Am I infected from an encounter 9 years ago?

[Anxietyfilled]

About nine and a half years ago, I had unprotected sex with a girl I met on a beach trip in N. Carolina.  I had never had unprotected sex before.  She said that she was on her way to the military, so hope she was tested prior.  I was so paranoid afterwards about catching an STD, especially HIV.  I looked up the symptoms of HIV on the Internet and frequently started checking my glands in my neck to see if they were swelling.  Ironically, seven days after the encounter, they slightly swelled up.  The left gland was a little bigger than the right.  I started feeling my armpits, but was not able to tell if they were swollen or not.  The left side of my face seemed to slightly swell and I could not tell if it was a swollen parotid gland, which I have read could be a symptom of HIV.  I think after another week or so, this all went away.  However, my slightly swollen face seemed to linger, but eventually went away.  I had no other symptoms (no fever, no rash, no sore throat).  Could this have been non acute mono?  I also had a cholesterol test at work and my HDL was a little lower than standard.  I had not fasted beforehand though.  Not sure if that is an early HIV symptom.  Had read that it could be.  I am a healthy fit person. No other symptoms developed over those years until I got a sore on my leg a month ago that turned into cellutlitis w/ possible MRSA (Diagnosed by Emergency Dept) Is that a sign of my immune system weakening?  My WBC was high.  I was put on antibiotics that caused me to break a fever in the middle of the night.  The ER said the cellulitis was probably community related from the gym.  It went away after a couple weeks, but my stress of HIV again seems to cause me to have very minor night sweats.  Armpits and a little on my chest, but this is not consistent.  I lowered the room temperature and seems to have stopped.  I have read that once HIV infected, symptoms can disappear for up to 10 years before progressing to aids.  I am wondering if I am HIV infected and if it is progressing to AIDS.  I get anxiety very easily and feel guilty.  I have a great life and healthy, otherwise.  90% of my sexual encounters are protected.  I wanted to get your thoughts if I’m infected. 

[Jeff G]

The only way to know your HIV status is to test for HIV , not by guessing what symptoms mean .

You say you have protected sex 90 % of the time , this means that you have been engaging in unprotected sex for 9 years and that's a risk . You have had a risk for HIV and will need to test , you can do so at 6 weeks past any possible exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results .

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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.

[Anxietyfilled]

Ok thank you.  I am going to get tested.  After this particular incident, I have had just a couple other unprotected incidents.  I was wondering if any if the symptoms that I mentioned from this particular incident would suggest HIV.  I had minor swollen glands in my neck exactly 8 days after the incident that I think showed up from me poking at them and stress.  They went away within a few days.  I had no other symptoms though .  Would the swollen glands themselves suggest ARS?

[Ann]

After this particular incident, I have had just a couple other unprotected incidents.

Anxiety,

You need to test no sooner than six weeks following your last incident of unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse.

It doesn't matter what you assume about these other people's hiv status, unless you have tested together with them in the context of a mutually monogamous relationship - three months into the relationship being monogamous - then you simply cannot know anything about their true hiv status.

The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.

A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.

Neither symptoms nor the lack of symptoms will ever tell you a single thing about your hiv status. ONLY testing at the appropriate time will.

The ONLY way to know your hiv status is to test - and you do need to test. For you, a test at three months following your LAST incident of unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse - with ANYONE - will be conclusive.

Ann