Aa
HIV or what?
I've been searching for the result of my symptoms, but doing that has made my life into a nightmare. I've been negitive for hiv twice for almost 3-4 months, but my symptoms of an enlarged left node on my neck, swollen tonsils (especially on my left), persistant oral thrush, tingling, a headache,and i see small red spots (probaly 9) on my body that wasn't there before. Just today, the tingling almost feels like its stopped.
What am I going through? What should I do?
What am I going through? What should I do?
h2oboi531,
Stop obsessing. Negative tests at 4 months means you're fine. It also sounds like you're self diagnosing what you "think" is oral thrush. If you're using an inhaler, the drugs in there may be steroidal based. That can potentially upset the flora in your mouth. GO SEE A DOCTOR and have him make a diagnosis of thrush. Stop guessing. If its truly thrush, its likely being caused by other reasons than HIV. Listen to your test results...not your anxiety.
selle,
You're another obsessor. You absolutely can not rely on symptoms to make a diagnosis of HIV infection. The only sure fire way to know if you've been infected is to get an HIV antibody test at 90 days. As for your question on viral load...viral load is the amount of viral particles inside the body. The higher the viral load, the more HIV particles exist in blood and other infectious body fluids. If an infectious fluid comes in contact with a mucus membrane, there is a possibility of infection even if the mucus membrane is not damaged. Different mucus membranes have different levels of permiability and thickness. For example, anal tissue has greater permiability and has fewer layers of cells lining the tissues as opposed to the mouth or vagina. With fewer epithelial cells lining the rectum, HIV has greater access to the cells it likes to infect. Anal sex can also potentially damage the mucus lining making transmission more likely. The linings of the mouth and vagina are thicker and even if damage occurs, there are more layers of epithelial cells can help protect transmission from happening as often.
If you look at the odds or ratios of infection, you can see this. Anal is the most risky, vaginal sex is next, and oral is last. The mucus layer of the urethra is probably more sturdy than rectal tissue, but the reason why "tops" or insertive partners have less incidents of infection isn't because it can't be transmitted that way (because it can) but because there is less area of exposure combined with less exposure to infectious fluids as opposed to the receptive partner. This is also reflected in statistics.
Risk Levels:
Anal Receptive (Most risky), Vaginal Receptive, Anal Inserted, Vaginal Insertive, Oral Receptive, Oral Insertive (Least risky)
So selle, if a man ejaculates around the area of the anus, it can be considered lower risk because he didn't actually penetrate you. This means less infectious materials inside hitting your mucus membranes. HIV cannot penetrate intact exterior skin. However, there is some potentiality of semen coming in contact with the mucus membranes inside the anal opening if he massages the area after he ejaculates or attempts to finger you. Don't allow him to do this. Just ensure that you clean yourself off properly with soap and water without pushing the semen into you.
Stop obsessing. Negative tests at 4 months means you're fine. It also sounds like you're self diagnosing what you "think" is oral thrush. If you're using an inhaler, the drugs in there may be steroidal based. That can potentially upset the flora in your mouth. GO SEE A DOCTOR and have him make a diagnosis of thrush. Stop guessing. If its truly thrush, its likely being caused by other reasons than HIV. Listen to your test results...not your anxiety.
selle,
You're another obsessor. You absolutely can not rely on symptoms to make a diagnosis of HIV infection. The only sure fire way to know if you've been infected is to get an HIV antibody test at 90 days. As for your question on viral load...viral load is the amount of viral particles inside the body. The higher the viral load, the more HIV particles exist in blood and other infectious body fluids. If an infectious fluid comes in contact with a mucus membrane, there is a possibility of infection even if the mucus membrane is not damaged. Different mucus membranes have different levels of permiability and thickness. For example, anal tissue has greater permiability and has fewer layers of cells lining the tissues as opposed to the mouth or vagina. With fewer epithelial cells lining the rectum, HIV has greater access to the cells it likes to infect. Anal sex can also potentially damage the mucus lining making transmission more likely. The linings of the mouth and vagina are thicker and even if damage occurs, there are more layers of epithelial cells can help protect transmission from happening as often.
If you look at the odds or ratios of infection, you can see this. Anal is the most risky, vaginal sex is next, and oral is last. The mucus layer of the urethra is probably more sturdy than rectal tissue, but the reason why "tops" or insertive partners have less incidents of infection isn't because it can't be transmitted that way (because it can) but because there is less area of exposure combined with less exposure to infectious fluids as opposed to the receptive partner. This is also reflected in statistics.
Risk Levels:
Anal Receptive (Most risky), Vaginal Receptive, Anal Inserted, Vaginal Insertive, Oral Receptive, Oral Insertive (Least risky)
So selle, if a man ejaculates around the area of the anus, it can be considered lower risk because he didn't actually penetrate you. This means less infectious materials inside hitting your mucus membranes. HIV cannot penetrate intact exterior skin. However, there is some potentiality of semen coming in contact with the mucus membranes inside the anal opening if he massages the area after he ejaculates or attempts to finger you. Don't allow him to do this. Just ensure that you clean yourself off properly with soap and water without pushing the semen into you.
iss it true that u cannot rely on sympotoms to indicate an AIDS diagnosis? also, does HIV viral load go down if the virus hits the air? is it high or low risk to get HIV if a man who's infected with HIV ejaculates on the outside of the area surroundign the anus?
I got the negitive just last tuesday, but I think I need to get a test again just to make sure. The oral thrush is really scaring me! I'm not on antibiotics, but I am using an inhaler from shortness of breath that happens ocassionally.
I'm sure that is is oral thrush because of the white lining on the roof on my mouth and checks. I'm going to be taking another test tommorow just to make sure of this craziness!
I'm sure that is is oral thrush because of the white lining on the roof on my mouth and checks. I'm going to be taking another test tommorow just to make sure of this craziness!
Are you on any kinds of antibiotics? Excessive antibiotics or steroids can disrupt the balance of flora in the body and potentially cause yeast infections to bloom...but are you SURE its really oral thrush? People can have white coatings on their tongues and mistake it as thrush. If you have a diagnosis of thrush.. then that's potentially different.
Acute HIV infections do not present with thrush as a symptom. Thrush only occurs after the immune system is considerably compromised. Thrush is found in AIDS patients, not recent HIV infectees. Since you've tested negative twice...its likely not the problem.
Acute HIV infections do not present with thrush as a symptom. Thrush only occurs after the immune system is considerably compromised. Thrush is found in AIDS patients, not recent HIV infectees. Since you've tested negative twice...its likely not the problem.
Yes.. I'd agree. If you're testing negative after 3 or 4 months, you're HIV negative. I wouldn't worry about that anymore. Nearly 99.99% of people seroconvert in the time frame you've given. Go see a doc and have him help you out with other potential causes.. cause you're fine.
Well there are a lot of infections and conditions that can cause your symptoms, other than HIV. If you've tested 3-4 months since your last encounter and they are negative, you can be sure you're negative. I'd suggest seeing an infectious disease specialist to figure out what it is that you do have, or even just a normal GP.
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