Very Worried.. would appreciate advice and information....

[hetroSEXual]

Hello,

I am a hetrosexual male from the UK.

I had sex with a girl, the condom broke but i withdrew immediatly, so i would say the exposure was only for like 10 seconds.. anyway I know that i have now put myself at risk of contracting HIV.

I dont know her status.....

Anyway, fastforward to 25 days later and i think im displaying ARS symptoms and would like clarification about the symptoms and wether they are cause for concern or unrelated?

It started of with my asthma getting quite bad.... then i had a blocked nose and now a slight cough..

and i think i have enlarged lympth nodes in my neck.. although its hard to tell if their enlarge or not? what do enlarged lympth nodes feel like? do i need to put my fingers quite deep into my neck or should it be visable on the surface? Also the nodes in my groin/arm pit arent enlarged, i herd that when they do enlarge due to ARS it effects your neck,groin and armpit not just one area is this correct?


Thanks for any information you can send my way... i understand that only a test can tell you if your hiv positive or not but waiting 3 months is really affecting me, these symptoms are really worrying me and i have become very depressed.

[Andy Velez]

OK. First of all and I mean this, please take a couple nice deep and slow breaths in and out. You're obviously worried although the odds of your having become infected through this recent incident are extremely low. And here's why.

Even IF the woman you were with is HIV+, you were protected until the condom broke. That means your possible exposure was a single time of very brief duration. HIV is not an easy virus to transmit and it is very significantly harded to accomplish from female to male. All of that makes it very unlikely that you were infected.

There is absolutely nothing HIV-specific about any symptoms you are reporting. You should discuss them with your doctor if they persist. You definitely need to leave your lymph nodes alone. They are very sensitive to squeezing and otherwise bothering them so don't create a problem where there isn't one.

As a precaution only I would recommend getting tested at 13 weeks after this recent incident. I certainly expect you will test negative. But with that negative result in hand you can remove all doubts and stop worrying and wondering. It's very good to know that you are using condoms since they definitely provide very effective protection against HIV transmission.

Good luck with your test.

Cheers.

[hetroSEXual]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the rapid response!

In regards to the lympth nodes, am i right in thinking if they were due to ARS they would occour across the body not just in the neck?

It really is freaking me out, how im never ill, then a few weeks later, i come down with servere asthma, and cold etc... do you think anxiety or stress can cause this?

Once again thanks for your reponse..

also.. is there any corrolation between duration of exposure and contracting hiv?

i.e bareback sex for 10 seconds vs 10minutes?

[hetroSEXual]

i also wake up everymorning with a blocked nose.. that dissapears after an hour or so.. could this be related?

[Ann]

het,

If you feel unwell, see a doctor. As Andy told you, there is absolutely nothing hiv specific about them. Symptoms, or even the LACK of symptoms, mean absolutely NOTHING when it comes to hiv. Lots of people never have one symptom of primary infection. Would you be so worried if you weren't having a blocked nose? I doubt it.

It's highly unlikely that you'll end up positive following this one-time condom break. I've yet to see the insertive partner (that's you) end up positive following a condom break and I certainly don't expect you to be the first.

The earliest you can test is at six weeks, as the vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by then. A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point, but is highly unlikely to change.

I really do NOT expect you to test positive.

Please read through all three condom and lube links in my signature so you can make sure you're using them correctly. A correctly used condom RARELY breaks.

Ann

[hetroSEXual]

hi ann,

thanks for the reply.

you say 'there is absoutely nothing hiv specific about the symptoms' but I have read journals, online sources along with other websites which suggests ARS includes - flu like symptoms.. it just seems strange they are occouring within this period of 2-4 weeks after i had sex..

also is there any corellation between exposure length and contracting hiv?

i.e someone who has unprotected sex for 5 minutes versus someone who had it for 10 seconds?


thanks once again.

[Ann]

het,

Flu-like symptoms are not an increase in asthma nor a blocked nose nor a slight cough. Flu-like symptoms refer to a high fever accompanied by aches and pains. Having the flu generally means feeling like crap all over. You do not report those types of symptoms.

You're simply not going to end up hiv positive over this very brief encounter. You're more likely to walk outside your house and find a multi-million winning lottery ticket lying on your doorstep. Could it happen? Sure. Is it going to? Dream on.

Test at the appropriate time and collect your inevitable negative result. In the meantime, see your doctor if you feel unwell. It's nothing to do with hiv.

Ann

[hetroSEXual]

thank you ann for your help... i am more calm...

when i say i withdrew immediatly this was after say two thrusts when i realised it had broken.. so i would say my exposure was no longer then 8 seconds....

is it a case of .. once the virus is in contact with the skin thats it.. or does the amount of time the penis is exposed effect transmission rates....

[Ann]

het,

How long is a piece of string? The main reason you won't end up positive over this incident is because hiv transmission is very difficult to accomplish from a woman to a man. I was with a negative man for eighteen months before we discovered I was poz. During that time, we never used condoms. He's hiv negative to this day. We stayed together for just over eight years in total, and we used condoms after my diagnosis, but he didn't end up poz when we weren't using them either.

As I said above, sure, it could happen - but that lottery ticket could also turn up on your doorstep. Is it going to? Dream on. Get tested at the appropriate time and don't be surprised by your negative results.

Ann