Hello friends.. Im on my way to testing positive to hiv

[pb07]

Dear Doctor,

I had an incidence of condom break while having vaginal sex with a prostitute. It was only after I had come inside her that she informed me that the condom seemed to have broken... infact when I withdrew, the entire head of my penis was exposed. But my penis was insde her for 3 minutes or slightly  more.

This happened on 19 Feb 2014... by the 24th Feb, I had extremely bad fever...a lot of shivering and chills. This continued for 5 days. I have trouble eating because I now have oral thrush since 27th Feb, also have had muscle shivering and pain in my ankle bone... This evening, I have noticed a big swollen node on the right side of my neck, mid way beteen my ear and shoulder and half way behind my neck.

I have never had such a big mass of node swollen and visible. Im preparing myself for the worst...

Is there anything that I can do now.

Kind regards

[Andy Velez]

PB, the risk of transmission when a condom breaks is relatively low. You had protection until it broke. And HIV is significantly harder to transmit from female to male than the other way around. And this was a single incident. All of those factors are in your favor against infection.

Nothing you are reporting symptomatically is HIV specific. If your symptoms continue you should discuss them with your doctor. Keep your hands off of your lymph nodes. Handling them can make things worse because they are very sensitive to the touch.

You can test initially at 6 weeks. Assuming you get a negative result, which I think is very likely, then you will even more likely test negative at 3 months for a conclusive result.

Good luck to you.

[pb07]

Dear Andy,

I have to share with you, what has happened in the past 24 hours. I have a HUGE bump at the back of my neck..yes its growing bigger. In addition there is a small lump in the groin area too . Im also experiencing continued pain in my ankle and elbows. My muscles in the legs are shivering, more like small electruc currents. Fever comes and goes away...feel chills at the time i step out to work.

Im beginning to lose hope....getting a pcr done tomorrow.

Feeling bogged down

[Jeff G]

Hi PB ... there is nothing about your symptoms that are specific to HIV so please keep Andy's advice in mind that it would be extremely rare for you to test positive over this condom break incident .

Do yourself a favor and wait the 6 weeks and have an antibody test and confirm it in 3 months . You should expect a negative result if this is your only concern .

[Ann]

pb,

PRC tests are NOT diagnostic tests. All you need is antibody testing at the appropriate time, which Andy already outlined for you.

You are highly unlikely to end up hiv positive as the insertive partner following a condom break. In over thirteen years of answering questions in this forum, I've yet to see it happen and I do not expect you to be the first.

If you feel unwell, go see a doctor while you wait for the appropriate time to test. You could be missing something important in your insistence that only hiv could be causing your problems. Many things OTHER than hiv could be causing your symptoms - they are NOT specific to hiv.

Ann

[pb07]

Dear guys,

My tauma seems to continue. I now have one big swelling on the back of my neck and two lumps on either sides of the groin area.

I continue to have fever since the 24th Feb..more than the fever the extreme chills are depriving me of sleep. I continue to have a dry mouth and havent felt like eating anything for the past one week or so.

I seem to have no symptoms of any other STD other than HIV.. am I correct.

Andy, I dont know for sure, but I believe that the condom had broken a long time before we realised.. only after I came inside here did she realise that the condom was broken.

I do not know her HIV status but shes a pros.... and Im crazy worried now that I have this fever and bumps in the groin area and behind the neck

ive read that the lymph nodes in the groin area generally swell becasue of injury to the leg or cancer or hiv or some STD... i havent  had an injury of any kind nor do i think i have cancer

any my symptoms do not relate to any other std other than HIV

also how big has the lump to be to be deemed as swollen... if its HIV how long would these remain swollen ?

sorry for all these questions guys, but im very nervous

[Ann]

pb,

If you're worried about your lumps and swellings, GO SHOW THEM TO A DOCTOR. The swelling in your groin could be from an STI other than hiv, for example. You are MUCH more likely to have picked up one of the other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs from this broken condom incident than you are to have picked up hiv.

Only testing at the appropriate time will reliably inform you of your hiv status. Your lumps and bumps won't.

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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure 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