Author Topic: Am I Infected? Please help. (Read 8811 times)

Donna1983 · « **on:** February 15, 2011, 12:36:29 am »

Hello I am new here to the AIDSMEDS community and want to say hello to everyone. Four and 1/2 months ago I was exposed to a man who ended up being a confirmed HIV positive person. I was tested via trinity gold rapid test (A 3rd generation test) negative at 4 1/2 months.
The person giving me the test told me it is not accurate until six months....I thought three months was enough?

I have had many symptoms to make me believe I infected some disease from the matter...it happened aprox 2-4 weeks after exposure....rash, night sweats, loss of appetite (my stomach has not growled to let me know I need to eat in 3 months now!), rash on chin and chest, acne (never had acne before in my life), tender swollen groin nodes, neck nodes and under armpit area. Soar throat lasted a little bit too a few weeks after infection. Watery eyes, blurred vision, eye floaters, tired all the time. "Chicken skin" all over stomach and thighs, strange pink and red bumps. Strange infections - gums started getting puffy...toe nail infection I never had before. Flakey skin and now I cut and bleed easier than ever before in my life all this and so many more symptoms I can cry!!!!

I am guessing since I have all these symptoms my HIV negative at the 4 months is not conclusive because I show too many symptoms? And I must be a late seroconverter and test at six months? Or am I okay? Please help.

RapidRod · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2011, 01:10:58 am »

3 months is conclusive. You don't have HIV.

Donna1983 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2011, 01:59:44 am »

CAN SOMEONE please help me I am freaking out. Some man on here personally messaged me and told me that it could be a mutant strain and wont show and that he has exact same symptoms and slept with HIV positive woman. HELP ME

Matty the Damned · « **Reply #3 on:** February 15, 2011, 02:08:39 am »

Quote from: Donna1983 on February 15, 2011, 01:59:44 am

CAN SOMEONE please help me I am freaking out. Some man on here personally messaged me and told me that it could be a mutant strain and wont show and that he has exact same symptoms and slept with HIV positive woman. HELP ME

Donna,

Are you saying you received a PM from another member here? Normally you shouldn't be able to access the PM system until you've posted 3 times but that might not apply to you receiving PMs.

In any event, once you've posted a third time (ie in response to this post) you will be able to access the PM system and report the offending message to an Administrator.

The person who messaged you is wrong. Your test results are conclusive. You are HIV negative. There is no such thing as a "mutant strain" which does not "show" on antibody tests. All strains of HIV can be detected with modern antibody tests.

I urge you to report the the PM. One of our Administrators will deal with the person who sent you such an awful and erroneous message.

MtD

EDIT: I notice that you have your email address publicly visible in your profile and it might be that someone has emailed you rather than sending you a PM.

My advice is that you change your Profile settings to make your email address private. That will prevent other members from being able to contact you via email. Moderators and administrators will still be able to see your email address.

MtD

Donna1983 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 15, 2011, 02:24:25 am »

He said this...I know he was just trying to help me, but the man scared the living @$#% out of me.

Here is the message....

You have just been sent a personal message by queb23 on AIDSmeds Community Forums.

IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.

The message they sent you was:

" hi
I have exactelly the same symptomes as you, tender painfull lymph nodes , blurred vision with floaters, anorexia, rash. white tong, my risk was vaginal umprotected untercourse with HIV + female, I tested neh at 3 months,
somes docs said ots ok, I had sex with my wife, then she fell sick, with exactelly the same symptomes as mine, then the same docs are saying that that a 6 months tests are warranted,
here is my story :
http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=36237.0 "

After he sent me this I went to the link with his post and then saw in fact in LA a man who did not show positive on a test because of a mutant strain...with this site he provided...

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjcm.asm.org%2Fcgi%2Fcontent%2Ffull%2F42%2F6%2F2847&h=c24ac.

What scares me even more is that the person who may have infected me used to live in Los Angeles and claims that is where he got infected!

Dear good lord I am so scared.

Matty the Damned · « **Reply #5 on:** February 15, 2011, 02:44:00 am »

Quote from: Donna1983 on February 15, 2011, 02:24:25 am

He said this...I know he was just trying to help me, but the man scared the living @$#% out of me.

Here is the message....

You have just been sent a personal message by queb23 on AIDSmeds Community Forums.

IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.

The message they sent you was:

" hi
I have exactelly the same symptomes as you, tender painfull lymph nodes , blurred vision with floaters, anorexia, rash. white tong, my risk was vaginal umprotected untercourse with HIV + female, I tested neh at 3 months,
somes docs said ots ok, I had sex with my wife, then she fell sick, with exactelly the same symptomes as mine, then the same docs are saying that that a 6 months tests are warranted,
here is my story :
http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=36237.0 "

After he sent me this I went to the link with his post and then saw in fact in LA a man who did not show positive on a test because of a mutant strain...with this site he provided...

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjcm.asm.org%2Fcgi%2Fcontent%2Ffull%2F42%2F6%2F2847&h=c24ac.

What scares me even more is that the person who may have infected me used to live in Los Angeles and claims that is where he got infected!

Dear good lord I am so scared.

Donna,

queb23 should not have sent you that message. I will report that post to the Moderators for review.

Please believe me when I tell you that he is wrong. Your test results are conclusive, you are HIV negative. I wouldn't lie to you about something like this.

Regarding the link he posted in his PM I would suggest that you ignore it. The paper it refers to is seven years old and antibody testing has advanced since then. It is very common for frightened people to latch onto and misinterpret scientific documents that they do not understand. That is, no doubt, what qeb23 has done here. We see people referring these sorts of papers all the time. In every case they have no understanding of them.

The advice we give here is based on reputable science and is reviewed by leading experts in the HIV/AIDS field. We have extremely high standards when it comes to the evidence we rely on when formulating our lessons and our advice to members.

Symptoms are no indicator of HIV status. Many things can cause the sort of symptoms that you report and your testing history shows us, beyond any doubt, that HIV is not that cause.

MtD

Donna1983 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 15, 2011, 03:03:20 am »

Thank you so very much. I hope you are right, because my partner touched my vaginal area and got fluid on his fresh open cut. We are breaking up and he says he wants me to call him at six months after my exposure and tell him if I tested positive so he can go test. The man is driving me nuts....I told him not to touch me with an open cut finger, but he would not listen to me. Now - I am in fear he will sue me if I infect him. He told me if I infected him he would kill himself....that also makes me a nervous wreck too. I did not intentionally infect him - so in the rare case I do have it....would I be held responsible and be convicted? I don't think that is fair since he chose to touch me in my vaginal area when we were cuddling and I strictly said NOT with an open cut...but he refused to listen. Sorry if I am sounding irrational I have been very anxiety ridden since the exposure. This partner soon to be ex partner is driving me nuts and not helping by telling me I probably gave it to him and need to call him at my six month test.

Matty the Damned · « **Reply #7 on:** February 15, 2011, 03:12:12 am »

Quote from: Donna1983 on February 15, 2011, 03:03:20 am

Thank you so very much. I hope you are right, because my partner touched my vaginal area and got fluid on his fresh open cut. We are breaking up and he says he wants me to call him at six months after my exposure and tell him if I tested positive so he can go test. The man is driving me nuts....I told him not to touch me with an open cut finger, but he would not listen to me. Now - I am in fear he will sue me if I infect him. He told me if I infected him he would kill himself....that also makes me a nervous wreck too. I did not intentionally infect him - so in the rare case I do have it....would I be held responsible and be convicted? I don't think that is fair since he chose to touch me in my vaginal area when we were cuddling and I strictly said NOT with an open cut...but he refused to listen. Sorry if I am sounding irrational I have been very anxiety ridden since the exposure. This partner soon to be ex partner is driving me nuts and not helping by telling me I probably gave it to him and need to call him at my six month test.

Donna, you really have this blown way out of all proportions.

Firstly the window period for HIV antibody testing is 3 months, not six. Secondly even if you were positive (and you most assuredly are not) your partner would not have contracted HIV from touching your vaginal wall with a cut finger. HIV is simply not transmitted that way.

HIV is transmitted through unprotected anal and vaginal sex, through sharing contaminated needles and syringes and in some cases from HIV positive mother to her unborn and/or nursing infant.

If your partner is worried tell him to get himself tested not to hang out waiting for other people's test results.

As I and Rodney have told you, your test results are conclusive. You are HIV negative.

MtD

Donna1983 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 15, 2011, 03:19:02 am »

Thank you both. I now feel better and will start making monthly donations to HIV/AIDS services all around the Nation. THANK YOU

Matty the Damned · « **Reply #9 on:** February 15, 2011, 03:19:59 am »

Quote from: Donna1983 on February 15, 2011, 03:19:02 am

Thank you both. I now feel better and will start making monthly donations to HIV/AIDS services all around the Nation. THANK YOU

I am glad we've been able to help you Donna.

MtD

Ann · « **Reply #10 on:** February 15, 2011, 04:55:47 am »

Donna,

Actually, close reading of the paper you were linked to shows that the test the person originally tested negative on was giving him a positive result two months into his window period.

During the time the person was testing negative on that particular test, he was testing positive on other tests, including another antibody test.

So this person was never getting a false negative in any meaningful way. He still ultimately tested positive by the end of the window period.

I've removed queb23's PM privileges for abusing said privilege.

Ann

queb23 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 15, 2011, 07:53:27 am »

by posting here I want just to say, I AM VERY SORY DONA , I see that my message was not appropriate, thats was not what I wanted to do, not to freakimg you out, i wanted just to share what happened to me, as I think we are exactelly in the same situation. I did nt sais that you have a mutain strain !! in no case i have talked about that to you. you read that in my original post, it was a question to the moderator, and I still dont know if his story is real or fiction.

what I wanted to say is in my experience, the doc in the clinics (as the all the moderator of this forum), said that it was conclusif at 3 months, but after my wife symptomes, I am asked by my ID (who changed his mind), and Dr bob of the body forum, a respectfull internet authority who asked me to retest.
The moderator of this forum are experienced, and hiv educated, they all seems confidents about the three months mark, I trust on them, as you should, but only things till the next test, I will be carfull about unprotedcted sex, just to nt complicate the situation more thant it is.

sorry again if my message was missunderstood. I wanted just to share the same experience.

Andy Velez · « **Reply #12 on:** February 15, 2011, 08:10:29 am »

Queb, however well intentioned your purpose was, you need to stop writing in this thread and in any thread other than your own. Only those who are authorized to do so are allowed to respond in this forum.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Donna1983 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 16, 2011, 06:16:41 pm »

Ann,

Thanks for reviewing the paper and clarifying what it meant. Us worried people do not think straight and may take things like that out of conext....especially since it is hard for the average lay person like me to read medical papers.

I have one more question concerning HIV. I heard that a few months after a woman is HIV infected it can effect her menstrual cycle? My periods are usually normal, but the one I got this month lasted only one day and then a day after that a few spots and it was over. It was very light too. That got me so worried to search google and find light periods are a sign of new infection.

I am thinking the test I took is not up to par with the three month window period because I am in the USA and we do not use the early P24 antigen detection tests like they use in the UK, Australlia.

If all my symptoms match up to HIV and I am still negative at say 5 months.....what else could it be?

I also tested for all other STDs (but did not test for herpes) and they were negative.

Could herpes cause this body change?

I also heard that some people read aidsmeds forums here on people who tested positive claiming
they did not show a positive result until after six months of exposure...WHO are these people and are they drug users or have cancer?..Or normal folks like me and all us other worried wells. Sorry to bug, but I need your help. Thank you for your time!

Ann · « **Reply #14 on:** February 17, 2011, 01:32:58 am »

Donna,

Why are you concerning yourself with possible period changes due to hiv infection when it has already been established that you DO NOT HAVE HIV?

And by the way, tests that include testing for the p24 antigen are standard in the States.

If you read the Welcome Thread before posting like you're supposed to, you will have read the following posting guideline:

Quote

Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.

Please consider yourself warned!

Ann

Donna1983 · « **Reply #15 on:** May 31, 2011, 07:04:45 pm »

I am back again. I had no exposures since 8 months ago, but symptoms keep showing. Eye floaters, vaginal blisters (not herpes been tested), acne all over face, no appetite. Still negative and think it's okay to have unprotected sex with my partner (we both got tested out of the three month window period HIV neg) So I made love to him and now he has acne all over his face...he used to never get acne. I went to the gyno for a blood blister above my clitoris and they told me that I need to test for HIV in one year that six months is not enough. Now I am scared out of my mind I gave HIV to my love. Please help me. It is one thing if I have it, but to give it to someone is hard to deal with. I thought after my 7 months negative for HIV I was fine....my blood was even negative for herpes so the blister is not herpes. Please help...so I have HIV? Am I a rare medical case? With all my symptoms....loss of appetite, acne, ulcers in mouth and vagina, eye vision black dot floaters, slight fevers of 99.1 at the doctors office. What is wrong with me? Is it a rare type of HIV that wont show on test? I had a negative HIV DNA PCR at six weeks and Negative HIV at 7 months thought I was okay?! This gynecologist is driving me crazy I wanted to slap her I am so upset to hear a medical professional say one year. HELP ME.

Andy Velez · « **Reply #16 on:** May 31, 2011, 09:53:44 pm »

We cannot help you here because your problems have nothing to do with HIV. Period.

You are simply patching a bunch of things together and deciding they mean HIV and invalidate your negative test result. Which they don't.

Get some professional help with your fears. A doctor ought to be able to diagnose whatever is causing any symptoms you may have as well as those of your "love."

You've been warned about coming back here and insisting you have HIV when we reliably know that you don't.

I am giving you the 28 day Time Out you were warned about. Don't make the mistake of trying to get around it by creating a new account. We'll spot that right off and it would get you permanently banned.

HIV is not your problem. Get professional help to deal with your unwarranted fears. We can't help you with that in this setting.

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Author Topic: Am I Infected? Please help. (Read 8811 times)