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HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: extremelyworried12 on January 18, 2012, 07:58:02 pm

Title: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 18, 2012, 07:58:02 pm
Hello,

           I had unprotected sex with a guy on 11/4/11. 25 days later I tested for all stds including HIV.All were negative. On 12/13/11 I felt ill and was diagnosed with pharingytis/strep. I was given amoxicillain. While on the med. I got a yeast infection and white tongue. Through the whole ordeal I had no fever but chills and two days of night sweats. I tested at 7weeks with ELISA test. It was negative. I'm feeling weak and not myself. So I went back at 9.5 weeks and took rapid test using blood. Again negative. I'm going at 12 weeks for conclusive test, is it possible for my resultsto change to positive? Where my symptoms HIV related? I know the only way to know is to test, but I'm really worried!!!!
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: jkinatl2 on January 18, 2012, 08:21:40 pm
I'm sorry you are worried, and that you've been ill.

A test at 7 weeks very rarely changes from negative to positive. You are very likely HIV negative - but as you noted, only a test at three months is considered definitive.


Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 18, 2012, 11:29:22 pm
I really hope im negative, it's a been almost a whole month that ive been sick. But the weird thing is that some of my symptoms come one at a time. Do ARS symptoms come all at one or one right after another???
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 19, 2012, 03:50:54 am
I really hope im negative, it's a been almost a whole month that ive been sick. But the weird thing is that some of my symptoms come one at a time. Do ARS symptoms come all at one or one right after another???
If one has ARS, the symptoms come 2-4 weeks post infection last 1-2 weeks and they are gone just like they came all at once.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 19, 2012, 08:35:15 am
ex,

You really need to learn from this experience and stop having unprotected intercourse. While you are highly unlikely to go on to test positive after the negative results you've had so far, next time you might not be so lucky.

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.

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. Many of these infections can be present with no obvious symptoms (gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis for example) so the only way to know 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
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 19, 2012, 11:44:44 am
Can i test at 84 days, or is 90 days the magic number?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 19, 2012, 11:48:30 am
Can i test at 84 days, or is 90 days the magic number?
Either will be conclusive.
Title: Re: someone please help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 19, 2012, 01:08:57 pm
Thanks!!!!  :)
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 20, 2012, 03:07:57 pm
Hey all,

               Well I tested yesterday which was 11 weeks, and it was negative. It was a rapid test. Is this conclusive, I'm a week early from 12 weeks?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 20, 2012, 04:32:51 pm
Reread what you were told.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 21, 2012, 06:58:06 am
ex,

An eleven week negative result is not going to change. You only need to test again if you need that official conclusive three month negative in order to move on.

You do NOT have hiv. Please protect your negative hiv status in future by making sure condoms are used for anal or vaginal intercourse.

Ann
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 23, 2012, 05:14:51 pm
Hi again,

                Im sorry again for bugging, but I'm worried since I was the recieving partner. My appt. For 12 weeks (84) days is this Thursday. You all have gave me some comfort that my previous results should not change. I know this forum is for HIV/AIDS only, but I saw a post that syphilis takes awhile to show up on a test like HIV. I tested for syphilis at 25 days post exposure. My question is when I go for my final HIV test should I retest for syphilis? I'm just having symptoms that closely resemble HIV and syphilis. But since my 11 week HIV test was negative, now I'm confused what it could be.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 23, 2012, 05:23:41 pm
Hi again,

                Im sorry again for bugging, but I'm worried since I was the recieving partner. My appt. For 12 weeks (84) days is this Thursday. You all have gave me some comfort that my previous results should not change. I know this forum is for HIV/AIDS only, but I saw a post that syphilis takes awhile to show up on a test like HIV. I tested for syphilis at 25 days post exposure. My question is when I go for my final HIV test should I retest for syphilis? I'm just having symptoms that closely resemble HIV and syphilis. But since my 11 week HIV test was negative, now I'm confused what it could be.
ARS symptoms if one has them come on 2-4 weeks post exposure and last 1-2 weeks so you are not having symptoms related to HIV.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 24, 2012, 01:34:37 am
I feel so afraid :'(
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 24, 2012, 01:42:24 am
I feel so afraid :'(
You should have thought about that before having unprotected sex. No one other than you can protect your health.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 24, 2012, 09:34:03 am
ex,

Yes, you can re-test for syphilis when you re-test for hiv. Syphilis shares a three month testing window period with hiv.

I do not expect your negative hiv test to change.

Ann
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 25, 2012, 04:24:08 pm
Hello again,
              Well tomorrow is my 12 week test, an I was wondering if I'm on antibiotics right now, will this affect my results? I know everyone has said my results would not change , i just need this test for piece of mind. I will keep you all posted!!!
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 25, 2012, 04:38:04 pm
Hello again,
              Well tomorrow is my 12 week test, an I was wondering if I'm on antibiotics right now, will this affect my results? I know everyone has said my results would not change , i just need this test for piece of mind. I will keep you all posted!!!
Antibiotics are for bacterial infections not viral infections. No antibiotics will no affect the results of your test.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 25, 2012, 04:38:04 pm
Ex,

An antibiotic will have no effect on your test result whatsoever. NONE.

Ann
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 26, 2012, 12:19:07 am
Ann, RapidRod, Andy, somebody,

                Is rapid oraquick HIV 1/2 ab finger prick test just as good as ELISA HIV 1/2 an test?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 26, 2012, 12:29:10 am
They are ELISA tests they just don't need an analyzer to process the test.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 26, 2012, 12:56:36 am
So both are pretty accurate then?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 26, 2012, 01:33:00 am
Very.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Andy Velez on January 26, 2012, 08:15:39 am
We understand that you're anxious. That's understandable. But we do expect you to come out of this ok.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 27, 2012, 12:12:37 am
Hello to all,

                  Well tomorrow is the big day (85), I would just like to thank everyone who has responded to my questions. This is a great forum. As I look back to the day I made that huge mistake, it made me realize how precious life really is. Nothing means more than ones health. I just hope God will give me this one chance at life again. For the past 3 months I've been living as if i was dead already. I still don't feel well, everything seems to hurt, I just hope its anxiety. I hope that I'm not that few percent that turns postive at the last minute. I will post my results, thank you all for everything!!!     
               
                                                                         <3!!!!!
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 28, 2012, 11:55:23 am
Has anyone that's posted on this forum seen a negative 11 week test turn positive at 12 weeks? I'm really worried why I'm so sick, antibiotics aren't working so i must have a virus. Doctors can't find out what's wrong with me. Is it possible to seroconvert for six weeks?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 29, 2012, 05:08:38 am
ex,

If you were seroconverting for six weeks, you would have tested positive by now. You didn't and you aren't going to either. Your eleven week negative is not going to change. I've yet to see that happen and you aren't going to be the first.

It's high time you started accepting that you don't have hiv.

I hope you learn from this and always make sure condoms are being used for anal or vaginal intercourse in future. Every time, no exceptions.

Ann
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 30, 2012, 11:57:05 am
Ann,
          How was your seroconversion like? How did you realize you were sick?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 30, 2012, 12:17:46 pm
ex,

I had a fever of over 104F (40C) and was so ill I could not get out of bed for three days and was unconscious for most of that time. I had no idea what was wrong and I never once suspected hiv - I thought it was possibly rheumatic fever because of the way my joints ached. But that doesn't matter nor does it apply to you or anyone else posting in the Am I Infected forum. Many, many people never experienced a single symptom of seroconversion.

If a test at twelve or thirteen weeks (it doesn't matter which) is the only thing that will put your mind at rest, go test and collect your inevitable negative result. You don't have hiv.

Ann
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 30, 2012, 11:37:06 pm
.

Re: The SeroConversion Process - How Long Does it Last? « Reply #5 on: July 02, 2006, 04:39:02 PM » Quote jkinatl2 Member

Posts: 3,447 Doo. Dah. Dipp-ity.

With so many people apparently taking WAY longer than the LESSONS mentions for seroconversion, perhaps someone should forward this thread to themoderators so they can alter the lessons?

In addition, all the science I have read insists that ARS does not space itself out over time, but comes all at once and is gone. Any anomolies here really need to talk to the CDC and/or their doctor to discern why they fall so far outside scientific perameters.

In addition, catching someone in the middle of a seroconversion, you'd think that there would be some sort of chemical intervention possible to minimize the initial CD4 damage
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 30, 2012, 11:40:52 pm
I dont know how to quote but I found this post in 2006, I'm confused now about serconversion. Everyone says it doesn't last that long?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 30, 2012, 11:43:49 pm
Do you even know what seroconversion means? It's the time it takes for a person to go from negative to positive.  It can take from 4 weeks to 3 months. That is what everyone has told you.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: jkinatl2 on January 30, 2012, 11:52:47 pm
Honestly? I don't know the answer. There have not been studies of which I have been made aware since 2006.

However, the vanishingly few people who have claimed to have had an extended seroconversion STILL tested positive at the three month window.

Moreover, and I can attest to this, your immune system is not like an action film fight scene from the 1980s, where the bad guys line up and attack one at a time. You can have a flu, a cold, a sinus infection AND ARS all at the same time.

We firmly expect you to come out of this OK. Torturing yourself by poring over YEARS' worth of postings can't possibly be doing you any good whatsoever.

You know what we know. We aren't pulling punches or keeping anything from you.

Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 31, 2012, 12:53:10 am
Isn't ARS and seroconversion the same thing?
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: jkinatl2 on January 31, 2012, 12:56:26 am
No. ARS (Acute Retroviral Syndrome) is the syndrome that sometimes (not always) accompanies seroconversion.

Seroconversion is the body's production of antibodies against HIV. It often occurs with little or no fanfare.

Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 31, 2012, 05:23:53 am
ex,

The illness (also known as ARS) that some (not all) people experience is not due to the virus itself. It is due to the process the body goes through while producing antibodies. This is why it is also called seroconversion illness.

If the illness you experienced had anything to do with hiv seroconversion, you definitely would have tested positive by now. You haven't and you aren't going to either - at least not from this incident. Make sure you use condoms in future and you will remain hiv negative.

Ann
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 31, 2012, 11:24:27 am
Ann,
   
         I'm so scared. I know you get annoying people like this all the time. I guess I feel closer to you the most because you are a woman. I hope your right, I just can't see anything good coming out from this, because of everything that's happened to me. Now my muscles hurt and my joints in my fingers. Plus everything else. :(
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: RapidRod on January 31, 2012, 11:47:49 am
Symptoms don't come on this late for ARS.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 31, 2012, 12:01:09 pm
RapidRod,

                 I've been feeling crappy for 7 weeks. First symptoms came one at a time, then gradually now I have all of them. Now I'm scared because of the old posts I saw how different people were sick for longer times. I just looked up how long does seroconversion last, and its the first choice of aidsmed.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on January 31, 2012, 12:04:50 pm
Ex,

Look. This has gone on long enough. Your eleven week negative is not going to change. You do not have hiv.

I suggest you put your energy into working with a doctor to find out what is actually going on instead of chasing a virus you do not have.

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:

Quote

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
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on January 31, 2012, 12:08:50 pm
Ann,

           I'm sorry.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: extremelyworried12 on February 02, 2012, 11:33:10 am
Tested at 89 days with rapid test and was negative. The nurse at the clinic said I need to back at six months. Is it necessary for me to retest at six month? She said I should since I continue to be sick.
Title: Re: someone pleasr help me im losing my mind!
Post by: Ann on February 02, 2012, 11:40:35 am
ex,

You are conclusively hiv negative - you do not have hiv and you do not need to test again at the six month point. That nurse doesn't know what she's talking about.


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:

Quote

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 for the LAST time!!!

Ann