pain..
I wish I would have had these sypmtoms when I first asked the doctor.
Yeah, your probably right, I just got done writing posts to people telling them to calm down and not read into their symptoms... It seems like thrush is among the most serious (indicative) symptoms for HIV. So many websites saying that thrush only occurs in people with cancer, on antibiotics and with HIV/AIDS. Since the first two dont apply... do they people you guys know who got thrush, did they get it from antibiotics or other medication? Because I am on none at all.
I second the anxiety vote...but if it really is thrush I too know perfectly healthy people who have gotten that condition! Don't read in to your symptoms too much, I know from experience I'm doing that to myself right now, I have already assumed that feeling weak and tired with a burning tongue must be something terrible!
NeI just reread your earlier post. You aren't having difficulty swallowing food, just feeling like you have a lump in your throat. Anxiety. I vote for anxiety.
While I vote for anxiety as the cause of all of your symptoms, most certainly other things can cause that "food stuck in throat" feeling. Like esophageal spasms. You could google dysphagia for more info on difficulty swallowing.
Really, I think the thrush fear is just nonsense. Anyone can get thrush. Dr. Handsfield has posted before saying he'd had it. A former partner of mine had it. Sheesh, babies get it. So it's a symptom of HIV--so are eight gazillion other things that are far more likely to be a result of something completely unrelated.
Really, I think the thrush fear is just nonsense. Anyone can get thrush. Dr. Handsfield has posted before saying he'd had it. A former partner of mine had it. Sheesh, babies get it. So it's a symptom of HIV--so are eight gazillion other things that are far more likely to be a result of something completely unrelated.
I know that coated tongue is unrelated to thrush, but that dosen't help rule out thrush in the throat.
But thrush in the throat is frequently not painful, and frequently has the only symptom of the food stuck in throat feeling. In fact, I can't find any other illnesses which cause this feeling, besides anxiety.. but anxiety seems to cause a choking feeling as well, which I don't have at all.
I doubt its a problem, thrush is supposed to be extremely painful and it is not the same thing as a white-coated tongue. I would not worry about that!
I'm sorry to keep posting, but apparently thrush is affected by nutrition? I am a vegetarian and ate extremely poorly (i.e. no iron intake for days) over thanksgiving break. I first noticed this on the day I returned. I don't know if this helps any shed any light?
Could this be thrush in the throat? For the last several days, I have not been able to "swallow" this lump away, though it is not severe, nor does it cause any pain or difficulty eating or drinking (yet). Look, I know this may be outside your area of expertise, but no experts in the area will talk to me for almost a week, and if I tell them I am worried about HIV, they tell me to go get tested, which I did. I have no where else to turn, please...
I now have developed a white coated tongue (obviously not especially troubling) but also a weird sensation in my throat like there is some food stuck in there, and I have to swallow a few times to get it out. I have heard that this could be a sign of thrush in the throat. This has persisted for a few days. Does this sound like thrush of the throat? Still waiting a few weeks to take the test. Sorry to be a trouble.
It's been well documented how little a doctor's reassurance and even *negative tests* really mean for most worried well. And if you think about it, I think you'll agree. Yes, the conflicting information on the internet is a real problem. But I think that's directly related to the lack of trust/inability to be reassured. What drives you to seek such conflicting info? What keeps you from trusting any expert? Why do you keep questioning and worrying, reassurance after reassurance, negative test after negative test? This seems to be part of the WW complex; most are extremely, unusually well-informed about all related issues. It would actually be so much easier if it were just a lack of information :-)
Actually you're right and wrong.. A ww, like 99% of everyone on this board looks for the doc for reasurance. I've havn't read anyone on the net that gives the reasurance that HHH gives. With that being said what makes the ww crazy is the conflicting information. The CDC talks in black and white. They make a ww feel like their 6-10 week test is meaningless as does dr. bob. I often hear dr. bob say "guidelines are guidelines" which is a statement not based on the science. As long as ww come on here and gets information based on science, then visit other sites (based on guidelines) that conflict with this site, the ww will always return to dr HHH asking... "Are you sure doc?"
Sorry if this is not applicable, but I just tested negative after approx 25 days from exposure. yay!
Well, interesting discussion on the worried well syndrome. I can say from personal experience that Monkeyflower, at least as her views relate to me, is 100% correct. No amount of reassurance seemed to have much impact on my continuing HIV anxiety. And I sought out a lot of reassurance, and received it.
In my more lucid moments, I was able to rationally look back over the events that led me to believe that I had contracted HIV, and often came to the conclusion that I was fine. Such periods of lucidity last for approximately, oh, 5 minutes. And then I was right back where I started. It's really sort of amusing now when I look back at it, but wasn't so funny when I was going through it. And frankly, not all of it is so amusing in hindsight, either.
I know that I would read some doctor's advice, or hear it first hand, and feel better, again, for about five minutes. The truth of the matter is that HIV was a handy proxy for what was really bothering me. And no amount of rational thought or analysis would have gotten me out of my funk. Because, of course, the problem was emotional in nature. But, I eventually got the help I needed, and not from a doctor specializing in infectious disease. I got it from a therapist who understood what was happening and helped me see it for myself. I wasted a lot of good doctors' time until I found the one I really needed. Doc HHH is great, but nothing he could have said would really have convinced me of my HIV negative status for very long.
In the end, I suspect that at least some portion of the people who come here seeking advice are in the same situation. Sure, some are just a little worried (and not obssessed), and some amount of worry is normal. But, when it gets excessive, and all consuming, even in the face of overwhelming evidence or odds that the person did not, could not have contracted HIV, then it stops being a matter for an MD, and becomes a job for a psychologist, or psychiatrist, or therapist. And the good Doctor, rightly so, in my opinion, always mentions that option when he feels it is warranted.
Just my 2 cents. Take care all.
As noted above, I got OraSure tested about 24 days after possible exposure. I am still quite worried about a lump in my throat (as if food got stuck there) and the coated tongue together... it seems from my research that thrush is the most highly sugestive symptom of HIV/AIDS. Other "experts" are saying that thrush can be a symptom of ARS, as well, and not just from when AIDS sets in. It seemed too coincidental that a white coated tongue and lump in throat developed at the same time. I cannot get in to see the dentist until next week. Do I have special reason to worry? You seem to treat thrush as if it is more seriously linked to HIV than other symptoms presented... please, please help...
HIV anxiety has fascinated me ever since I found this board a year or two ago. I'm actually writing on the subject as we speak ;-) What you describe is pretty classic. However, what I've found in the literature and on these boards suggests that for most of the worried well, reassurance from an expert is surprisingly little help. So are negative test results, btw. If that describes you, therapy and possibly medication can help.
A paper on HIV anxiety. Now, that is an excellent idea. I'd be curious as to your conlusions once you have finished the paper.
Thanks Doc!
In respsone to yoy...
Certainly, which is why the pain prompted me to have them checked out by someone at the hospital. But you have to understand, for someone who very, very rarely gets sick, to have symptoms pop up within ROUGHLY the appropriate ARS timeframe (a few weeks after exposure) is quite disconcerting. Especially when you put it "neck stiffness" and "hiv" in a google search and some reports of ARS manifesting itself as meningitis and not mono-like illness. A common thread of all this, I think, is that paranoia from possible exposure certainly shifts ones logic, and what the worried well most need (besides testing, of course) is reassurance from an expert, in order to even begin thinking clearly.
In respsone to yoy...
Certainly, which is why the pain prompted me to have them checked out by someone at the hospital. But you have to understand, for someone who very, very rarely gets sick, to have symptoms pop up within ROUGHLY the appropriate ARS timeframe (a few weeks after exposure) is quite disconcerting. Especially when you put it "neck stiffness" and "hiv" in a google search and some reports of ARS manifesting itself as meningitis and not mono-like illness. A common thread of all this, I think, is that paranoia from possible exposure certainly shifts ones logic, and what the worried well most need (besides testing, of course) is reassurance from an expert, in order to even begin thinking clearly.
A very low risk if not no risk event-
Symptoms do not equal exposure
The right time frame for a stiff neck? Most people cannot self diagnoss swollen lymph nodes and why only in the neck when HIV be wide spread? You don't have HIV- you have a stiff neck from worrying about it.
Symptoms do not equal exposure
The right time frame for a stiff neck? Most people cannot self diagnoss swollen lymph nodes and why only in the neck when HIV be wide spread? You don't have HIV- you have a stiff neck from worrying about it.
Please disregard the second question about risks of HIV transmission from oral sex, I failed to see your answer to the exact same question on a post a few days ago. Thanks!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
No, your symptoms do not suggest HIV, and there is no way you have viral meningitis but "otherwise feel fine". Yes, receiving oral sex is only a theoretical risk for HIV; I am unaware of any scientifically proved transmissions, despite the occasional claim. Get HIV tested if you wish, i.e. if the negative results will help you through your inflated anxiety over your sexual adventures. But there really is no medical need for it.
No prolonged discussion, please. There is nothing you can add that will significantly change my opinion or advice.
HHH, MD
No prolonged discussion, please. There is nothing you can add that will significantly change my opinion or advice.
HHH, MD
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