Can HIV ARS symptoms appear sequencially rather than all at once?

[mikemitchelltx]

I am a 23 y/o male who Unprotected P/V sex with a stranger.  4 days and 12 hours later (Saturday) I got a fever at night, Sunday I  was very lethargic but did not have a fever. Sunday night I woke up with night sweats.  Monday I woke up with a raging headache, called in sick and went to see the doctor. Night sweats again monday nite. Tuesday, Same headache, decreased some later in the day. Night sweats again tues nite. Wednesday was much better but still slightly present.  Night sweats stopped at this point.  I lost a fair amont of weight in this process, not because I was unable to keep food down, I just wasnt very hungry so I didnt eat much.  I was HIV tested using the oral swab 13 days after initial possible exposure and was negative. Side note is that I have had a dry cough for several weeks prior to this which is just now starting to go away. My question is, can ARS symptoms appear sequencially rather than all at once as in this case?

[mikemitchelltx]

Thanks for your reply! My concern is that I actually wasn't concerned at all about having contracted HIV.  I only started to think about it on that tuesday when I started researching my symptoms and they matched ARS.  Have there been ARS cases that have surfaced at 4-5 days? If so do the symptoms always occur simultaneously?

[avonelle38]

4 days after exposure is way too soon to be experiencing ARS symptoms. They come on around 2-4 weeks after exposure- never within mere days. I GUARANTEE you that the majority of your symptoms are due to stress and anxiety over your situation. Being excessively anxious about something causes headaches, fatigue, upset stomach, nausea, night sweats, waking up during the night, weight loss, loss of appetite- you name it and anxiety brings it on!

You did have unprotected sex so yes, this is considered a risk. However, a one-time unprotected vaginal sexual encounter is about a 1 in 2,000 chance of HIV transmission for the male. Most one-time encounters do NOT result in infection- but of course they can, although this is very rare. For a white, heterosexual, non-IV drug using woman- the stats that she would have HIV is 1 in 1,000 and more likely around 1 in 10,000 according to the doctors on the expert forum here. Your chances are very low, as are the chances she had HIV to begin with.

To know your status, test at 3 months after the last exposure. Testing at 6-8 weeks will give you a very good indication of your status.

Your symptoms are not ARS- not even close. It's way too soon and I assure you that your anxiety is causing them. Try to relax and take this all in stride. I wish you the best of luck.