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Symptoms/Neuropathy/Worried
Hello doctor! I am a 25-year old white male born and raised in Sweden who recently have been struck with fear of HIV.
3 years ago I had unprotected vaginal sex a couple of times with a 26 year old Swedish girl of unknown HIV-status.
About 2-3 weeks later i developed a rash consisting of pin-head sized red bumps. There were 10-15 bumps on my lower belly and pubic area and one bump on my scrotum. They were not itchy or painful, and they vanished within a week. I got worried and tested for STDs (not HIV) and the tests came back negative. Could this have been ARS?
About 6 months later I started to feel a tingling sensation in my right foot. Over the following year this tingling sensation in one foot developed to a burning pain in both feet and the palms of my hands. The burning sensation varies in intensity. It can go away almost completely for maybe a week but then return with full strength and be almost unbearable for a week or so. These symptoms sound very similar to peripheral neuropathy which I think is quite unusual in young healthy men? And when I read that it is a symptom that occurs in HIV I got quite frightened.
I've had other symptoms such as problems with eczema in my face and some blood in my stools.
Another thing that worries me is that after this i've had unprotected sex with another girl and later with my current girlfriend. Come to think of that I realize that they both got sick with fever about two weeks after we had sex. The first girl also developed a rash and I remember that my current girlfriend said that she got swollen lymph nodes under her arm pits. Could this have been ARS?
To sum it up: The last couple of weeks I've been extremely worried that I've caught HIV. What do you have to say about my situation regarding risk and symptoms? I'm currently abroad and want to wait to get tested until I get home next week.
Thank you for the work you are doing.
3 years ago I had unprotected vaginal sex a couple of times with a 26 year old Swedish girl of unknown HIV-status.
About 2-3 weeks later i developed a rash consisting of pin-head sized red bumps. There were 10-15 bumps on my lower belly and pubic area and one bump on my scrotum. They were not itchy or painful, and they vanished within a week. I got worried and tested for STDs (not HIV) and the tests came back negative. Could this have been ARS?
About 6 months later I started to feel a tingling sensation in my right foot. Over the following year this tingling sensation in one foot developed to a burning pain in both feet and the palms of my hands. The burning sensation varies in intensity. It can go away almost completely for maybe a week but then return with full strength and be almost unbearable for a week or so. These symptoms sound very similar to peripheral neuropathy which I think is quite unusual in young healthy men? And when I read that it is a symptom that occurs in HIV I got quite frightened.
I've had other symptoms such as problems with eczema in my face and some blood in my stools.
Another thing that worries me is that after this i've had unprotected sex with another girl and later with my current girlfriend. Come to think of that I realize that they both got sick with fever about two weeks after we had sex. The first girl also developed a rash and I remember that my current girlfriend said that she got swollen lymph nodes under her arm pits. Could this have been ARS?
To sum it up: The last couple of weeks I've been extremely worried that I've caught HIV. What do you have to say about my situation regarding risk and symptoms? I'm currently abroad and want to wait to get tested until I get home next week.
Thank you for the work you are doing.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
. Do you have anything to say regarding the fact that my partners also got symptoms?
This does not mean that you are transmitting HIV back and forth. It may well be coincidence or some other community acquired infection (like the flu) or merely coincidence. There is little reason to be concerned about HIV.
2. Neuropathy? Is it common in early HIV?
No.
EWH
This does not mean that you are transmitting HIV back and forth. It may well be coincidence or some other community acquired infection (like the flu) or merely coincidence. There is little reason to be concerned about HIV.
2. Neuropathy? Is it common in early HIV?
No.
EWH
Thank you very much for answering so quickly and thouroughly. I have only two more questions:
1. Do you have anything to say regarding the fact that my partners also got symptoms?
2. Neuropathy? Is it common in early HIV?
These will be my last questions.
Take care, doc!
1. Do you have anything to say regarding the fact that my partners also got symptoms?
2. Neuropathy? Is it common in early HIV?
These will be my last questions.
Take care, doc!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to our Forum. I'll be pleased to comment. The exposure you describe was very low risk for HIV and your symptoms both a few weeks after the exposure and more recently are non-specific and do not suggest HIV.
Few heterosexual women in Sweden have HIV and even in the very unlikely situation that your partner had HIV, the risk for infection is only 1 infection for every 1000-2000 acts of intercourse. Thus your statistical risk for HIV is very, very low.
The symptoms you describe several weeks after the exposure are also not consistent with the symptoms of recently acquired HIV- the rash tends to be much more generalized, not localized as you describe and is typically accompanied by high fever, sore throat, muscle and joint aches. Thus I am confident that the symptoms you describe are due to something other than HIV.
As for your recent symptoms, these too are non-specific. Peripheral neuropathy is best detected during a careful examination by a clinician. If indeed you have a neuropathy, it could be due to many different things, including nutritional deficiency.
The right thing for you to do is to get tested as you plan to do. There is no need to do so emergently and there will be harm to you by delaying testing until you return home from your travels. Most importantly however, when you are tested and the results are negative as I anticipate they will be, please believe them.
In the future, I suggest you use condoms for sexual encounters with new partners.
I hope my comments are helpful. EWH
Few heterosexual women in Sweden have HIV and even in the very unlikely situation that your partner had HIV, the risk for infection is only 1 infection for every 1000-2000 acts of intercourse. Thus your statistical risk for HIV is very, very low.
The symptoms you describe several weeks after the exposure are also not consistent with the symptoms of recently acquired HIV- the rash tends to be much more generalized, not localized as you describe and is typically accompanied by high fever, sore throat, muscle and joint aches. Thus I am confident that the symptoms you describe are due to something other than HIV.
As for your recent symptoms, these too are non-specific. Peripheral neuropathy is best detected during a careful examination by a clinician. If indeed you have a neuropathy, it could be due to many different things, including nutritional deficiency.
The right thing for you to do is to get tested as you plan to do. There is no need to do so emergently and there will be harm to you by delaying testing until you return home from your travels. Most importantly however, when you are tested and the results are negative as I anticipate they will be, please believe them.
In the future, I suggest you use condoms for sexual encounters with new partners.
I hope my comments are helpful. EWH
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