HIV Fears and Conflicting Info on Web

[scrdind]

I've had one night stand back in September on a drunken night and have been pretty stressed over it since I have no way of contacting her since.  Over that same month, I've had a tooth abscess which I found to be possibly due to a weakened immune system.  I was given some antibiotics and shortly got thrush.  I looked it up and found that thrush could've been caused by the antibiotic, but of course I first read that it was also possible that this was also one of the symptoms during initial exposure to HIV (including link below).

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/211873-overview

I then found an article on your site later with conflicting info that this may not occur for possibly years after infection:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/Brown-tongue-HIV/show/748951

With both a tooth abscess, something I don't think I've gotten before, and thrush shortly after all within the acute period, I'm really concerned, especially after reading the first link I posted above.  When coincidences occur, tend to lean towards the worst case scenario.  

I'm shy of the 3 month period so haven't gotten tested yet but I plan on it but until then, I'm pretty stressed out and have been for quite a while now.  Can you please tell me whether or not my fears are warranted?

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide and I am really thankful that this site as a resource is around.

[Teak]

There is no test that gives a conclusive neg. earlier than 3 months post exposure.

[scrdind]

Thanks for your input benimikek.  Stayed away from here to stop searching for symptoms to pin on myself... not like it helped though lol.

I actually was pretty wasted that night and I know I started off with protection but the ending was sketchy at best hence the fear.

I have been tested and I'm negative but gonna check with the professionals here to make sure I don't have to re-test later on but such a huge sigh of relief for me...

That fear, anxiety / stress waiting for time to pass before taking the test though was hell.  Although according to a professional on this site, the test is accurate after 6 weeks of exposure (even though they say to wait 3 months before) and a DUO test (if I remember right, antibody and p24 antigen test) is conclusive after 4 weeks.  Paranoia and maybe a bit of masochism made me wait out the time to make sure any result I got is gonna be accurate.

But during that time, stress and anxiety caused me to see everything as a sign of ARS.  The following are some of the "symptoms" I saw during this excruciating period, most explained away as symptoms of stress.

During the first week of fear:
- Tooth abscess - read while reading about HIV, this is actually a later stage symptom that I misunderstood but was a "sign" of being infected, the start of my spiraling down of worries begins
- White tongue - which I thought was thrush even though dentist said it looked normal to him but I was positive he was wrong.  Insane.
- Enlarged lymph nodes under jaw - tooth abcess and constant probing
- Headache - a constant "tension headache" brought on by stress
- Dehydration - stress again

After 1 week and being crazy scared and all previous "symptoms" minus the tooth abscess were still there the following "signs" popped up
- Coughing - being a smoker doesn't help this one at all
- Itchy dry skin - thought a beginning of a rash but was from stress and weather
- Red bump on skin - thought it was a rash, but was brought on by dry skin
- Feeling a little flushed - stress also but I thought was a "flu like symptom"
- Aching neck and back muscles - stress

Insane right???  But I was completely convinced of every little thing!  I hope by me listing some of the stuff I went though helps to calm someone down a bit so they can take the test which honestly is the only way to put fears to bed.

Stress being a killer, I can totally understand that now.  The mind is a really powerful thing.  Yeah Benimikek, if there were a cure for worry, probably woulda gone through a case of it over the past month!!!

[benimikek]

I completely understand your fears and concerns.  How concerned you should be has a lot to do with whether or not you used protection and exactly what activities you engaged in. I know I almost went nuts between a presumed exposure and the end of the third month when I was tested. I learned that all the worry and anxiety were wasted. I have never heard that either of two symptoms you described are indicators of early HIV.  But, hell, maybe you do have it.  All the worry in the world isn't going to make it any better.  I just wish I knew of a cure for worry since that seems to be the current problem for many of us.