HIV vs Mononucleosis

[nakos87]

I had never had any other sex partners besides my girlfriend whom I've been dating for 2years. 3weeks ago, I had protected sex with a random girl, whom I believe was a stripper.  
I also have this bad habit, after sex, of cleaning my genitals with harsh chemicals: hand wipes/clorox and baby powder.  I had unprotected sex w/ my girlfriend twice after this.
The following day I felt a burning sensation in my urethra. Everytime it burned I felt a warm tingling in my feet. I went to the ER that same night where the doc checked my penis for any bumps and took some urine samples to test for Gonorrhea/Chlamydia. Both Tests were negative, he gave me 1000mgAzithromycin and a shot of 1gCetriaxone just in case. There was absolutely no discharge of any type, before or after being treated. A couple of days later the pain came back with the same warm tingling in my feet, which would also start to sweat after a while.  I returned to the ER, and the doc couldn't find anything and concluded I had Urethritis. He prescribed me with Doxcycline, twice a day for 7 days. This has proven to work so far. I went back to see a local doctor when I noticed dryness and dry skin on the right side of my glans. He prescribed Bactrim and Desoximetasome cream. 2 days after taking bactrim, I noticed a closing of my throat: It feels like when you are about to cry.  I also started having night sweats. My girlfriend, also informed me that she had dry mouth and started to notice white spots in the back of her throat. I also have dry mouth.
We then took hiv tests, and they were both negative. I forgot to mention that one week after my encounter with the other girl I had taken the oraquick test wich was also negative.
The symptoms I currently have are dry mouth, night sweats, fatigue and a closed throat, that goes on and off. I'm scared that the closed throat is a sign of lymph glands swelling up.
I just recently checked symptoms for mononucleosis which strongly resembles hiv symptoms. I need your help!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum. I hope my comments will prove to be helpful to you.  You are over reacting.   Condom protected sex is safe sex.  You have been treated repeatedly for STDs when you have negative tests. In addition, the symptoms you are currently experiencing are not suggestive of HIV or any other STD. They could well be due to the sort of viral sore throat that people get all the time, they could be mononucleosis or they could be a manifestation of guilt and anxiety, which is clearly present.  Any or all of these are far, far more likely than HIV.  

You should see your doctor. There are tests for mononucleosis and he/she could evaluate your other concerns.  In addition, an HIV test 4 weeks after your exposure would detect over 90% of recently acquired HIV infections; further, it would be positive if any of your symptoms were due to HIV at a time one week after the symptom of concern started.

Bottom line, following this no risk, protected exposure to a new partner you have over reacted. You need to stop taking antibiotics and stop worrying.  I hope my comments will help you to do so. EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

It is diffficult for me to determine what the symptoms you describe are due to.  STDs, including HIV are unlikely.  Hepatitis can sometimes cause stool to become lighter in color but little else suggests this.  This coul all be mono.  I would address these concerns with your own doctor, as you have.   EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

These too are non-specific and should not worry you. To try to guess about HIV from symptoms is really a waste of time because the symptoms are so very, very non-specific and because when peole have symptoms which could be due to HIV, there are other things that cause precisely the same symptoms far more often.  If there are concerns, the way to address them is with testing.  EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

About 8-10% of the population has latex allergy which woul be manifest as redness, swelling an irritation occurring very soon (within hours) or latex exposure.  Urethral irriatation might be part of this but to be honest, I doubt from what you say that your irritation was due to latex allergy.

I would worry that the hand wipes, soap and hand sanitizer are more likely to be the origin of your irritation.  I anticicpate that it will continue to improve with the passage of time.  EWH

[nakos87]

Thank you Doctor. Like you advised me I saw my doctor who referred me to a gastroenterologist. Apparently my digestive system has been disrupted by all those antibiotics... So he prescribed me with probiotics and Nexium. (no more throat swelling).
You were right about me overreacting, I found and asked the suspect girl whom I had sex with (protected, 5-6 weeks ago) to come do an HIV testing with me, it was negative for the both of us. Which was a big relief.
However my question is could the condom have been the cause of my urethra burning? Before meeting my girlfriend (2 years ago) I used the same brand of condoms (Blue trojan) and never had this problem. I know I had thoroughly cleaned my penis(with hand wipes sanitizer, soap and  baby powder) Could that have been the cause of this irritation? All my test came out negative. I don't have any symptoms anymore aside from tiny discoloration on my glan (tiny dark spots, slowly fading away). Should I worry about those?
I have not had sex with anyone since then, but I am planning on being back with my girlfriend, is it safe for us to have sex now?
Thank you Doctor for advising me, you have been a Great Help.

[nakos87]

Hello Dr, Thank you for your previous responses. Since the last time we spoke, my concern was swollen throat and yellow stool. I have been using the desoximetasone 0.25 cream for my penis irritation. My throat closing, goes on and off.  It stopped for about 2 days, however, after a late night drink (alcohol), it went on to swell again. This time, I could see my pulse beating really hard,on the right side of my neck, it hurt a little too. The next day the swelling went on for the whole day. And I felt tensed. I stopped applying the desoximetasone cream 3 days ago and this seems to have dramatically reduce the swelling. ( I still have some mild swelling and neck pain, but nothing as close as what it used to be). I however went back to my doctor for a general check up and blood work. He also took an ECG. The results came in and he told me that everything was normal, including my liver. The only concern was my LDL being a little high and vitamin D low. He told me to go get Vitamin D supplemts (2000 UI).
Also after stopping the desoximetasone cream, I urinated a lot at night.
As for my Yellow stool, I started eating pro biotic plain yogurt. This seems to work sometimes as my stool regains a darker normal color but goes back to yellow after a while.
My questions are: is the desoximetasone cream related to the symptoms I'm experiencing or is there something else that I should worry about? What about the yellow stool? Please let me know what you think.

[nakos87]

Thank you Doctor for your quick response. I feel relieved already. But what about my girlfriends  dry mouth and white spots on her throat?