Have all symptoms of hiv..Confused and Scared

[fibb221]

I had sex with a csw on Dec 8th in Asia. During my vaginal intercourse the coondom broke and I think it might have been a minute or two at the max and i noticed it and changed it to a new condom. I did intercourse with new condom and then she gave me an oral (unprotected) to finish it off. I didnt think about it much at the time and then flew back home to US.

The following weeks I have had symptoms that scared the hell out of me. I started having some burning in the eyes, had diarrhea twice (on two different occasions almost 10-12 days apart) and had these constant headaches and muscle aches. Didnt have any fever or lympnode swelling. Today I have like a sore throat more like itchy throat. Of all headaches have been more promient with muscle aches on my thighs. I read about the symptoms online and it said that virus causes some cerebral fluid build up that will cause acute headaches. All the symptoms point to hiv and I could be the one that broke the stride of "no hiv on condom break episode".

Confused and scared!!!!

[Andy Velez]

Condom breakage is a risk but a very low level one. The condom protected you until it broke. It was a single and short length of time when you were unprotected. Risk of transmission is much less for the insertive partner than for the receptive one. Taking all of that into consideration I expect you to test negative.

You should get tested just to be certain of your negative status. You can do it initially at 6 weeks after the incident. Assuming you get the negative result that I expect, then you will in all likelihood test negative for a conclusive result at 3 months. The average time to seroconversion is 22 days so a negative at 6 weeks is very significant.

None of your symptoms are in anyway HIV specific. If they continue you should discuss them with your doctor. I expect you to come out of this ok.

[fibb221]

Thanks Andy for the prompt reply.

I'm going to get tested in 2 weeks which would mark 8 weeks from the incident. I keep telling myself that its a low level risk, however its risk nonetheless. I'm uncirumcised and that increases my anxiety as well as I had read that circumcision helps lower hiv and stds. Right after the intercourse I took a shower and cleaned my penis thoroughly with soap and also i didnt have any cuts on my penis.

I dont know how these symptomps show up like a week apart. And each week its one of the symptomps relaed to HIV. My muscle aches on my legs (thigs) come and go..like i had head ache yesterday but no muscle ache. Today i have muscle ache but no head ache. And sore throat this morning with light cough.

Good news i tell myself is that I have not had fever or swollen lymp nodes so far. But I bet by end of this week i will have that as well. Looks like the whole thing is making me go crazy. Im preparing myself for the worst case scenario.

Thanks

[Ann]

Fibb,

The symptoms that some people experience do not come on one by one a week apart. They come on all at once and go all at once. These symptoms are not due to hiv itself. They are due to the process the body goes through while producing antibodies, which happens two to three weeks following infection. Whatever is going on with you is highly unlikely to have anything to do with hiv, as your risk was very low.

If you feel unwell, see a doctor rather than moaning about it on the internet.

Ann

[fibb221]

Thanks Ann. I have an appointment in 2 weeks. I was trying to talk to experts here on the hopes that you all know what people like me go through and help me in anyway. Sorry if i came across crying and moaning!!!

Thanks

[Ann]

Sorry if i came across crying and moaning!!!

No need to apologise. I'm still suffering from post-holiday grinchitis. I should see a doctor about that.

Your symptoms point more to a mild case of the flu - which if you've been following the news lately, you'll know is pretty wide-spread this year. If you continue to feel unwell, don't just see a doctor to test for hiv, see a doctor about your symptoms. They're highly unlikely to have anything to do with hiv.

Seriously, I do not expect you, as the insertive partner, to end up positive over a condom break.

Ann