testing

[secondwind13]

Doctor,

Back ground on me, I'm 51 with  high blood pressure I take benicar 40 MG each day. I've had herpes since my twenties. I have maybe 2 breakouts each year on the back of leg and take Valtrex to controll it when its active.  My total Cholesterol is a low 85 and my HDL is 31.
I had a possible exposure on June 21 with a sex worker in Panama, we had protected vaginal and anal, and unprotected oral sex.
About or around the 16th of July I started feeling bad with a massive headache almost like the start of a herpes outbreak.  Then a couple of nights of bed sweats and a loss of appetite. Then I started reading on the internet about HIV and my mind went wild, my groin and armpit glands on my left side started swelling as I surfed from site to site. My stomach became a mess, and my anxiety went off the chart. a few day later I started getting hot flashes or areas of heat that just moved around from on area to another. I started taking some old clindamycin that I had from an old cold and lots of vitimin C. A few days later my tounge turned  white and started having cracks on the tip. I was totaly convinced that I had it. During this time I didn't have a rash or any measurable fever.
On August 23rd I was at my emotional limit, I found a HIV Specialist and went for a visit. After his exam, he said that my symptoms were non specific, and he didn't feel like I had it. He said it was apparent that my stress level was very high. We did the test using the standard LabCorp abs ICMA after 63 days, and it was negitive. Question: is nine weeks definitive? Is my low cholesterol a factor in my testing window?  My glands have started to return to normal, but my geo tounge and cracks remain

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Glad to hear that all is well. The AST and ALT values you mention are so close to normal as to not be a major worry and are unrelated to the expsoures you describe.  Take care. EWH

[secondwind13]

Thanks doctor EWH

So my low cholesterol is not a factor in my testing window, and at nine week my results are concrete, and there's no need for additional testing. It's amazing the amont of disinformation I've found on this subject via the internet. I just got my other labs back today and my Liver AST was 43 and ALT was 93, all my other tests were in the normal range, so my primary care doc is investigating the cause and my lasting symptoms.  
Thanks again.  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I presume you have posted to verify what you have already been told by the HIV specialist who you have already seen.  If so, I agree.  For starters, your risk for infection is close to zero.  Your vaginal and anal sex was condom protected and therefore safe and the quoted figure for HIV risk, if one has oral sex with an infected partner is less than 1 in 10,000 and, in my estimation that is too high. Some experts state there is no risk at all from oral sex.  Neither of us on this site have ever seen or reading the medical literature of a convincing instance in which HIV was passed by oral sex.  thus some would say that there was not even a need for testing.

You were tested however at nine weeks and at that time your results provided you with clear confirmation that you did not get HIV from the exposures you mentioned.  

As for your symptoms, they are indeed, non-specific and not due to HIV.  If they do trouble you however, you should seek help sorting them out .  I hope my comments are helpful to you.  EWH