POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: ag750 on December 08, 2012, 02:22:13 pm
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On Sept. 7th I made the biggest mistake of my life. I had sex with a complete stranger (vaginal) and she was on her period. On top of that, I had a couple of cuts on my penis. The girl is very very promiscuous...she does druggies.
A week later I had some pain in my penis and that followed with a sore throat, headache and fatigue a couple of day later. After that I strated developing some distinct symptoms...white tongue, rash, mouth ulcers and then even eye vision changes, body tingling...etc. Today I still have all of these symptoms except the pain in the penis.
For the last couple of months I thought I was 100% infected but I have continued to test negative with the antibody test. I tested positive for cmv (doc said it was a recent infection) but he said that it wouldn't be causing all of the symptoms Im going through. 3 months of these symptoms leads me to believe only one thing...a very weakned immune system...
I had a 6 week, 8 week and 12 week antibody test negative. I also did a PCR RNA Test at 6 weeks through labcorp and it was negative. What are the chances I still may be infected?? Is it possible...I was on an immune surpressing drug for the last year called humira (although I never got sick while one it)...
What should I do next? I do not have insurance and have wasted close to $2000 on tests and various doctor visits...every doc says I have/had a viral infection...although I never had a fever. CMV should not be causing these symptoms unless....
Please help as I am sucicdal...I do not know what to do next
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I forgot to add that I also have swollen tonsils and difficulty breathing...is it possible that I have alredy developed opp. infections with the cmv an thrush...
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ag,
Keep working with your doctor to find out what is actually causing your symptoms. Whatever that may be, you have conclusively ruled hiv out of the picture and no, the med you were on doesn't change that.
You do NOT have hiv. You are conclusively hiv negative.
If you start using condoms with ANYONE you have anal or vaginal intercourse (EVERYONE, not just those who you deem to be "promiscuous") you won't have to worry about hiv, regardless of what time of the month it is or if you have cuts on your dick.
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.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED FURTHER HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME, 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
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Ann-
Thanks for the reply. I am very scared as I know that 3% of people do not show antibodies in the first 3 months...do you have more info. on this?
And, do most clincs use 4th generation rapid tests? or 3rd? Because my tests were at a clinic here in stl.
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ag,
Fourth generation tests are only anything special in the first two or three weeks following infection. They also look for the p24 antigen, which is only present in the first few weeks.
The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days. A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point, but is highly unlikely to change. This is true of both 3rd and 4th generation tests.
The only people who might take a little longer to seroconvert and test positive are those on chemotherapy for cancer, on anti-rejection drugs following organ transplant, or those who have been injecting street drugs, every day, for years. Even these people will normally test positive by three months.
And besides, if you were infected, no drug would interfere with that PCR test. If you'd been infected, it would have come back with a high viral load by the sixth week.
You don't have hiv. Stop concentrating on a virus you have already ruled out and start looking for other causes to your problems.
You DO NOT have hiv.
Ann