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Author Topic: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure  (Read 3886 times)

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Offline ChrisFromMI

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HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« on: April 13, 2013, 08:37:09 pm »
Even under anonymity, I'm embarrassed to admit I had sex with an escort on 03/24/2013. The anxiety of not knowing if I caught an STI is pure torture. I'm putting myself through pure hell and honestly, I deserve every minute of it. I cannot believe I let my penis do the thinking for me on this night.

I actually know another someone who happens to know this escort on a personal level. Upon sharing my experience, I was told this lady was (maybe still is) using heroin and is HIV+

It gets MUCH worse...

During intercourse, the condom broke and I continued having sex. The sex lasted for 30 minutes and it was rough enough for the shaft of my penis to get slightly sore.

Immediately after intercourse, I washed my penis and scrotum with soapy water. After arriving home (15 minutes after intercourse). I washed my penis and scrotum AGAIN with anti-bacterial hand soap and allowed the soap to stay on me for the rest of the night.

I know the risks of HIV transmission through vaginal intercourse is extremely low. But I'm still terrified and I'm wondering if the following symptoms are the beginning stages of ARS (acute retrovirus syndrome). This has to be the dumbest thing I have ever done!!!

Friday 04/05/2013: I developed a SLIGHTLY sore throat. I'm not sure if my tonsils were swollen, however I noticed some white bumps on my tonsils which looked like puss.

Monday 04/08/2013: Very mild chills, throat still slightly sore (no fever, no rash).

Tuesday morning 04/09/2013: I noticed a swollen lymph node (pea sized) on the lower, left side of my neck. I had a slight cough for most of the day and felt like I was becoming sick (no fever, no rash).

Tuesday night: 04/09/2013: No sore throat, lymph node is allot smaller (no fever, no rash).

Wednesday: Dry cough, runny nose, no sore throat, lymph node still slightly swollen (no fever, no rash).

Thursday Night: Sore throat (mild) is BACK...WTF! lymph node slightly swollen, dry cough, experiencing some dizziness (no fever, no rash).

Friday: Sore throat (comes and goes), lymph node slightly swollen, dry cough (no fever, no rash).

Saturday: Slightly sore throat, lymph node slightly swollen, feel slight congestion in chest. No phlegm while coughing, experiencing some dizziness  (no fever, no rash).

I don't think I had a fever, and if I did, it was so mild I didn't notice it. No other aches or pains, no headaches, and no signs of fatigue.

I will start testing in 3 weeks, and I will test every week after, for the next 2 months (via OraQuick). One final blood test, at a clinic, will happen at the 6 month mark to my exposure.

If I am positive, I'm not living with this disease. I have most definitely made up my mind on this. I plan on opening a $500,000 life insurance policy next week. I'll make it look like an accident 1 or 2 years later after positive diagnosis.

1, I cannot even fathom the thought of telling my family. My family would disown me.

2, I truly don't believe a cure will NEVER happen. There is too much money to be made selling meds. If a cure happened the pharmaceutical industrially would lose hundreds of millions in revenue every year. It's not happening...



Offline RapidRod

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Re: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2013, 08:41:00 pm »
3 months post exposure is when you can obtain your conclusive test result.

Offline ChrisFromMI

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Re: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2013, 09:06:55 pm »
3 months post exposure is when you can obtain your conclusive test result.

Thank you for the feed back.

I understand @ 3 months it's conclusive (high 90 percentile).  The final blood test at 6 months is mostly psychological.

Offline RapidRod

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Re: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2013, 09:23:36 pm »
Thank you for the feed back.

I understand @ 3 months it's conclusive (high 90 percentile).  The final blood test at 6 months is mostly psychological.
It would only be psychological on your part and unwarranted.

Offline Jeff G

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  • How am I doing Beren ?
Re: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2013, 09:54:57 pm »
Rod gave you sound advice . I hope you realize when you say death is preferable to living with HIV that its very offensive to us that are HIV positive .

HIV 101 - Basics
HIV 101
You can read more about Transmission and Risks here:
HIV Transmission and Risks
You can read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
You can read more about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read more about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
You can read more about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

Offline ChrisFromMI

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Re: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2013, 10:47:20 pm »
It would only be psychological on your part and unwarranted.

Correct

Offline Andy Velez

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Re: HIV Symptoms after HIGH risk exposure
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2013, 08:55:13 am »
How about cutting out all this drama and get to basics about the situation!

None ofthe symptoms you are reporting are in anyway HIV specific. As the insertive partner in the situation you are concerned about, you are at significantly lower risk than the receptive partner is. We're talking about a single incident during which for at least a part of the time you were protected by a condom until it broke. Considering all of those factors it is likely you will end up testing negative.

You can test initially at 6 weeks after the incident. If you get a negative result then it is likely you will continue to test negative at 3 months and that will be a conclusive result.

Your symptoms are something you should discuss with your doctor. As I said there is nothing HIV specific about them.

While you are waiting to test you need to make a real effort to focus on other things in your life. By doing that you will find the waiting time will pass more easily than you may imagine is possible. Don't bother saying you are too upset to do that because that response is not going to fly here.

I'm betting you will come out of this situation ok as far as HIV is concerned. 
Andy Velez

 


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