Aa
Time to move on?
Hello good doctors,
I had unprotected vaginal sex on Feb10, 2012 with a woman I know, but don't know about her sexual history. About a week after that, I developed a flu-like illness i.e. sore throat, night sweats, extreme fatigue, migratory muscle and joint pains, random rash all around my body, and also UTI like symptoms. A few days after these, I developed peripheral neuropathy, i.e. tingling, burning, numbness and extreme pain on my feet and hands, also an eczema like rash on my hand which had hardened raised skin and puss coming out of my follicules. Had no fever or swollen lymph nodes at all.
In three months all symptoms vanished one after the other except peripheral neuropathy which still lingers on and giving me a hard time. I also developed some canker sores on my upper gums and also a white patch on the left side of my tongue. The pain on my soles and palms are just unbearable.
I had 4, 6, 9, 12 (VIDAS HIV DUO ULTRA) and 13 weeks (COBAS) HIV DUO tests and also 14 week HIV-1 PCR RNA test, which were all NEGATIVE. My ID doctor says there's no way I have HIV, my tests are 100% conclusive and whatever symptoms I show are irrelevant, and he advised me to move on and get professional mental help. I'm already getting professional psychiatric help (4 sessions till now) and on medication but my state haven't improved one bit yet. The thing is, although I'm quite anxious now, when I developed the primary symptoms I had no anxiety at all.
Anyways...
1) Do you think I might be infected some rare variant of HIV which cannot be detected by current tests?
2) Is it true that in case of an infection; with a DUO test either p24 or AB portion of the test or both are positive, there 's no secondary window where p24 has dropped to undetectable levels while there's not enough ABs either?
3) What are the chances that I might be infected with HIV-2 and not yet have enough antibodies for it, where p24 portion of the DUO tests, and also the HIV1 PCR RNA is useless.
TY.
I had unprotected vaginal sex on Feb10, 2012 with a woman I know, but don't know about her sexual history. About a week after that, I developed a flu-like illness i.e. sore throat, night sweats, extreme fatigue, migratory muscle and joint pains, random rash all around my body, and also UTI like symptoms. A few days after these, I developed peripheral neuropathy, i.e. tingling, burning, numbness and extreme pain on my feet and hands, also an eczema like rash on my hand which had hardened raised skin and puss coming out of my follicules. Had no fever or swollen lymph nodes at all.
In three months all symptoms vanished one after the other except peripheral neuropathy which still lingers on and giving me a hard time. I also developed some canker sores on my upper gums and also a white patch on the left side of my tongue. The pain on my soles and palms are just unbearable.
I had 4, 6, 9, 12 (VIDAS HIV DUO ULTRA) and 13 weeks (COBAS) HIV DUO tests and also 14 week HIV-1 PCR RNA test, which were all NEGATIVE. My ID doctor says there's no way I have HIV, my tests are 100% conclusive and whatever symptoms I show are irrelevant, and he advised me to move on and get professional mental help. I'm already getting professional psychiatric help (4 sessions till now) and on medication but my state haven't improved one bit yet. The thing is, although I'm quite anxious now, when I developed the primary symptoms I had no anxiety at all.
Anyways...
1) Do you think I might be infected some rare variant of HIV which cannot be detected by current tests?
2) Is it true that in case of an infection; with a DUO test either p24 or AB portion of the test or both are positive, there 's no secondary window where p24 has dropped to undetectable levels while there's not enough ABs either?
3) What are the chances that I might be infected with HIV-2 and not yet have enough antibodies for it, where p24 portion of the DUO tests, and also the HIV1 PCR RNA is useless.
TY.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
Thank you for your post and welcome to our forum.
I will try to answer each of your questions here below:
1) No, you are definitely HIV negative without any doubt whatsoever. Your negative test results are final and fully conclusive.
2) Exactly. The p24 antigen becomes ndetectable when there are high levels of antibodies. Therefore you would detect both, one or the other depending when the test is carried out.
3) That is out of the question. No chance at all. Firstly HIV-2 is extremely rare, secondly it is less likely to be transmitted as it is less infectious, and thirdly it would have been picked up with the antibody test after about 8 weeks. You had negative results at 9, 12 and 13 weeks. There is no way that you have HIV.
You need to forget about HIV. Your symptoms have nothing to do with it. They are either related to something completely different, but most likely they are related to anxiey and worry.
Kind regards,
Dr José
Thank you for your post and welcome to our forum.
I will try to answer each of your questions here below:
1) No, you are definitely HIV negative without any doubt whatsoever. Your negative test results are final and fully conclusive.
2) Exactly. The p24 antigen becomes ndetectable when there are high levels of antibodies. Therefore you would detect both, one or the other depending when the test is carried out.
3) That is out of the question. No chance at all. Firstly HIV-2 is extremely rare, secondly it is less likely to be transmitted as it is less infectious, and thirdly it would have been picked up with the antibody test after about 8 weeks. You had negative results at 9, 12 and 13 weeks. There is no way that you have HIV.
You need to forget about HIV. Your symptoms have nothing to do with it. They are either related to something completely different, but most likely they are related to anxiey and worry.
Kind regards,
Dr José
Hello Dr Jose or Dr Cummings,
Could I get an answer to my last question if possible?
Do you think my CD4 level is a bit low for a healthy person? Would these results change your confidence about my HIV(-) state?
Thank you.
Could I get an answer to my last question if possible?
Do you think my CD4 level is a bit low for a healthy person? Would these results change your confidence about my HIV(-) state?
Thank you.
Thank you Dr. Jose.
I understand you don't recommend any further testing, and I can be 100% confident that I'm HIV-negative despite all the symptoms I experience.
Four days ago I asked the lab for a CD4/CD8 count by the way and got the results just a few minutes ago. The results are:
WBC 7700
Lymphocyte 2450
Total Cd3 1266
Total CD4 671
Total CD8 580
CD3 51,71(L)
CD4 27,4 (L)
CD8 23,69
CD45 97,31
Do these results look normal to you? Can I feel even more assured with these?
Thanks.
I understand you don't recommend any further testing, and I can be 100% confident that I'm HIV-negative despite all the symptoms I experience.
Four days ago I asked the lab for a CD4/CD8 count by the way and got the results just a few minutes ago. The results are:
WBC 7700
Lymphocyte 2450
Total Cd3 1266
Total CD4 671
Total CD8 580
CD3 51,71(L)
CD4 27,4 (L)
CD8 23,69
CD45 97,31
Do these results look normal to you? Can I feel even more assured with these?
Thanks.
Thanks for your reassuring comments jackbrown. Still waiting for a response from the doctors.
I have to add some more details due to character limit: I sometimes have digestive system troubles, diarrhea, nausea, stomach ache, and also this weird headache, which is dull and pressure-like, usually on my forehead and behind my eyes.
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