HIV risk? Do these symptoms sound like seroconversion?

[psychopika]

Hey guys! Could you please help me here, I'm going out of my mind...

Three weeks ago I went to a medical laboratory where they tested for my blood group. I knew the nurse there and she did it herself. She opened a new needle and pricked my finger tip. Then she picked a (new) glass slide from a neat stack and wiped the blood coming out of my finger with the corners of the slide before dipping each corner into the solutions. I didn't see any blood on the slide before but I didn't really look carefully. I chatted to the nurse for about 5 minutes before getting my blood drawn and they didn't seem to be working there very recently either.

2-3 weeks later I develop this strange 'cold' - vague headache, vague dizziness, feeling a fullness in my throat (but not sore) and behind my nose, feeling my head heavy and it hurts a bit when I move my eyes. I got a couple of swollen lymph nodes in my upper neck - small (7-8mm), very soft and mobile, a bit tender. My throat is a bit reddish with a few whitish patches but it doesn't hurt. I got another tender lymph node in my groin yesterday, but it's tiny and very soft as well (5mm). Today I've been feeling a bit of neausea and my stomach feels upset. I've been having this 'cold' for 4 days.

I have no fever, no sore throat, no runny nose, not much fatigue and it happened after a few weeks of being extremely stressed out.

Do you think I might have been exposed to HIV by that procedure? They seemed to be a clean lab. And these could be the conversion symptoms of HIV? Or more likely something else?

[Jeff G]

You are being paranoid . Do you have a fear of being infected with HIV or diagnosed as OCD by chance ?

As long as you are using condoms for vaginal and anal sex correctly and consistently you will avoid HIV .

ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME for this incident , 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.

[psychopika]

Thank you so much for your answer!

Yes I am diagnosed with OCD and suffer from hypochondria. I often worry about such things but this time it was the strange symptoms that made me feel more concerned.

I have regular HIV (and all else) tests, the latest negative test was one month ago. I have only one sexual partner for 8 years and we are both clean and very careful.

So basically this laboratory event poses zero risk for hiv infection, correct? My symptoms most likely have a different cause and I don't need to retest myself soon?

Thank you for your patience.

[Jeff G]

I'm so sorry you suffer with these conditions and I bet in your heart you know you didn't have a risk . 

We cant help you with your problems here because your problem is not HIV . Talk to your mental health provider and Im wishing you the best of luck .   

[psychopika]

Thank you again Jeff, you are very kind.

I am treating my OCD, some days it's better and some worse.