Questions about HIV symptoms

[chmonroe20]

Hello to everyone in the forum,

I am curious to know how long after an individual is infected with HIV does he/she see HIV manifestations like oral thrush and mouth ulcers. I've read sources that suggest that oral thrush and chronic mouth ulcers will appear in later stages of the infection, many years after initial exposure. I know of course that each person reacts differently to the virus, but generally speaking is the previous statement correct?

One reason I ask is because I had a potential exposure about six weeks ago. I was the insertive partner in an encounter with a close male acquaintance whose HIV status is unknown to me. I did not use a condom and "dipped" my penis into his anus about five times for a few seconds each before deciding to stop. I did not cum. I do understand that this puts me at a risk for contracting the virus, IF my partner is positive of course.

One week after the exposure, I had constant, intense headaches for about a week straight. No problems the second and third weeks. The fourth week I developed three very painful mouth ulcers, two on my gums in front of my bottom teeth and one on my tongue. These lasted about two weeks, one disappearing after about 5 days and another one taking its place. Headaches were existent during these two weeks.

The hypochondriac that I am, I've been obsessively taking my temperature since the incident and I have not ever reached a fever. Moreover, I have not had diarrhea, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, etc. The only thing I've experienced is a constant feeling of malaise, which I want to say is the stress of me worrying so much about this. I'm guessing the mouth ulcers could also be stress-related.

I've read enough posts on this forum to know that yes, I had a risk of exposure, and yes, it's not good to look at one symptom and diagnosis HIV as the cause. Like I said, I worry a lot about my health, so of course I am googling my symptoms and freaking out about them. The free HIV clinic in my area is open late on Fridays, so I will be getting my quick test done in two days and can expect something pretty conclusive since it's been a little more than 7 weeks since the incident.

Any information about what I've provided is helpful. Which of these symptoms would be indicative of ARS? Could it all just be stress-related? I guess I'll find out for sure on Friday, but it just felt good to get this all out there. I have no one to talk about this with.

Thank you all. Cheers!

Matt

[Jeff G]

You can test any day now for your HIV risk but you will need to confirm it at 3 months past any possible exposure .

Nice try ... We do not discuss symptoms because the only way to know your status test is to do so in the window period I provided .

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!

[chmonroe20]

So this isn't a community to discuss general facts and knowledge of HIV? My question about during which stages certain manifestations of HIV typically occur cannot be answered as a general statement, regardless of whether or not I am experiencing these symptoms?

[Jeff G]

So this isn't a community to discuss general facts and knowledge of HIV? My question about during which stages certain manifestations of HIV typically occur cannot be answered as a general statement, regardless of whether or not I am experiencing these symptoms?

This is a part of the forum for risk assessments and testing questions and not a place for discussion . Your symptoms are not specific to HIV and we will not speculate on what's causing them to quantify your risk . Get tested 6 weeks past any possible exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results and you will know if you are infected or not .

Feel free to search the forum to learn all about HIV . Best of luck .

I see you posted why I was answering ... We had all the information from you we needed when we knew the date and the risk . Im sorry we cant give you what you want . 

[Ann]

Monroe,

Symptoms, or even the LACK of symptoms will never, ever, ever tell you a single thing about your hiv status. ONLY testing at the appropriate time will. Symptoms are essentially meaningless because they can be caused by hundreds of other problems.

We do not discuss symptoms in any detail because:

Primary hiv infection related symptoms are the same as any other viral infection. That is why they are often described as "flu-like". The flu is a virus that everyone is familiar with, so it's an obvious one to compare it to.

The symptoms are not caused directly by the virus itself. They are caused by the process the body goes through while producing antibodies and it's the same basic process regardless of what type of antibodies are being produced.

Many, many people never experience a single symptom that they have been infected with hiv. I actually know more poz people who never had an illness they could point to as their seroconversion illness than I do poz people who could point to such an illness.

If we were to put any emphasis on symptoms, it could lead people who have had a risk and do need to test to think they're in the clear because they haven't felt ill. Big mistake when there's been a risk.

With all do respect (and I really do mean that), why is there an "Am I Infected" forum if we can't openly discuss reason why we think we may be infected?

We DO discuss reasons why people think they've been infected - we discuss risk factors.

We discussed your risk factor - you had unprotected insertive anal intercourse - or "dipping" to be more precise. Hiv is more difficult to transmit from the receptive partner to the insertive partner, but not impossible. All things considered, true dipping is brief and shallow and you're not likely to end up poz over this situation. But you do need to test.

Don't forget to test for all the other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. They can all be present with no obvious symptoms, so the ONLY way to know is to test.

Syphilis shares a three month testing window with hiv for a conclusive result. Syphilis used to be called the "great imitator" because it seemingly mimics many other common illnesses, so think on when you want us to diagnose you based on symptoms. It could be many things other than hiv, including something like syphilis.

By the way, a syphilis chancre (sore) is painless, so if you don't see it, you'd never know it was there. It can be present in the rectum, in your throat, on your perineum (the area between your balls and anus) or hiding in other out of sight places.  Syphilis infections have been steadily on the rise for a few years now in the gay community - due in large part to how easy it is to be unaware of a primary syphilis infection. Untreated syphilis is just as deadly as untreated hiv.


All we can do here is advise people on risk factors and testing windows. The rest is up to you and your doctor.

Good luck with your testing tomorrow.

Ann

PS - I removed your post I quoted above so you have one free post left in case you want to report your test results.