POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: jeff01 on November 29, 2006, 01:23:16 pm
-
firstly i would like to congratulate everyone involved with this website and what a wonderfull job you are doing.
Right onto my predicament. Three weeks ago I was away on a stag weekend abroad and ended up having protected vaginal and oral sex with a prostitute. The next day I looked at my scrotum and noticed I had two small cuts on them (each less than 1cm in width) as you can probably guess this got my worrying about STDs and hiv in particular. On my return to the UK a couple of days later I noticed I had a white tongue and still do, other symptoms include loose stools ongoing for two weeks now, a couple of nights of cold sweats(no fever) and some very small white spots on my lips(these could of been there for years and I have just not noticed them).
Obviously I have now spent far to much time on the internet trying to self diagnose and I am now freaking out - I plan to be tested 6 weeks after the exposure but I guess what I am asking is should I be worried!?!?!?!
thank you in advanced
-
You never had a risk and there is no need to test. Your symptoms have nothing to do with HIV. See a doctor for your symptoms, they are unrelated to hiv.
-
As Rod has told you, you weren't at risk for HIV in this incident.
If you haven't already read the lesson on this site about Transmission, please check it out. You can find a link to it in the Welcome thread which opens this section.
For future reference, neither the presence nor the absence of symptoms is ever the way to know your HIV status. Only an HIV specific test can give you that answer. In this case you have no need for testing since you weren't at risk.
In general we do recommend that anyone who's sexually active ought to have a full STD panel annually and more frequently if there is a risky incident.
If your symptoms persist you should discuss them with your doctor. This is not an HIV situation.
Cheers,
-
thank you both for your response much appreciated. one quick question about the whole white tongue thing (this is the main thing that freaked me out) when people/website say getting thrush or ohl is a first sign of hiv i take it 4 days would be far to soon?
-
Thrush is not a first sign of HIV, nor is specifically related to HIV. Anyone can get thrush, babies, adolescents, adults and the elderly.
-
jeff,
Not only is thrush no indicator of hiv, a white tongue is also not a reliable indicator of thrush. Many things can cause your tongue to appear white. Only your doctor can diagnose thrush - and even then a definite thrush diagnosis can only be had by swabbing the area and running tests on the swab. If you're worried about your tongue, don't assume it's thrush, see your doctor.
You didn't have a risk of hiv infection.
Ann
-
thank you all for your kind words of wisdom. just out of interest why wouldn't i be at risk if i had a couple of cuts/sores on my scrotum and had protected sex? surly the vaginal fluids and the hiv virus could of entered through them?
-
please see my message above could someone please explain. this is just my one last doubt i have...
-
Jeff it appears you had a very low risk exposure. I have also been through this. I have been looking into this alot and it appears that people who experience symptoms after an unsure exposure can develop some of the symtpoms you are listing. It appears that intense anxiety reactiuons can actually impact the immune system. There is something called chronic fatigue syndrome which comes out of this. I have experienced alot of anxiety as well so I can relate. The best thing for someone with anxiety is to be tested so you can put itout of your mind
-
Also you should see your doctor . If you do have thrush they can give meds to clear it up. This happened to me and I also freaked ou about it.
-
dj8 what you say rings oh so true and I will be getting tested at six weeks. after what i have read on this board i am now not too worried about my symptoms as it must of been said a million times that you can not diagnose hiv through symptoms. what i am curious about is that if i had protected vaginal sex and i had a couple of small cuts/sores on my scrotum how comes i am not exposed to HIV if the lady did indeed have HIV?
-
Jeff in order for this to have occurred the virus would be outside the vagina so it would be very hard for it to survive. Even a male whom has unprtected sex with someone with hiv there is around a 1 in 1000 chance of infection. I would not be worried in your shoes. However I do think you should pursue the other symptoms you are experiencing.
-
Jeff also everyone has said that you will not experience symptoms within such a short period. The same exact thing happened to me. I experienced thrush after two or three days. Then I went and had a viral load test done at the eight day mark which was normal. Apparently those people who are experiencing symp[toms have a very high viral load count in the beginning.
-
dj8, please keep all your comments and thoughts in your own thread.
-
rapidrod could you answer the question as to why i wouldn't of been exposed thanks
-
For one, you would have to have an OPEN fresh cut, not a little scratch. People that think they've had an exposure other than HealthCare workers are not a any risk for contracting HIV in that manner. Since 1984, there have only been 57 cases of HIV transmissions in the healthcare field in the United States. These are cases that have had direct contact with HIV from lacerations from bones, test tube bursting, needle injections directly into a vein and a few other exposures. Out of the millions of people being treated for HIV and Aids in United States each year, you can see that transmission in this manner is very very low and this is in a HealthCare setting.
-
thanks rapidrod i think it was two fresh cuts/sores does this change things as vaginal fluids could of got in or are the chances still very very remote as i had protected sex?
-
It's beyond remote. It's zero....
-
rapidrod thank you very much i thought as much I just wanted clarification i suppose. The mind can play some funny tricks on you hey!!!
-
sorry got myself all worried again(i promissed myself i wouldn't!!). so what you are saying is that if i had a couple of open cuts/sores on my scrotum while having protected sex there is no way that i could catch HIV through these sore/cuts from the vaginal fluids?
-
Jeff unless you had a laceration that would let your balls fall out of your bag, you didn't have a remote risk.