POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Abitconcerned on January 16, 2007, 02:44:33 pm
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Hi!
I know that I need to get tested to truly answer my question, which I plan to do in about two weeks at the one month mark, but please evaluate my risk and tell me whether I should be worried.
I'm a WM and while In SE Asia, I had sex with a female professional. She was friends with by buddy's fiance, and told me she was negative, so I believed her (I asked after our first night together). We used a condom, but it broke. I immediately pulled out and put on another condom, and went until I finished. The next day, I had some kind of traveler's diahrrea.
About eight days later, I began feeling very tired and cold. I never took my temp., but assume I had a mild fever because I felt so cold. One night, I had horrible night sweats, soaking my sheets and comforter. This only lasted for about two days, and then cleared up. Now, I feel ok, but sometimes feel like I'm tired and running out of gas earlier in the evening (I'm passing out earlier than I usually do and sleep for awhile, only to feel tired early the next evening).
What really has me worried is that I developed some kind of red sore on the shaft of my penis (it wasn't oozing or anything, and was small, but did feel a bit tender). That cleared up after a few days, but I don't know if it was a herpe or what.
If my symptoms were caused by HIV, would an oraquick test come up positive at this point (2 and 1/2 weeks) so I could go test immediately? Could my symptoms possibly be caused by mono or the same thing that caused my diahrrea? Thanks. I know I shouldn't be that worried because I've gotten away with much riskier sexual encounters in the past, but for some reason I'm really scared. I'm also kind of annoyed because I TRIED to be careful, but I guess not careful enough.
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Your symptoms cannot tell you your HIV status. In regards to the condom breakage while your risk is minimal its still a "test worthy" incident. In addition if you are sexually active you should have a full STD panel done every 6 months.
I would go see your Dr. about the symptoms.
Others shall speak of testing windows shortly.
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HIV is not an easy virus to transmit. It is significantly more difficult to transmit from female to male. Since you had on a condom and it protected you until it broke + you withdrew and put another on, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor against transmission having occured during this incident.
Four weeks is too early to get a reliable result. The average time to seroconversion is 22 days, and all but the smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure to the virus. So you should wait until 6 weeks are up to get tested. Assuming you test negative, and I think you will, you can confirm that result with a re-test at 13 weeks. From what you have reported I expect you to come out of this ok.
As for your symptoms, that's something to discuss with your doctor. There's nothing in anyway suggestive of HIV to me about the ones you are reporting.
Good luck with your test.
Cheers,
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Thanks for the advice Andy and AC. Very appreciated.
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Glad you found these exchanges to be helpful.