Will 1 month use of corticosteroids affect the HIV test?

[travelinbetween]

Hello, I have some questions about HIV test.  I have an oral and vaginal sex with a hooker on June 4, she also licks my anus for a short while and I inserted my finger into her vagina for about 3 seconds. I wore condoms for most of the oral and the whole vaginal sex. two weeks later i had a fever which ran from 101.3 to 102.4，it lasted for 2 weeks and had a 3 day remission after the first 6 days of fever. The fever happened at afternoon and night but not in the morning. On July 3rd, I began to have severe thorat sore and multiple oral ulcerations. the sore and ulceration was so bad that I cant even talk or eat. it lasted 9 days. On June 6th, I began to take some zinc supplement for the ulceration. I had HIV Ab immunofluorescence test on Day 1, 17, 21. 28, 35,42 and 56 after the sex and all came back negative. Today I went online and some people told me the supplement I take might contain corticosteroid and it made me feel good. But it actually will delay the seroonversion and made the test results a false negative. I quit taking it today. I live in China and went to see a HIV specialist here. He told me I was OK and any adult tested negative 6 weeks after exposure is a sure negative and dont need to get further test unless he or she is a drug user or had a major surgery recently .

My question is: If the supplement does contain corticosteroid, and I have used it since 31 day after exposure, will it interfere with my test results? Do I need to repeatedly get tested? Or the 8 week test is conclusive? Do you favor what the Chinese HIV specialist say about the 6 week window period is good for everyone?

[RubyWitch]

You used a condom for the vaginal sex. NO RISK FOR HIV AND NO NEED TO TEST.

Oral sex can be a risk for other STD's and if you haven't been tested for these, I urge you to speak with your doctor about getting tested now.

The use of corticosteroid will not effect the results of your HIV test. The only cases in which there would be a delay in the results are if you have taken PEP, if you are taking medication for Hepatitis C, if you are undergoing treatment for cancer, or if you have a pre-existing immunodeficiency that would have been diagnosed in childhood.

You do NOT have HIV, but strongly suggest you test for STD's if you haven't already.

I wish you the best of luck
RubyWitch  

[travelinbetween]

Thank you rubywitch, never expected an expert would reply to my questions so quickly. I tested syphilis 4 weeks after exposure（tppa＋rpr）and the results came back negative. Right now I have no STD symptoms but I will get tested for other STDs ASAP.

[travelinbetween]

I became so hysterical and suspicious abt getting HIV because of my textbook symptoms. Maybe it is because I am mentally stressed over these past two years from work.

[Sara_MHModerator]

Hi there.  We are sorry you are stressed, however,  you have tested negative and never exposed yourself to HIV with oral sex and/or protected sex.  These are not activities that will lead to HIV.  Therefore, with your question answered that you had no risk, we are going to close this discussion.  We wish you the best.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  Thread Closed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[rocket272rocket]

Hey.. I had the same happen to me five years ago, except i was on a high does Steroid for Eczmea.  My test was negative and I wasted ages worrying about it... Dleayed seroconversion is a little bit of an urban myth, - if you were hooked up to extreme cancer drugs there is a 'theoretical chance', no more.  You are HIV free from the tests you have had. Enjoy!! PS - you cant catch it from Oral! :)

[travelinbetween]

Thanks, rocket272rocket.
The HIV specialist told me the same thing. He told me that the supplement I took will never interfere with the results bcoz it does not contain the amount of corticosteriods needed to fully supress the immune system.
It s just when you became suspicious abt getting HIV, you will be extremely hysterical and doubt everything.