ARS like symptoms...do I need to test...I am very worried, please help.

[lsng]

During massage from a female masseur of unknown HIV status, I had handjob, fingered her vagina and played with her nipples. The vagina was wet and her nipples seemed wet too (maybe some secretions). She was not menstruating. She mentioned she has never been a mother. I did not have any other form of sex. My fingers had no sores, wounds and no protruding nails. These are the symptoms I have had post this exposure.

Day 8-10 - Started feeling slightly unwell, as if a flu may come. During this period slept 3-4 hrs per night due to work. Work was indoors in controlled temperatures
Day 11-13 - The feeling of unwell increased but during this period I was out in the sun and heat for long days and did not get sleep for more than 3 hrs because of work
Day 14-19 - Had fever and sore throat. Runny nose followed by Stuffy nose, watery eyes, plegm always seeming to be caught up in throat or getting produced, hoarse voice and for couple of days the side of the neck on both sides had pain, but nothing appeared swollen. No body ache or headache. Also my tongue got painted white and for 2-3 days there was slight irritation on tongue and inside of cheeks when eating warm or spicy food. Started taking Vitamin B-complex tablets.
Day 20 - 27 - Sore throat subsided enormously but still not fully cured. No fever. White tongue still persists. Irritation from hot/spicy food gone.
Day 26-Got a single small bump/boil on the upper back just below left shoulder which was painful.
Day 27 - The bump became painful and red (is it a rash?)
Day 28 - The bump subsided in size (though not fully gone) and pain subsided. White tongue getting better. Feeling slightly dizzy. Feeling hungry.

During this entire period, appetite, bowel movements have been normal. Woke up twice every night for urination.

I am extremely worried. All literature that I have read point to fingering being a negligible risk - with the only possibility of exchange when there is a deep wound or sore in the finger. And most resources do not advise testing for a fingering only exposure.
But my symptoms are pretty much in sync with HIV ARS symptoms. What should I do. Please help. If there is indeed no need to test, I would rather not test.

[Chima7]

If you disagree with the correct advice that has been given then instead of continuing to argue about it, go ahead and get yourself tested for this no risk event and collect your inevitably negative results. Nobody is stopping you from going for a test. They are just explaining to you that in your case, because you didn't have any risk, that a test isn't necessary.

[lsng]

Thanks malbat, this is reassuring. Also can I request opinion from other experts, teak, lizzielou and others please. Can doctors in this forum also help.

[Simno111]

Mate youre fine

You cannot get hiv from what you did

If you want to 100 proof take a test
But that test will come out negative

[lsng]

Thanks Simno111. Appreciate your response. What worries me is the case which was reported by CDC about lesbians contracting HIV in early 2014. The understanding was that there was no chance of contracting HIV in a lesbian serodiscordant couple scenario for the negative partner - but it happened. Also I see that for unprotected oral sex, almost all the responses say, there is no need to be worried - but CDC claims its a viable path with low risk. There is a difference between low risk and no risk. Similarly, there is a difference between negligible risk (as in the case of fingering, as stated by CDC) and no risk. So I am deeply worried and confused. Why is there so much confidence in most forums about fingering being a no-test-requiring event. Please help.

[malbat]

The case you was quote was first done in 2012 and then resurfaced in 2014. Reported to cdc, yes, proven and verified,no. If it was a real risk, we'll have millions of lesbians being infected.

The CDC says low risk as there are no absolutes in medical science. They're just covering their back. There has not one case in the 30- year history of hiv that a person has been infected by oral likewise your fingering case, no has returned to say they have been infected by fingering.

Okay, we've given you the facts, what you decide to do with this information is up to you.  I'm not going to argue nor debate with you regarding terminology and stuff. Your questions are anxiety driven. Best you address that.

If you are still not convinced, by all means, please test. I believe I have nothing more to add. Be well.

[malbat]

You had no risk with the activities you describe and don't need to test. No one has turned up positive through fingering.  Your symptoms are definitely not hiv as you had no risk to begin with. Looks like you caught the flu. I suspect the other symptoms are added on by anxiety. Get a doctor to look at you, but you can count out hiv.

[lsng]

Thanks for the reassurance. This definitely helps. But I am still confused by the kind of symptoms I have seen. I have had flu and common cold many times before, but this episode was unlike any. I never got the kind of sore throat I got this time. Nor did my sore throat which was moderately bad and persistent over many days coincide with any body ache and any kind of malaise which confines one to bed. The Oral thrush is unlike any I have had before. I generally never get rashes. But this boil like rash I got on my upper back, below my left shoulder worries me.
Below the nails on fingers, isnt there a mucous membrane where fluid exchange could happen. During fingering the vaginal fluids come in contact when the finger is inside the vagina, so the virus is not exposed to the environment and can be active and alive and might seep through the gaps between the nails and the membrane holding them? Request thoughts from all experts in this community.

[malbat]

Hiv is a very fragile virus and is difficult to transmit. It doesn't seep through the crevices and gaps to infect you. The skin on the finger is actually quite thick and any inflamed cuticles are sealed from the inside out almost immediately sealing off any entry. Furthermore your finger doesn't have the specific cells that hiv targets to infect, unlike your urethra. Now put all these info together. You did not have a risk through fingering at all.

Sorry, we don't discuss symptoms. Symptoms vary from one person to the other(if infected). Some don't show symptoms at all. Oral thrush has to be lab tested, many people mistake it with white coated tongue. Anyways oral thrush is not hiv specific, even babies have it. Again, my advise is to get a doctor to treat your ailments. They're not hiv. Be well.