POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: carguy on June 15, 2006, 07:31:45 pm
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Hi all Its been a long time since Ive posted. My topic in the old forums was entitled " Late Ars". In short had sex with a female pro used a condom and it slipped off for a short period of time. Had alot of symptoms in the two to four week range. Most have subsided long ago but some still persist to this day. What I am freaking out about is that I looked inside my mouth today and in the back by the opening of the throat are a bunch of white sores and also on the tip and sides of the uvula which is the piece of skin hanging down in front of the throat. Also within the last month the skin on my hands and feet has dried out to the point of being cracked and flaking. I know symptoms mean nothing, but If this is oral thrush, I have to put two and two together. I am a smoker, but in over 25 years of smoking I have never experienced this.I have tested multiple times all the way out to 8 months . All have come back neg. I am now at 10 months past exposure and debating if I should take both a elisa and a dna/pcr on the off chance that either I am not producing antibodies of standard serology has yet to pick up infection. I also want to add that although these lesions are present, they dont hurt as of yet, and I have read that thrush is quite painful. Sorry for the long post, but I'm really scared right now. Thanks everyone.
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Carguy,
One thing is certain - you are reliably hiv negative and you do not need futher testing.
The stuff going on in your mouth could be thrush, or it could be something else entirely. You'll have to go to a doctor or dentist to find out what it is, because not only can we not diagnose you over the internet, but you cannot diagnose yourself either. Thrush is difficult for even a doctor or dentist to diagnose without taking a swab.
You are reliably hiv negative and it's time to get with a doctor or dentist so you can discover the source of your oral problems.
You are hiv negative. You don't have hiv.
Ann
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Ann said it, so believe it.
You're HIV-negative.
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Thanks Ann and Et, I hope you both are well. I have been told that by others on the forum as well and I really appreciate the time and effort spent by all. I have read the new lessons and i believe the science behind all of this, but I am guilty of also reading "the other board" where there has been ongoing debate over the window period and where people have said that they seroconverted well outside the window. With all my neg tests I want to believe that I'm negative, but when you read some of the other stuff,,, Its just damm confusing. Then with weird problem after weird problem,, well ya know.
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Regardless of what other forums say about the window period, 13 weeks is conclusive. You will always find those who say they seroconverted after 3 months, got infected by oral sex etc. The stories are like fairy tales, every aspect of it appears to beat all odds of reality.
Delayed seroconversion today would be written up in medical journals.
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hi everyone its been a while. the title says it all, my story, on nov 3rd hooked up with a old flame, had unprotected vaginal sex. 2 more times on nov 24th. The day aft thanksgiving nov 28th came down with explosive diarrhea which has lasted 4 a week, sore leg muscles, cough and pain in the righy lower abdomin 1 sore lymph gland in my neck by voice box which i have not prodded but can feel when coughing this just occured yesterday and is still here. fever 99 one day no rash. tested 4 weeks after 1st incident on nov 3rd and it was neg...so I have a baseline. my question is if this is ars it would be from the first episode on nov 3rd and not the second due to it being only 4 days. Talked to councler and he said that at 4 weeks 95 percent of people would show positive at that point. is this info correct? I know i still have to test at 13 weeks but my mind and body are going nuts with the symptoms and timeline. thanks
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Your questions will NOT be answered until you return to your orginal post.
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im sorry... they were from 2 yrs ago im sorry i didnt thimk that those were relavant any more. please forgive me. if someone can tell me how to merge the two together i will. sorry again
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Hi,
I've merged your threads. Please keep all of your entries in this same thread.
None of your symptoms are in anyway HIV specific, but then neither symptoms or lack of same is ever the way to reliably know about your HIV status. An HIV test is the ONLY way to know for sure.
A negative at 4 weeks is encouraging because all but the smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure. The average time to seroconversion is 22 days. It's also significantly harder to transmit HIV from female to male so that's in your favor as well. But lower risk is not the same as no risk. You can have intercourse with anyone you want to regardless of their HIV status. But you need to consistently do it the safer way which means using a condom everytime. No exceptions!
Be smart and learn from this scare.
As for your symptoms, discuss them with your doctor.
I think there's a very good likelihood you'll come out of this ok.
Cheers.
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car,
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through all three condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
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.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple.
Ann
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thank u ann and andy hope u both are well,, once again sorry for starting a new thread. is my thinking correct in the fact that the 2nd time we had sex on the 24th which when i tested was only 1 week from that point,,, it would be way too soon for ars symptoms from that encounter to appear on the 28th?
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You're still focusing on symptoms, which you have already been told are not an accurate way in which to know your status. Only testing can give you the answer you want. Period.
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very true andy,,thanks, the waiting is just very difficult.
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Yes, it can be. But if you make a real effort to focus on other things in your life and get productively busy, you will find the waiting time goes a lot easier. And don't say you're too worried to do that, because that won't fly here.
Good luck. I expect you to come out of this ok.
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hello, any input on this would be helpful, the woman i had sex with in nov, i can contact her, i dont know if she has ever been tested. my question is there any way that i could ask her to test using a home access kit or going to clinic. I dont want to offend her but if she tests neg then my fear is for nothing.i know this is selfish of me, but it would be helpful.
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You're responsible for your own health. You can do whatever you choose to in terms of asking someone, but she would be well within her rights to tell you to p**s off. And even if she agreed to be tested and received a negative result, unless the test was done at 13 weeks after her most recent unprotected incident, the result would not be final.
Get your own test is my suggestion even though it is looking to you like you can do a short cut. I understand why you want to do it, but I firmly believe in a person getting their own test result.
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you're right as usual Andy. I has big misgivings about it anyway. its my responsibility about my own health. also the expletive that u think she would have said,,I can assure you that would have been on a sunday morning after church,,, I think she would have lit into me like a Christmas tree..lol
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Hello all,, I recently had a unprotected vaginal sexual encounter with a friend of unknown status. This happened on 3/16,,I know that symptoms mean nothing, and yes I have had a few. My question is that I had a appointment on 4/18 for a general physical in which they drew several vials of blood. I did not sign a release for HIV testing as it was not offered by the people drawing the blood. I am in the USA,,so I dint know if in this situation they test for HIV automatically or if they need permission. Also I am aware that this test is not a strong indicator due to the fact that it was only 32 days from exposure. Some places say that 4 weeks will p/u around 90% of new infections. Thank you for your time in responding to my question.
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Carguy,
If any of the blood taken for testing was going to be tested for hiv, you would have been told. I don't think you have to sign a release form these days, but it would have been discussed with you regardless. They do not automatically test for hiv.
You need get tested. You can find a testing center near you by putting your zip code in the Health Services Directory (http://directory.poz.com/) at POZ.com. Use the first section.
The earliest you should test is at six weeks. Four weeks is ok, but six weeks is much, much better. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by this point. A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point, but is highly unlikely to change.
While hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus and more so from a woman to a man, you really need to wise up and stop having unprotected intercourse. It would be unusual and unlucky for you to become infected from just one case of unprotected insertive vaginal intercourse, but it can and does happen. So wise up before it's too late.
Ann
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Thanks for the quick response Ann,,I hope you are well. Nothing was discussed about HIV as this was just a general physical due to my increasing age. Yes I can be quite stupid at times and need to learn from my mistakes.