Scared

[fml887]

Hi all,
Back in mid-December, I had a drunken encounter with a man that I barely know, in which I was the receptive anal partner. He was inside of me for maybe a minute or so, and without ejaculation.

At 25 days post-exposure, I very suddenly developed very painfully swollen lymph nodes all along the right side of my neck (and I believe a low-grade fever on this first day and the next, but not after that), followed three days later by a rash across my chest and neck (many small, raised flat dots that came on very suddenly - only within a matter of an hour or two).

Now, almost three months later (it'll be three months to the day on Thursday), I still have a swollen lymph node (painless) underneath my right jaw.

I was tested at 32 days (negative), and am due to be tested again after returning to school from spring break (I have exams until the day that I leave, and do not feel comfortable being tested in my hometown).

I also contracted rectal chlamydia from this encounter, and that is what really scares me, as I know that this increases my chances of having contracted the virus a lot. (Although, I'm somewhat confused as to how I managed to contract rectal chlamydia and not oral, as I was the receptive partner for unprotected oral sex for a much longer period of time).

Do I have any reasons at all to be optimistic? I know that my outlook sounds pretty grim, so I'm guessing not, and I know that none of you can tell me that I do or do not have HIV (and neither can my "symptoms"), only a test can, but all in the same, I thought that it might be worth it to ask you all's opinions.

Thanks

[Andy Velez]

First of all, symptoms are never the way to know anything reliably about your HIV status. And there is nothing HIV-specific about any of the ones you are reporting.

The average time to sero-conversion is 22 days so that first negative result at  25 days is a bit reassuring. But you do need to re-test at 13 weeks to confirm that earlier result. It having been a single incident without ejaculation is also in your favor.

As for your symptoms, you need to discuss those with your doctor. Don't handle or bother your lymph nodes manually. Doing that can create a more serious problem so leave them alone and let the doctor find out what's going on. I can tell you that ARS symptoms would not be lasting this long.

Hopefully you are going to come out of this ok. But you do need to learn from this experience. You can have as much anal sex as you want to and with as many partners as you like. But to protect your life and your health you need to do it the safer way. That means the insertive partner always has to be wearing a condom. No exceptions. That way you will be well protected against the sexual transmission of HIV.

Good luck with your test. Keep us posted.

Cheers.

[fml887]

Thanks for the reply, Andy. That makes me feel a bit better, although I was actually tested at 32 days post exposure, not 25. I didn't start getting symptoms until 25 days after.

I don't know what to think about the node, though. The doctor that I saw for testing at 32 days, said that it might just be tonsillitis (in late November, before this encounter, I had gotten sick, with a very sore, very enlarged right tonsil and lymph node. The tonsil has stayed enlarged since, but the lymph node went down and has only recently become large again with this possible HIV scare).

I'm hoping that it really is just some weird form of tonsillitis (that causes a rash???), although the fact that the guy that I hooked up with refuses to be tested again also really worries me. He insists that he can't be positive, as he last tested negative in August (as though that's a vaccine or something? I don't understand his logic). The fact that he doesn't seem to understand the way HIV transmission works worries me not only for my own health, but also for that of others (he also doesn't seem to understand chlamydia, and refuses to seek testing/treatment for that as well).

[Andy Velez]

FML, although I can appreciate why you are interested in what the other guy had to say about his status, we are never interested in hearing about someone else's supposed HIV status. It's YOUR status that needs to be the focus.

There is nothing HIV-specific about the symptoms you are reporting.

You can test initially at 6 weeks. If you get a negative result at that point then the likelihood is good that you will continue to test negative as all but the smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after a risky exposure.

[fml887]

Just as an update: my test came back negative at 17 weeks post-exposure.

[Andy Velez]

That's a very happy result. So you are confirmed as HIV negative.

Just remember to use condoms everytime in the future for vagina and anal intercourse and you will be protected in terms of sexual risk for HIV.

Cheers.l