POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: impossible on November 21, 2011, 02:17:48 pm
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Hi everyone,
Let me firt thank you all for the great work you do here. This forum has really been a salvation in this trying times. Also, forgive my English; it’s not my mother tongue.
Well, let’s begin. After years of momogamy, I had intercourse with a CSW in a kind of “bachelor party”. I’m not married but I’m going to have a child. Unfortunately I was drunk and had consumed cocaine, so when I finished I remember almost nothing of the episode. Just a image having a hard time penetrating the woman, one fingering her while she is lying with her legs open. I don’t remember puting a condom; i do remember she asked me to get a shower. Also, there was cocaine involved. That was around 5 weeks ago, and, as you could imagine, with the baby and all I’m having a very hard time. Anxiety sometimes is overwhelming. As is guilt.
My question is not about me, as I’m pretty sure of my status because I can’t believe all that is going with my body has nothing to do with it (night sweats, headaches every afternoon, mild pain in lower back and hand fingers, red patches and white stuff in my tongue, and one night horrible bad taste and continuous coughing, oral sores, I wake up at night tingling all over, irritability, lack of appetite..etc). my question is about my partner.
Since the regretful episode we haven’t had sex of any kind. I made my homework and saw that that was all we need to be 100% safe. But since then, she’s got oral sores and herpes In her lips. That has worried me a lot. One time I kissed her open-mouthed and we shared water bottles a lot of times. Take note that my tongue has lessions and you can see little blood in it. And that I have oral sores. My question is: is there any possibility, however remote, that anybody can get HIV without having unprotected sex? Not even with a slight bloody fissures in the tongue? Not with a viral high load?
Thank you all. Thanks for your wisdom and compassion.
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Kissing, fingering and drinking after someone that is HIV positive is not a risk of HIV transmission.
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The only CONFIRMED risks for the sexual transmission of HIV are unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse. None of the activities you have reported were risky.
There is nothing in any way HIV specific about your "symptoms." Discuss them with your doctor.
HIV is never something to guess about. If you think there is any chance that you had unprotected intercourse then get tested. You can do that initially at 6 weeks. A negative at that point is unlikely to change at 3 months. From what you have described it doesn't sound likely that you had intercourse, but you have to decide about testing or not.
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Thanks for the response. I'll relax concerning my girlfriend. Regarding myself, unfortunately, i couldn't say if i was able to have vaginal intercourse. As Andy says, i won't take any chances and i'll get tested. I'll try to avoid thinking in the "symptoms", even being quite terrorifing. I suppose going through this overwhelming anxiety could account for them.
Thanks for your time. I'll keep you posted.
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Sounds like a good plan. Your partner should discuss her symptoms with her doctor. There certainly is nothing HIV specific in her symptoms. And of course pregnancy can itself bring on all sorts of physical "stuff."
Given what you have reported I expect you to come out of this ok.
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Yea, it's a good plan. But quite impossible to follow.
I can forget all symptoms but the tongue thing. It resembles so much erythematous candidiasis.
Well, i'll try to do my best.
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Imp,
Stop trying to diagnose yourself. If you're worried about your tongue, you need to consult a doctor or dentist about it, not photos on the internet.
You haven't had a risk for hiv infection.
Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together.
To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST SPECIFICALLY OVER ANY OF THE ACTIVITIES YOU BRING TO US, anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.
If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results.
Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
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Sorry, Ann. It's quite hard to avoid the temptation.
On the other hand, my problem is just that. I don't know if there was vaginal intercourse and,, if that was the case, if it was protected. I just remember a couple of images ( the two described before and one if the CSW giving me oral sex )
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Imp,
When in doubt, test. The earliest you should test is at six weeks, as the vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by this time. A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.
Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus and more so from a woman to a man. If unprotected vaginal intercourse did occur, you would not be very likely to have been infected from a one-off incident. I would not expect you to test positive.
Ann
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Hi everybody.
Yesterday i went to a unit specialised in STD and get a full panel of tests, including HIV. The nurse was very much like the experts of the forums : "No symptoms". :) She refused even to take a look at my horrible tongue. She told me that in almost twenty years of profession she has seen stress do a lot of things on the minds and bodies of people. I told her my history and she just told me that i have all in my favor.
I think just the contrary. I'd consider a miracle a negative result. My tongue is horrible, i have bad taste in my mouth, me legs and ankles are tingling all the time, i have a sore throat that i have to clear continuously.
Anyway, wish me luck. I'll keep you posted-
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OK. Good luck with your test result.
And not incidentally, nothing you are reporting is in any way HIV specific.
Cheers.
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Very good news. Antibodies HIV1/2 + antigen P24 negative. The test was done at five weeks and 4 days and the nurse said that it's very unlikely that the result changes. However, i have an appoitment to repeat the test at the 3 month mark.
I have to akdnowlege your wisdom in regards the symptomps. I was absolutely convinced i was to test positive. All i have gone through during this month and a half seemed imposible to explain. As Ann says, extreme stress can make a number on you.
Thank you for all. You've been a great support. I'll let you know when i get the result of my 3-month test.
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That's great about your negative result. And I do expect you to continue to test negative at 3 months.
Cheers.
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Hi all again,
Today I just noticed two purple points in my feet big toe. I've made an appointment with my doctor tomorrow, but, as you can imagine, i'm freaking out.
Is it possible to have karposi'a sarcoma lessions just seven weeks after infection? It's incredible. They aren't painful and are tender.
Thanks for your time
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NO.
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It's good that you are having that checked out mainly for your peace of mind. And no, those would not be KS.
Period.
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Hello again,
you were right, those patches were not KS lessions; just some scars that the dermatologist took off with a knife. But he said they were quite similar.
But now i begin to have little but noticiable pains in various places of my body ( ankles, feet, calves, wrist, chest and fingers ). They come and go and last seconds. As you imagine, they have me quite worried. In fact, they have me convinced they are related to HIV, as I don't remember having anything like that in my life.
And this is my question. Given the importance of catching early the infection, do you recommend testing now ( 7 weeks and 4 days ) or waiting till the 3 month mark?
Thanks and sorry for my insistence.
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No, I don't recommend your re-testing now. With your previous negative at nearly 6 weeks it is likely you are going to test negative at 3 months. And it's the 3 months negative that will be conclusive.
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Thanks for the advice. I'll try to avoid thinking in the symptoms ( as long as they are not important enough to go to the doctor, off course) and be patient.
This christmas will be quite a especial one ;D
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Just keep going. I expect you to come out of this ok. Really.
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Hello again, an update in my situation.
Last week my mouth began to hurt at times and I went to the doctor. He has diagnosed thrush; he made no test, just observing. He gave me oral suspension Nystatin. I've been one week taking it and, frankly, it's been of no use. Anyway, he told me not to freak out; that most probably cause i got it would be because of a course of antibiotics i had taken before all this began. Anyway, once there, i got tested again and it came back negative again ( again a Combi 4 generation test ). He is confident that if the thrush has anything to do with HIV, given that i have it around 7 weeks, the tests would have come positive.
My other symptoms ( the pains, the tinglings, the burning skin, the headaches ) are still with me, but the doctor is not too worried. As in the case of thrush, if these symptoms had anything to do with HIV i would have seen a positive test by now.
I try not to think of them to the best of my ability. I really looking forward to the 12 week mark to end this exhausting uncertaity.
Merry christmas and happy new year to you all.
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Imp,
If the Nystatin isn't doing anything, it means you do not have thrush. Nystatin is great stuff and a person suffering from thrush will normally see an improvement within a day after starting the treatment.
Thrush can often be an incorrect diagnosis. The only way to actually diagnose thrush is to have the area scraped and the scrapings tested. Otherwise, it's just guesswork. People often have odd coatings on their tongue due to diet or even stress and this coating can easily be mistaken for thrush, and even doctors can make this mistake.
One thing your doctor did get right is the fact that if your symptoms had anything to do with hiv, you would have tested positive by now. They symptoms that sometimes accompany seroconversion are not due to the virus itself. They are due to the process the body goes through while producing antibodies.
I fully expect you to continue to test negative, so relax and enjoy the holiday.
Ann
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Very good news. I just got my negative. It's been 1 and a half day shy of twelve weeks from the episode of unprotected sex. It should be enough to put behind me these terrible months and take care of my pregnant partner and, in two months, my daughter. I will take some time to recover, that's for sure. I will have some emotinal scar that hopefully will heal with time.
Thanks to all who have responded to me. These litte words you have interchanged with me have been enormously helpfull.
I also send my words of encouragment to all people living with HIV.
Again, i'm tremendously grateful to you all.
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That's happy news about your conclusive negative result.
OK now to get on with your life and the challenges and pleasures of parenthood.
Cheers.
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Yes, I'm still worried. Basically about my tongue and my throat.
Two weeks of fluconazol 100 mg and oral nystatin have done nothing to my tongue. And now I have a sore throat, mostly when I swallow saliva and i'm scared my oral thrush has spread to my throat.
Besdes, I still have headaches and a cough a lot and pain in ky chest.
When my doctor saw my tongue, suggested an HIV test and when I showed him the negative just gave me fluconazol and nystatin.
I don't know what to do. Any idea?
Thanks. I'll try not to be a bore.
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You don't have an HIV concern.
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Nothing to worry, then? The cough, the throat, the tongue?
It's been three months with these horribe tongue. The strangeness of it all just doesn't leave me alone.
I'd love to be as sure as you are. really.
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Nothing to worry, then? The cough, the throat, the tongue?
It's been three months with these horribe tongue. The strangeness of it all just doesn't leave me alone.
I'd love to be as sure as you are. really.
You do not have HIV.
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Again, thanks.
I'll have to look for another causes for my illments. But all seems too suspicious, IMHO. I'm really not myself.
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Hi all, I just come from my regular doctor. She's stumped that i have that white tongue with depapillated areas for almost three months and afer two weeks of treatment. I asked her if it could be geographical tongue, but she said that, based on its appearance, it is unlilely. She checked that I don't have thrush in my throat. She sent me to the dermatologist.
I really don't know what to think or do.
Should I made an appoimtment with a ID doctor?
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Imp,
As I told you back in December (reply #21), if you had oral thrush, the meds you were given would have cleared it up. A dentist might have a better idea what's going on with your tongue than a dermatologist. I find it a bit odd that not only did your doctor not attempt to diagnose your white tongue with a sample (rather than just visual exam), but then referred you to dermatologist rather than a dentist.
You are conclusively hiv negative. You do not have hiv. Whatever is going on has nothing to do with hiv.
If you read the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) before posting like you're supposed to, you will have read the following posting guideline:
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
Please consider yourself warned!
Ann