POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: scott on August 23, 2006, 12:27:47 pm
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I am a 28 year old male from london uk, I went out 2 weeks ago to a pub and ended up flirting with a lady who claims she was 34 (and I have no reason to doubt her), we ended up back at my place where we attempted unprotected intercourse (I say attempted because I was too drunk and after 5 mins gave up, although it WAS still intercourse), that was basically it, now the next day I was very regretful and started thinking about the possibility of catching an STD so I started reading up on it, anyways, about 9 days later I noticed slight headaches and I checked my neck and noticed a slight lump on the right hand side (I can only assume its a lymph gland), I started worrying about the possibility of a hiv infection (although I have no reason to believe the lady had hiv), now today (12 days after the encounter) I feel nauseous after getting home from work, I did stop for a couple of pints of lager quite early at 12 noon (I finish work at 1pm), I started feeling nauseous soon after I left the pub so I don't know if that is the reason for the nausea, I had a 2 hour afternoon nap and woke up feeling alot more nauseous, no headaches and still a slight lump on my right side of my neck.
I am really paranoid now and convinced myself that I have caught hiv, any thoughts?
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I hope you are not going by symptoms because they don't mean squat. Your symptoms came on to early to be related to HIV. You should test at the appropriate time for other stds.
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Thank you RapidRod for your reply.
I will get the neccesary STD tests asap, I just wanted to hear some opinions if the symptoms I am getting are possibly hiv related, although you say it's too early, I have read alot of different things on that subject, some say the first acute hiv symptoms are from 3 days to 3 weeks, some say 1 week to 1 month, and others say 1 month to 3 months, which is correct, it's all confusing with conflicting information available :(
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OK, here are some bits which are not going to be confusing:
1. You need to get tested for HIV at 13 weeks after the most recent unprotected incident.
2. Anytime you have intercourse without a condom you are putting your life at risk. So keep that latex handy and use one everytime. No exceptions.
3. Mixing excessive drinking and casual/impulsive sex is a dangerous combination and has accounted for many, many infections.
4. HIV is not an easy virus to transmit. It's significantly harder to accomplish from female to male. The odds against transmission via a single exposure are in your favor against it occuring. BUT, low risk is not the same as no risk so you need to learn from this experience and use condoms everytime.
5. Symptoms mean zilch as a way of knowing your HIV status. ONLY an HIV test taken at the right time can give you a reliable answer about your HIV status.
Good luck with your test.
Cheers,
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Thanks for the reply Andy Velez .
I am aware of most of what you said, but my initial concearn is still the symtoms I have had, I have just got up ready to go to work and I feel absolutely fine, no headache and no nausea, still swollen gland on right side (lower neck) .
RapidRod said that this is too early for the first acute hiv signs, is that a fact or not? I know you both say that symptoms mean nothing, but I am just trying to get my head around some of what I have read because as I said there is alot of conflicting information avaiable.
Regards
Scott
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Scott,
If you know symptoms - or the lack of symptoms - mean nothing, then why are you pursuing this line of questioning? Forget about symptoms and keep you hands off you glands. Touching them all the time will MAKE them swell and keep them swollen. One swollen gland has nothing to do with hiv, which is a systemic infection.
The more you read about symptoms and the more you search for them on your body, the more likely it is that your body will oblige your mind and start producing symptoms. The mind and the immune system are intimately linked. Stop worrying yourself sick. (that is a saying for a reason you know!)
As Andy said, the odds are significantly in your favour of testing negative. Hiv is not easy to transmit, especially from a woman to a man and especially under the flaccid, drunken circumstances you describe to us.
Ann
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Thanks Anne, after reading back on all of the replies I feel alot more at ease now, I guess it is true that looking for symptoms are probably contributing to my paranoya, I will keep my hands away from my glands ;D and when the 13 weeks are up I will take a hiv test and post the results hoping for a negative.
Thaks guys
Scott
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Scott,
I see I haven't given you my usual pep-talk, so here it is, just in case you've missed it in your travels through this forum. It contains the basic info you need to keep yourself hiv negative. Please also make sure you read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) and follow the Lessons links.
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 STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection.
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.
Use condoms and avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
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Yep, I already read all of the welcome page, I read alot of the lessons and threads on varoius of the sub boards on this site, they really helped me deal with some of my fears, I found it very helpful and informative, it gives me a great ease of mind to know that having a hiv poz status does not mean the end of life.
Another question I have which I have not quite found the answer to and sorry if I should have made a seperate thread for this, but in some of the threads I have read I see posters saying they have been classified as having AIDS (after having hiv for a long amount of time) but instead of getting worse they have in fact gotten better over time and they have less of the virus and a stronger immune system taking them out of the AIDS category (I mean no disrespect by saying AIDS is a category btw, just cant think of a more PC word to use), does this in fact mean that the virus can actually be stopped (not cured, I know there is no cure), by stopped I mean where it would stop progressing further thus stopping the condition from worsening? and is there any particular thread on this subject , I would be very interested in reading up on that, maybe I have misunderstood it, any links and replies would be helpful thanks.
Regards
Scott
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Once you have been classified as having AIDS it never changes. Look back in the Welcome thread and look read about HAART.