the worried well... i hope :)

[morpheus]

Hi All,

i found the forum trawling through google, searching for symptoms.. as you do.

i will try not to take much of your time. my case is.

protected sex with a prostitute, i do not remember checking if the condom was intact but i am assuming it was as i did not feel it break, this was on the 3rd of nov 13, then on 22/12/13 i found a rash on my trunk which i dismissed as a bug bite, but soon it started to burn and i looked at other parts and i saw 2 more areas on the trunk. wen to the doctor straightaway and was diagnosed with shingles, i have never had had chickenpox when i was young. so now i am worried been on antivirals for last 6 days but all of a sudden now i have a sore throat and enlarged glands in the groin and neck and underarm, all on the left hand side where the rash is. i was reading up and evrywhere it mentions shingles is a sign of HIV. i am pretty worried now. though i did test negative around 8 months ago. would just need your valued opinion/advise.

cheers
MM

[Ann]

Morph,

Anyone can get shingles, you don't have to be hiv positive. You may have had a very mild case of chicken pox when you were little, but it went unnoticed or your family is remembering things wrong. If you haven't asked your family about your chicken pox history, you may have been too young to remember it on your own.

It's rare that a child escaped the dread chicken pox before the vaccine. In fact for a while (pre-vaccine) it was a trend to purposely expose toddlers to chicken pox so they could get the inevitable over with before they started school.

If you continue to feel unwell, go back to your doctor. It's possible to get a localised bacterial infection in the shingle rash and that can make the flu-like symptoms worse. It could also be that you just have a coincidental bug - but that bug isn't hiv.

Why not hiv? Because you did NOT have a risk for hiv infection. If your condom had broken, you WOULD have noticed.

Condoms have been proven to prevent hiv infection. There have been three long-term studies of couples where one is positive and one is negative. In the couples who used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, but no barrier for oral activities, not one of the negative partners became infected with hiv. Not one.

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 FOR HIV SPECIFICALLY OVER PROTECTED INTERCOURSE, 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.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!

Ann

[morpheus]

thanks Ann,

appreciate your response, would you still suggest having a test though.

cheers
m

[Ann]

Morph,

If you are not in the habit of regular hiv testing, including a full STI panel, then yes, you should test. Every sexually active adult should be testing at least once a year or more often if you're very active outside a monogamous relationship where you've both tested together. It's what responsible adults do to protect their health and the health of their partners.

If you've always used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse you can fully expect your hiv test to come back negative. Other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs are another matter.

Ann