Hello,
I participated in a single high risk HIV activity on May 10th of this year. After a night of drinking, I went home and engaged in protective anal sex with another male. A condom was used that night, but I did wake up the next morning to him penetrating me unprotected. As soon as I realized what was happening, I stopped him. I do believe that this as accidental on his part and he meant no ill will by it. Looking back, I don't know the degree of penetration, but I do think it happened.
After this incident, I thought nothing of it and went on with my life until I became ill about 4 months after that night. Being a recent college graduate with no health insurance, I decided to go online and research my symptoms because I honestly didn't think I was sick enough to go to the doctor. Unfortunately, my phobia with HIV started at this time. At 5 weeks, I went and got tested and it came back negative. A week later, I was still sick and decided to go to the doctors. I told him my concerns with HIV and he saw nothing that would indicate an HIV infection. After several blood tests and an x-ray, he diagnosed me with walking pneumonia. Still terrified about the possibility of HIV, I requested another HIV test. It was a antibody blood test that came back negative as well. My doctor assured me that I was worrying too much and I was not showing any real sign of HIV. He told me chances were good that if I was experiencing something as severe and walking pneumonia due to the HIV virus so early in the infection, it would surely show up on my blood results. With a negative result, he said I should ease my fears.
Not fully satisfied with his assurance, I stupidly decided to continue to go online and research HIV. I completely lost my appetite at this point and stopped eating for nearly three weeks. I lost around 13 pounds and just shut down mentally. Finally, I decided to call the guy I had hooked up with because we had remained friends after that night. He told me that he has been tested in mid April and that he was hiv-. I told him what was going on, and he immediately tested again. He tested earlier this month and it came back negative. He has assured my through this whole process that I have nothing to worry about. He had not had sex between his April testing and his night with me, and he not a habitual 'hook-up' guy. At this point, I felt at ease with the whole situation.
The health department called me back this week to give me my syphilis results and they came back negative. I told her my situation with my negative test results and the other guys negative results, and she said that all I can do is come back at the 6 month mark for conclusive results. At this point, I am 10 weeks out and planned on going in and getting tested at 3 months, but she told me that I really didn't have to and I should wait untll the 6 month mark. She basically said that 3 month testing is not conclusive. I still plan on going back at the 3 month mark, but I want to know if I can be assured with those results if they came back negative. I was really hoping that I could count on the 3 month test is conclusive, but she definitely put a lot of doubt it my mind.
What I want to know is should I be confident in a negative test result at 3 months? Is contracting walking pneumonia common in very early HIV infections normal, and is the fact that I did contract it during the window period increase my chances of actually having the infection? Is my doctor correct in his logic that my blood work should detect the HIV (or antiobodies) if HIV was the cause of my pneumonia? When I think the situation out logically in my head, I know that my chances of having HIV is minimal, but there is still the nagging doubt in the back of my head. Everyone around me is telling me that I really have nothing to worry about, but it just can't let it go. I just want some closure on this.
Thank you for your advice.