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Avatar universal

I need your opinion.

I'm a homosexual male in my early thirties. I don’t have much sex, I’m the shy type and I usually have steady partners and I can go for years without one (I have a very demanding job). I usually assume the active role (I do the penetration) and I always wear a condom. I also get tested for everything every year (unless I had no sex that year and it was all work).

This last September I made a mistake though, I had a one night stand with this guy. I gave him unprotected oral and then I let him penetrate me for about 10 seconds with no condom. He didn’t penetrate me fully and it was really brief and if I remember correctly he didnt move much (I’m really not into that role). After that we simply masturbated each other. End of story.

I’ve always been terrified of Hep-B and for some reason I’ve been procrastinating taking the vaccine, really stupid, I know.

Anyway, from that encounter I got so freaked out I took the first vaccine shot next Monday, exactly 2.5 days later. I’ve read on the internet about “postexposure prophylaxis” and apparently I should be safe, some sites claim 3 days after tops, others say 7 and others go as far as 14… however all of them say there’s no guarantee.

But I’ve been having certain symptoms lately and I desperately need an opinion. First my stool looked greasy, not pale though, actually dark brown. I thought I could have caught a parasite (from oral sex) so I took some OTC pills against them (Zentel x 3 days).
Now my stool looks better but lighter, still light brown so I’m trying to no freak out. I’ve been suffering from bloating. My urine doesn’t look dark, maybe amber in the morning and clear yellow the rest of the day.
So, why am I freaking out? Well all this bloating and I’ve been suffering from dry skin on my face and my hands and also from inconsistent itching. I get some mild itch in my arm, I scratch a little and it goes away. Then a few hours later my legs itch, I scratch and it goes away. Am I just suffering from stress?
Also about 10 days ago I got this common cold symtomps, no fever but stuffy nose and ears. My nose is not stuffy anymore but my ears still want to "pop". I also get inconsistent headaches: it hurts for 5 seconds then it disappears.
Ohh, and my appetite. I have been eating less because I don’t feel as hungry as usual. Although my portion size hasn’t decreased, once I start eating I finish it all… so it’s all confusing.
I just need some opinions. I took my second several days ago, I guess I could go get tested but I’m afraid of a false positive because of the recent vaccination.
7 Responses
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Avatar universal
Well I just wanted to make sure I didn't get infected with it during the episode I described, I thought hbsag would give me the answer.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Would you consider wise getting tested in a week or two?
yes it is rare not to respond at second shot, vaccine total non responders are only about 5%

you don thave to check for the surface antigen hbsag, it is totally useless, you have to check only immunity antibody hbsab, that's the only thing that matters for your situation

if you have a chance get hav vaccine too in the future, it never gets cronic but lately it is becoming a sex infection disease in italy since hbv is blocked totally by mandatory vaccine, i don t know US situation but it doesn tbother to be vaccineted for hav too
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Yes, it was all negative last december, that was the last time I got checked for everything (STDs, cholesterol, u name it).
I took the first HBV vaccine shot September 21st and the second one in october (one month later).
Would you consider wise getting tested in a week or two?
Is there any chance the recent vaccination could trigger some hbsag response? I don't wanna risk getting a false positive because I know I will panic.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
if were negative just check for hbsab, ater 4 weeks it might be pos already and you are protected

If my liver was causing my symptoms I would expect alcohol to make things worse, not better....
never be fooled by the liver, it is just like digital signals you see it perfect or you don t see at all, the liver is the same...it is the most important organ of our body in the moment it dosn t work you are close to dye.
i was fooled too about alcool in the past because i could never get complitely drunk whatever vodka whatever the number of vodka bottles.when liver is attacked it has cells dying all the time and new cells generated all the time, so actually a liver with active hbv might perform even better.....only when you are at end stage and close to dye you might feel the difference

but i am sure you have nothing at all, it could have been a thousand things but it was a weak one and it will resolve itself anyway
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi, thanks for your responses.
I know I didnt carry hbv before because I get tested every year for all STDs if I had sex that year. I'm obviously going to get tested again but I'm waiting a little because I know some tests like HIV wont show up if its too soon. My plan was to wait 90 days but I guess I could get tested at 60 days which is only a week away, I could ask for all STDs and the complete hbv markers...
I'm feeling more calm today for several reasons, first of all I feel better. Second of all yesterday was my best friend's BD and I drank some wine and I was able to relax and laugh and today I feel fantastic. If my liver was causing my symptoms I would expect alcohol to make things worse, not better. I'm trying to stay positive and be realistic.... its just hard sometimes at night, I get really scared even though my fear is probably unfounded.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
to have a very clear picture you might check all hbv markers so you will know if it is vaccine, previous cleared infection or if you already had cronic hbv before vaccine without any doubt
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
you can t rely on synthoms since 99% time hepatitis have no synthoms and even if you have there are so many hepatitis viruses that the only way to understand which one is causing liver damage is blood test.
unfortunately there are websites reporting synthoms for hbv which are synthoms so general that it can be anything.....the only synthoms related to liver mulfunction which 99% doesn t happen with hbv, are bilirubin elevation that makes yellow skin and eyes/dark unrine, in this case you know it is some disease or virus in the liver but again it is not hbv can be many.

so in the end only a blood test of the most known heptitis virus hbv-hcv-hav can help, apart from these ones there are many hepatitis viruses as the alphabet and also herpes, mononucleosis, mcv attack the liver.

as regards your fear of a false positive you should test both hbsag antigen and hbsab antibody but how do you know you didn t carry hbv before making vaccine if you didn t check?most of infections are aquired at birth, did your monther check for hbv before delivery?
Helpful - 0
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