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Author Topic: Need legitimate advice  (Read 6503 times)

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Offline JPanther33

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  • Posts: 5
Need legitimate advice
« on: September 16, 2008, 05:49:56 pm »
I should not even be on this website until I go to a doctor and figure this out but I need reinforcement to go. I am a 25 yr old male and had one experience of unprotected vaginal intercourse with a college girl at the school I went to. I was drunk and knew immediately I made and poor decision. About a month later I started noticing a penile discharge but didnt relate it to a STD so I let it go on for a couple weeks. Real dumb I know. After that it started to get extremely uncomfortable and I didnt feel too well. I also had some muscle pains in my shoulder and knees and my testes hurt a bit but thought it was just the problem i was overlooking. Finally I went to a free clinic and was tested for everything, immediatedly the doc told me I probably had chlamydia and gave me meds for it and sent me on my way. My other tests would be back in 2 weeks. After 2 weeks and the dose of Zithromax I still felt kinda shitty, run down and balls hurting. I went to another doc and he gave me doxycycline to take for 3 weeks. At the same time my tests were in and I got everything over the phone but my HIV, I was too afraid to go get the results. So after my course of doxy I felt better but I started having overreactive bug bite ( or so I thought ) and little boil looking things on my skin. Lets just say they were weird skin looking things, just on my legs and arms. I am so stressed during all of this by the way.

Then come the odd symptoms. Some nights I was getting these killer headaches and I started having constant swollen glands, this all like 3 or 4 months later. Now 5 months later the headaches and glands are subsiding but I am having trouble breathing, it started as nothing, but now it is becoming a real annoyacnce, I stopped smoking a couple days ago so I am hoping that works and was the reason for my shortness of breath.

Regardless, I am scared.
Please help.

Thank You.

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2008, 06:04:50 pm »
Symptoms don't mean a thing when it comes to HIV. You did have a risk, you've taken your test now go pick up the results.

Offline Andy Velez

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Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2008, 06:27:34 pm »
FYI, HIV is not an easy virus to transmit. It is significantly harder to accomplish from female to male. Given this was a single incident. the odds against transmission having occured are hugely in your favor.

Your symptoms are absolutely in no way way suggestive of HIV. You need to remember that for future reference symptoms will never tell you anything accurately about your HIV status.

Lastly, you need to learn from this experience. You can have intercourse with as many partners as you like and regardless of their HIV status. But you need to do it the safer way which means ALWAYS and without exception using a latex condom. They provide very effective protection.

Now, stop all this drama and self-torture, pull up your socks and go pick up what I expect will be a negative test result.

Keep us posted.

Cheers,
Andy Velez

Offline JPanther33

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  • Posts: 5
Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2008, 07:38:11 pm »
Can you please tell me not to worry about this breathing thing. I almost went to the emergency room a couple days ago because I thought it was PCP and I couldnt sleep. I also have what looks to be thrush and have had it for about 2 months now. I am worried about these symptoms and now feel like I need to get these results and possibly take a new test as well. My breathing issue wont get better and I feel pretty light headed. Could you really get PCP in a matter of months, I thought you had to have HIV for years before things like thrush and PCP.

Thanks.

PS - I will get the results Andy, just need some peace of mind. I have been wanting some answers on these things for a long time.

Offline JPanther33

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  • Posts: 5
Pnemonia???
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2008, 10:30:32 pm »
Trying to get some information. Is it possible to develop PCP or any other opportunistic infections within the first 5 months of infection or would that not be enough time for the virus to do damage. This would be an infection of an otherwise healthy individual. Also, if it is from the initial drop of T helper cells, would your body be able to fight off any of those infections after your T cells rose up to a decent level.

Thanks

Offline atlq

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Re: Pnemonia???
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2008, 10:40:09 pm »
JPanther,

On this forum we answer questions about HIV transmission and testing. If you are positive and have questions about  OI"s and/or treatment, please post in the treatment forum. Your questions can be addressed there.

 Best...

 
“Keep up the good work....   And God bless you.”
  --  Sarah Palin, to members of the Alaskan Independence Party, 2008

Offline jkinatl2

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  • Posts: 6,007
  • Doo. Dah. Dipp-ity.
Re: Pnemonia???
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2008, 10:55:05 pm »
Please return to your original thread in AM I INFECTED (because you are not confirmed, nor at all likely to be HIV Positive to have your question answered.

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=23143.msg294435#msg294435
"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline atlq

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  • Posts: 518
Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2008, 10:55:30 pm »
Physical symptoms cannot be used to diagnose HIV infection. Only testing can. You have tested. Go get the result....
“Keep up the good work....   And God bless you.”
  --  Sarah Palin, to members of the Alaskan Independence Party, 2008

Offline JPanther33

  • Member
  • Posts: 5
Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2008, 02:36:08 am »
An answer to the question would be greatly appreciated though. Could I have an OI after only 6 months of infection (if I were to be infected)?

I think that I have been misled by websites that say you will not have symptoms for 8 - 10 years. That seems to be bull**** to me. I bet symptoms come along quite fast for the majority of people. Those statistics that I read on almost every website are what continues to have me question if I should really worry enough to go check on my results.

Some days I fear I am infected and other days I am not worried about it......But I cant stop thinking about it. I am worried that if I am pos. I will not be able to handle it on so many levels. I am sorry to sound like such a newbie but I have been dealing with this for months. Please understand that.

Thanks

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2008, 02:54:23 am »
Pick up your test result.

Offline Ann

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  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2008, 05:33:09 am »
JP,

If you feel unwell, see a doctor.

It's unlikely you would have been infected with hiv from a one-time unprotected encounter. Chlamydia yes, as you discovered, but hiv, no.

It looks to me like you tested for hiv somewhere between four and six weeks. You need to test at (or past) three months for a conclusive result. So, my advice to you is go get tested and put this to rest once and for all. I do not expect you to receive a positive result - and your result will be conclusive.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

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"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline JPanther33

  • Member
  • Posts: 5
Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2008, 06:03:28 pm »
Honestly though, could someone develop an opportunistic infection this quickly?

Offline Ann

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  • Posts: 28,134
  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: Need legitimate advice
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2008, 06:06:51 pm »
JP,

Certainly not PCP. Just go test and get it over with. Symptoms, or even the LACK of symptoms will never, ever tell you a single thing about your hiv status.

If you continue to post about this without getting tested, you will be timed out. We don't have crystal balls. You've had a risk and you need to test. There's nothing more we can tell you, other than you're unlikely to test hiv positive after a one time insertive vaginal encounter.

GO TEST.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

 


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