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Author Topic: Can this be anything but ARS?  (Read 2629 times)

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Offline ConfusedDude22

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Can this be anything but ARS?
« on: October 24, 2017, 03:29:24 am »
My risk event was 08/25. No risk events prior nor since. Gave oral sex to a person with unknown status. I know oral sex in general is low risk and sometimes considered no risk, however I had a fresh ulcer on the skin of my finger several millimeters across from a scrape (within the previous hour). While he did not finish in my mouth, the other person's ejaculate ran across this ulcer. No PEP was taken because he claimed to be clean and the area was immediately rinsed/washed.

I have a persistent sore throat/esophagus. Persistent headaches. I have a rash on anus. I have lesions in mouth (small canker sores on gums, geographic tongue sometimes with whitish buildup in center.) Fatigue/feeling "wasted" unrelated to activity. I have had these symptoms for over a month at this point. I estimate these started 09/16 or so.

My testing has been as follows -

9/14 / t+20 - 3rd generation test & in-office rapid test (I know this is way early, but it rules out prior infection as I had no prior risk events). Negative

9/22 / t+28 - 3rd generation test and in-office rapid test. Negative

9/23 / t+29 - HIV-RNA Qualitative. Negative.

Since then, several Oraquick tests with most recent being t+54 using fingerprick.

To me, the RNA test at 29 days should be 100% conclusive by that time barring some sort of testing error, and the 3rd generation test at 28 days should be 90% conclusive. I am genuinely confused as to what could be causing my symptoms as this combination of symptoms appear to only point to one thing.

Thank you for your assistance.

Offline Jim Allen

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Re: Can this be anything but ARS?
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2017, 05:05:07 am »
Firstly your symptoms have nothing to do with HIV.
Some of the concerns you have are never caused by a hiv infection and other are simply not hiv spesific.

Giving a BJ is a near negligible risk and does require you to run out and test, the ulcer on your finger was simply no risk whatsoever.

RNA testing is not recommended for standalone or regular screening due to the costs and false results rate. Any approved antibodies test no matter what generation is conclusive at 3 months. Most people will develop antibodies at levels to detect by 28 days with outliers taking longer hence 3 months is conclusive.

To wrap it up here is your assessment.

You had no real world risk, no reason to run out and test to begin with,  the symptoms we don't discuss and if they were from a hiv infection you would already have tested positive as symptoms are caused by the bodies reaction not hiv itself.

Continue to work with your doctor to find out what is making you sick and put the HIV fear behind you, remember to keep using condoms for any intercourse and test as routine at least yearly for STI's and HIV.

Jim

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Offline ConfusedDude22

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Re: Can this be anything but ARS?
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2018, 05:08:38 pm »
Infected a little over a year ago. Repeatedly test negative for antibodies and RNA to this day. The illness coincided directly with a risky event whereby bodily fluids were directly on an open wound on my hands. About 3 weeks later, had many symptoms of ARS. Gave it to my partner during the same period, and they encountered many of the same symptoms, plus a few extra. Since then, both of us have been chronically fatigued, diarrhea every single time we go to the bathroom, wounds that heal slowly or don't heal, thrush, mouth sores, coughing that doesn't respond to antibiotics or antihistamines, etc. Please, without going into the "you tested negative, you don't have HIV", we clearly both have a virus with vector (person to person) sexual transmission type. This isn't some airborne thing. None of our friends or family have it, and we aren't in a weird region of equatorial Guinea. I got this condition from sexual contact, and spread to partner sexually. I've seen this question answered multiple times with "you don't have it, you tested negative" Please, even if that is your first thought, I am asking kindly what would be the next step as symptoms progress and worsen. Are there specialists for this type of situation? Is there a special type of test I should take or ask for from my primary care doctor? Should I go to my county health department? I'm really lost and don't know where to start and time is not on our side. My primary care physician is limited on what he can offer in that if the test is negative, he has to go with the test (crappy HMO-type plan primarily concerned with minimizing the insurance company's costs). I've been tested for a variety of other viruses and bacterial infections with negative results. I'm fortunate in that I can pay out of pocket for whatever if needed, but I really don't even know what to ask for or where to turn.


As an aside, I recognize there are a lot of these threads where people think they are infected and are just overthinking the situation and are not infected. There are others that are very similar to my own where they have something dramatically and suddenly change in their health after risky sexual behavior, but test persistently negative. I wish there were some way to follow up with these individuals to find out what the outcome was. For whatever it's worth, there are two individuals impacted here, so even if you thought I individually was crazy, I cannot conjure up symptoms in another individual. Thank you for your consideration.

Offline Jim Allen

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Re: Can this be anything but ARS?
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2018, 05:49:22 pm »
Hiya

The only thing you mentioned that was (continues to be?) a HIV risk would be when you mentioned a partner. I recommend you use condoms for any intercourse, no exceptions and test out of standard routine at least yearly for easier to transmit STIs and HIV.

Fluids on wounds you have on your hands is not how HIV is transmitted. I'm not sure what the story is with that but this is not how people acquire HIV, neither did you. Testing for HIV over such an event is irrational to be begin with as you simply had no exposure from such an event.

Keep working with your doctor, its sounds like ypu have some strange ideas about HIV and I can't help you with that, all in all nothing you mentioned here is HIV related or specific and your only risk so far would be from your partner if you have been engaging in unprotected intercourse.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2018, 05:55:43 pm by JimDublin »
HIV 101 - Everything you need to know
HIV 101
Read more about Testing here:
HIV Testing
Read about Treatment-as-Prevention (TasP) here:
HIV TasP
You can read about HIV prevention here:
HIV prevention
Read about PEP and PrEP here
PEP and PrEP

My Instagram
Threads

 


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