sleepless nights

[JayR]

last monday i was givin a needle by the guy i was getting my drugs from, i didnt give it much thought at first and didnt even use it till about and hour and a half after it was prepped. but now i am afraid he may have givin me hiv purposefully. he was rather intent on me using the syringe he had brought for me to use. i am 80% sure he is hiv pos. it is now sun and i seem to have developed a very mild sore throat and no other real symptoms. i got tested on thursday, and will be getting results this thursday as a baseline test. i am very afraid and cant sleep or eat.

[RapidRod]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at a syringe and know if it has been used or not.

[Andy Velez]

This all strikes me as something that is more about what ifs and feelings than anything based in HIV science. You have this idea he may want to give you HIV intentionally and that he's HIV+. No facts happening there, Jay. Getting a sore throat is absolutely not an HIV-specific symptom in anyway. I'd say you are worrying needlessly.

However, we always advise anyone who is sexually and intravenously active to regularly have a full STD panel done. That means at least annually.

In the future there's an effective way to avoid risk and worry in this situation. Get your own needles. And don't bother telling me how hard it is to do that. We're talking about your health and your life here. Use only your own and then you won't have to worry.

Cheers.

[Ann]

Jay,

What? If you're using works used by others, you're at a much higher risk for ending up with hep C than you are hiv.

Wise up mate. Don't use a rig that's been used by someone else. Hep C isn't prettier than hiv.

Ann

[JayR]

ok, now i am sure he has hiv. he is perscribed to both valtrex and murinol, these are at least the meds i saw. and on a seperate earlier occasion he was rolling the cotton for me which s what you put in the spoon the draw from. anyway he had some dried blood on his thumb which may have rubbed against the cotton. when i looked at it it had no visible blood on it. am i at risk?

[JayR]

also, i just read that people who contract hiv through needle use have a much shorter life expectancy. is this true? i am very scared

[RapidRod]

You read wrong. IV drug abuser life exp. isn't any shorter than anyone else do to HIV.

[Andy Velez]

also, i just read that people who contract hiv through needle use have a much shorter life expectancy. is this true? i am very scared

No, that isn't true. What is true that is that sharing needles is a very high risk "opportunity" for HIV transmission.

Although I still stand by my original assessment that a lot of your stress is based on feelings rather than facts, I'm also thinking that with your history getting tested at 13 weeks as well as having a full STD panel done is  probably a good idea just to remove any doubts about your status. 

[JayR]

well so far so good, the possible infection was on 2/2. on 2/9 i had a blood test for hiv and the heps, all being neg but heb b was indeterminate. The doc told me if it was a serious infection it would have been pos and i will be going for follow up tests in 3 weeks and then at the 3 mnth mark. another worry of mine is herpes. i have a small sore on the corner of my mouth between bottom and top lip. no puss or anything but a little painful. as i stated earlier the guy in question was taking valtrex. i have never had any pysical contact with him, but as i said i am a little worried about the syringe. can herpes be passed that way? how long does it take to be tested for herpes? the doc also told me that it can take muliplt exposures to become infected with hiv. just wondering what your opinion was on this. i am also happy to say that this scare has stopped me from using and am now six days clean

[JayR]

also i seem to be having just a lttle bit of a sore throat and my tongue has been looking white. i am a little bit confused on what thrush is but i heard it can be a symptom of hiv. but then again after the scare i had stopped brushing my teeth for almost a week cause of the stress and increased my smoking greatly, i would say doubling it

[Andy Velez]

Jay, you need to discuss your herpes concerns with your doctor. This is an HIV-specific website and we pretty much stick to that.

That's not really quite clear what your doctor said about it taking multiple exposures to become infected by HIV. It is true that someone might have unprotected sex a number of times and for a variety of reasons not become infected. Among other things it can be because of the HIV+ having a low viral load as well as other factors. But I have also known for someone to have a single unprotected incident and become infected. So the thing is simply to not take chances and always go the safer way. That means always using condoms for vaginal and anal intercourse and not sharing needles for IV drug use.

That's great that you're working on not using. Good way to make something positive in the best sense come out of this experience.

Good luck with your tests and keep us posted.

Cheers.

[Andy Velez]

also i seem to be having just a lttle bit of a sore throat and my tongue has been looking white. i am a little bit confused on what thrush is but i heard it can be a symptom of hiv. but then again after the scare i had stopped brushing my teeth for almost a week cause of the stress and increased my smoking greatly, i would say doubling it

OK, so you're just in the HIV jitters stage now, which means that you are busily (mis)interpreting everything through a worried mindset. A doctor has to diagnose if you have thrush. And even if you do have it, that is NOT an HIV-specific occurrence.

[Ann]

Jay,

I'll say it again, you're at MUCH higher risk for both hep B and C when sharing needles than you are at risk for hiv. You are still at risk for hiv, but it's more likely you'd end up with one or both of the heps.

And please make sure you do your follow-up testing. You are still in a window period for all of them.

I hope you can remain a non-user, but there's a few things you need to know if you do inject again.

Use ONLY your own syringe AND equipment. This includes needle, syring barrel and plunger, water, water container, spoon, filiter and tie-off. The total ban on using ANY of your injecting buddy's equipment is not because of hiv, but because of hepatitis, both are more infectious in this setting than hiv. Hep C is no walk in the park and is in some cases incurable, just like hiv. It's one of the leading causes of liver transplant. It's one of the leading causes of liver cancer. It's trouble with a capital T.

Good luck with your testing and if you can't be "good", be safe. Please.

Ann

[JayR]

ok so a week ago at the exact 2 week mark i developed a very slight pain/ partial swollen lymph node on the right side right under my jaw bone about three inches from chin. This has me very freaked out! i will be getting tested next week as that is the month mark