unprotected sex = headache? is that an HIV symptom?

[hellointernetpeople]

Hi Doc. Thanks for your help.
male to female unprotected sex. both white/caucasian. CA. non-IV drug users.

About 6 months ago i had unprotected vaginal sex with this girl, 3 months after i tested for hiv and it came back negative. Dec. 31 i had unprotected sex with her again. I had no other partners since the previous encounter but she had 1 encounter with her ex boyfriend (assuming it was unprotected).

Jan 13 (about 12-13 days after unprotected incident) i started having a headache pretty much everyday, and i still have it today Jan 20, so it been a week almost. these headaches have been off-and-on but i usually never have headaches so im worrying about it VERY much!!!!

Also to note, i have a cavity that i should have gotten filled months ago and it has been bothering me for months when i drink a cold beverage or when cold hair enters my mouth. it gets honestly pretty painful that i have to drink something warm or hot to get rid of it. My friend said he had the same situation with a tooth and he had a headache everyday until he got a root canal.

Wondering if headaches are a symptom of hiv or maybe its my tooth?
im deeply worried and i cant stop thinking this everyday!! :(
i dont seem to have any other symptoms, and i take my temperature everyday and it seems to be normal like around 97.1 - 97.8

its been 4 weeks almost and im going to test at 6, but wanted some answers now as im having a hard time dealing with my headaches and worrying about hiv :( :(

thanks for all your help!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  You can be sure that isolated headache, without other symptoms such as fever, muscle ache, rash, etc is NOT a sign of early HIV infection.  I would add to this statement that your risk from the encounter you mention is rather low.  HIV is a rare infection in while, heterosexual, non-IV drug users (less than 1 in 10,000) an not efficiently transmitted (only 1 transmission per 1000 sex acts) even in the unlikely situation that your partner did have HIV.  On the other hand, your tooth infection, is a likely cause of your headache.

If you wish to reassure yourself that you did not get infected, you can get tested. Had your headache been caused by HIV (I remain confident it was not), your test would be positive.  

I hope this comment is helpful.  EWH

[hellointernetpeople]

thanks for all your help :)

[Edward W Hook, MD]

No.

Time for this thread to end.  No more questions please.  EWH

[hellointernetpeople]

so a headache alone CAN be a symptom of hiv?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Far more likely to be due to anxiety than HIV.  If it is a continuing problem you may wish to discuss it with your doctor but this is unlikely to be due to HIV. EWH

[hellointernetpeople]

I am still having this headache and it's been 1 1/2 weeks! Off-and-on, but it's still nagging and i dont know what to do! Been stressing over it for far too long!

Can you give some insight or do you have any suggestions?
Thank you, Edward.

[hellointernetpeople]

Thank you for your response. I really do appreciate it :)
It's been a little over 3 weeks so i guess i will report back here if i start having any other symptoms.

thanks!