swollen glands and more after unprotected sex

[blank65]

Okay. I'm a 25 year old male - scared to death right now.

Two or three weeks ago I had unprotected sex during a one time encounter. She was only the second person I've ever had sex with and the first time I've ever had sex with someone other than my current girlfriend.

About five days ago, I noticed one of the glands on the left side of my neck was a little sore and swollen. The next two days, I woke up with a bit of a headache and that heavy feeling in your eyes. I started noticing a bit of a fever - about 99.5.  Now for the last two days, I have had up to 100.5 with white spots on my left tonsil and some pressure in my left ear.  All the swelling/pressure is on the left side of my head/neck - but there's no pain or soreness in my throat.  The gland is just very big, pretty hard and somewhat painful.

Also - I've noticed a little pressure where my spleen is when I breath deeply.  

I've looked online and found that swollen glands, headache and fever are all a part of the typical acute HIV symptoms. Not only that, but I've read symptoms usually appear two weeks after exposure - which is just about when it started.

The symptoms I don't really have are fatigue, rash, diarreha, loss of appetite and sore throat.

Do ARS symptoms hit hard at once like the flu or gradually come on and get worse like mine?  

I'm not asking for a diagnosis, but how worried should I be?

[LIZZIE LOU]

your 'symptoms" are not indicative of hiv infection.

test to know your status.

[blank65]

Thanks for your response.  I understand what your saying about symptoms - and I am going to get tested.  I do have one more question, though.  

The main hope I have is the fact that my strongest  and most persistent symptoms are all so localized together.  Ache in left ear, swollen left tonsil, swollen glands on left side of my neck. I don't have much anywhere else.  I have read that with ARS swollen glands tend to be much more generalized.   So I'm kinda of getting myself a little convinced that this is just some infection in my tonsil/ear area - not ARS.  

Trust me I'm still going to get tested, but does it make sense?  

[william_h_bonnie]

ARS symptoms, if they appear at all (less than 50% who contract HIV show any symptoms at all), usually come all at once and are nonspecific (you may have a fever, fash, lymphadenopathy or fever, no rash, diarreha or fatigue, malaise, sore throught).  Point being, symptoms are unreliable indicators on gauging whether you have contracted HIV.  Many of these symptoms are caused by more common viruses, such as the flu.

However (a BIG however), you did have an unprotected encounter and put yourself at risks for STDs including HIV.  Get tested outside of the window period (3 months) to know your status.