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HIV Testing after 11 years!

Hello, due to a recent exposure I've recently tested 3 times in the last month and a half with the last test being 6 week post exposure. The test result came back negative (It was a 4th generation test). However this recent exposure has brought back my fears I had growing up that I was HIV+. About 11 years ago, I found a piece of chewed gum at a hotel during a trip on a railing and for whatever reason I put it in my mouth and chewed it (gross, I know but I was like 7 or 8) before spitting it out a few minutes later. Mind you guys I was in Atlanta during this trip and Atlanta has a high rate of HIV+ people right? Ever since i've learned about HIV after this encounter I always thought I had it (because what if there was HIV infected blood on the gum?) until one day I discussed it with somebody and they told me it's not likely. Well fast forward 11 years later, here I am worried again as I believe I have entered the aids stage. Not only have I read that the aids stage is less likely to produce antibodies due to your immune system being immunocompromised/ immunocompressed (hence the reason I tested negative on one Elisa-Antibody test and Two Fourth Generation) but I also read that Inhalers (the corticosteroids in the medicine) cause a decrease in antibodies as well. Now my theory is due to the fact that I'm so far into the disease (if I have it) then antibodies decreasing along with my inhalers medicine affecting my test, these are the reasons my tests are coming back negative. I'm hoping that if I was infected the tests would come back at least intermediate! At the last test I got the lady stated, "It's negative, it couldn't be any more negative," however I just can't trust that after everything I've read online and after all of my symptoms (I will list below). I've also read that p24 antigens show back up late in the disease (I'm assuming the aids stage) so I find confidence in that because no antigens were picked up on the 4th generation tests, however what if I'm not too far in the aids stage and that's why no antigens showed up? I would like to save myself before it's really too late but I don't know what to do next, my tests keep coming back negative. In my own head i'd love to believe that a decrease in antibodies (no matter what) would cause for a rise in antigens thus my tests are accurate but I just don't see anything online supporting these claims. The two inhaler medicines I am taking are 90mcg of albuterol (i've never been told how many times to use this inhaler so i've gone crazy with the dosage over the last 3 years since being diagnosed with asthma) and 200 mcg of Asmanex with 2 puffs in the morning and at night (this inhaler used to be an advair inhaler but it was switched not too long ago) (I've also used a higher dosage of both of these medicines as well). Is me using higher dosages of my inhalers along with the fact that I'm late into the disease, affecting my test results? I had a cbc with differential recently (I know you can't diagonse hiv based on a cbc I know and i've gotten my hiv tests) and the wbc, rbc and platlets came back normal. Wouldn't they be relatively low after 10 years? Idk I read hiv affect everyone differently so I guess there's still time for my results to change. I even read that inhalers would cause my wbc results to increase which didn't give me much faith because even if my wbc were low after all this time, my medicine is causing them to rise again! Now for the symptoms I've been having (mind you guys I didn't notice any of this before my exposure (now 8 weeks ago) but maybe I just wasn't paying attention).

I will post the symptoms in the comments due to going over the posting limit!
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Avatar universal
You had zero risk of HIV. It is not transmitted by chewing gum, even if there were any type of bodily fluids on it. Your post here screams massive health anxiety. Instead of wasting your efforts on a disease you were never exposed to, seek out therapy to help you overcome your irrational HIV phobia.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Okay thank you.
Avatar universal
- Weight loss. This is the scary part (I normally weigh between 225-235 but 2 weeks ago at the doctor I was down to 218 and I went yesterday and I'm down to 213! I haven't been this low in years.
- Severe constipation. I've had constipation on and off for about two years now but lately it's been worse. My constipation starting 2 years ago also has me worried due to the fact that that's maybe when my symptoms started to show back up or when I entered the aids phase.
- Dry Mouth (weird taste, bad breath)
- Extremely Dry Hands
- Two flappy bumps directly across from each other on inner cheeks next to molars. Won't go away.
- Two white long bumps on both cheeks i'm assuming is from a blockage of saliva due to dry mouth. Won't go away.- Eczema
- Sharp pains in back in chest near heart area (have had my heart
- Pins and needles/ tingling sensations in feet and hands.
- Also a burning when rubbing skin (mainly feet). I also seen a red streak on my foot last week but it has gone away and I haven't seen it since.
- Beau Lines on both big toes.
- Pink toenail on right foot fell off (this also happened a few years ago with both pinky toe nails but never thought anything of it).
- Went to doctor yesterday had a fever of 98.6. Doctor also stated my blood pressure was high at first then changed to a different arm pad thingy and said it was normal but why would she have to switch them? What if the first blood pressure was accurate.
-Rarely been hungry lately.
- Recurring bumps on earlobes and recurring bump on inside of right ear. These bumps always come back.
-Had a big bump next to my eye a few years ago (like 2). It went down but never went away. Tried to show it to my doctor, she couldn't find it (it's tiny but I still feel it).
- Black / Brown spots in stool.
-Stool is always loose now (don't know if this is diarrhea though).
-Migraines and pressure headaches all the time.
- A few night sweats recently which I admit may have been to heat because I wasn't soaked or anything.
- Dry skin
-Recurring butt boils on buttocks & inner thigh. Takes forever to go away. Sometimes they're black.
-White coating on tongue (have had it for years always assumed it was hiv).
- Brown bumps on tip of tongue (always been here but just read recently hiv can do this.
-Moles all over body (even in belly button and on at the top of my butt crack).
-Wart on one of my fingers (only one i've noticed. Doctor wasn't at all concerned.
-Skin tags (i've had them removed).
-Concentrating problems.
-Blisters on bottom of feet in same spot on both sides (came at same time).
- Dermatagraphia
-Big black mark on back of leg between groin/ thigh from scratching. Been here for about two years, won't go away (Kaposi Sarcoma)?
-Two red spots on root of my mouth (just noticed them, fairly small though, don't itch).
-slight sore throat recently (has since went away but not it hurts when I yawn and feels like something is scratching the back of my throat. Doesn't hurt to chew or swallow though).

Now symptoms from when I was a kid that may have been hiv
-I remember having a dry cough after being sick that didn't go away for weeks (maybe months)
- Never being full even after I eat (still happens to this day)
- Dandruff. NONSTOP dandruff which I read is a sign of hiv!
checked it's fine).
- Sharp pains in back (sometimes after eating. Still happens to this day).
- Pain when urinating would occur off and on! Now this just started maybe 5 years ago. Every few months it would hurt (and I mean pain) when I peed for a few days and then would go away. Then it would come back a few months later for a few days then leave again. I could always tell when it was about to start and when it was about to leave. Went to doctors and did lab testing they never found the problem.
- White bumps on my penis under the head (still here, no pain, doesn't itch).
- Dark Black spots on penis head (Still here).
- Skin bumps on penis (I'm assuming is okay, still here).
- Cuts in mouth growing up (at the top, in the gums, could hiv have been the cause)?

Sorry for the super long post but I don't have much more time to waste as you guys can see there is cause for concern with all of these unexplained symptoms! I've gotten tested 3 times now but i'm afraid I waited to long and I'm all out of options. I don't want to do a western blot or a pcr (viral load) I think it's called because I heard those can cause false positives and getting false positives and false negatives is not something I want to confuse myself with. The only thing I can see myself doing is getting a CD4 test at this point but what if I am infected with HIV and my CD4 just hasn't dropped that much after 11 years? I've read that you can go 20-30 (from a lady who got diagnosed in her 14th year with the disease https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/i-hadnt-had-sex-for-over-14-years-362637 I don't want to wait this long!) years with hiv and never know. I don't want to keep worrying about this, what should I do?! Please help this is ruining my life all I do is sleep and when I'm not sleep I'm surfing the web about hiv. I'm sure I probably left some symptoms out but you guys get the gist! This sounds like late stage (or close to it) hiv doesn't it?! I'm only 20 I'm not ready to die over a mistake I made when I was a KID! It would devastate my family! Please, please, please help!
Helpful - 0
3 Comments
No one is going to read those symptoms or much of your gigantic post. You think you got HIV from chewing gum as far as I can tell. Was that your only risk?
Yes that was my only risk. I know the post was long but I’ve had tons of symptoms which only adds to my worries. I know this was a small risk but it was a risk nontheless. If there was infected blood on it, it’s surely possible especially since I was so young (7 or 8) my immune system probably easily latched on to the virus.
It was not a small risk.  It was a non-existent risk.  No one in the 40-year history of HIV has been infected by eating or chewing anything, whether it had blood on or in it or not.  Your immune system did not "latch onto" the virus, because there was no virus to catch.

HIV-infected fluids, once outside of the body, are not infectious, and ingestion or chewing of anything is NOT a method of transmission for HIV.

Do not have unprotected sex with a person of unknown status, and do not share intravenous needles, and you will NEVER have to worry about HIV.  I don't know what is causing your symptoms, but I would suggest that anxiety is a cause of some of them since you clearly have a lot of fear.  They absolutely have nothing to do with HIV or AIDS since you had zero risk.
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