POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Paul12345 on June 03, 2014, 10:10:55 am
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Hi there,
I have only just joined this msg board today as some of the feedback was giving me a slight peace of mind so a lot of credit where credit is due to the people who reply with advice and kind words, I'm looking for some help myself...
On 10th May I was out drunk one night and ended up having sex unprotected with a random girl, the intercourse was viginal and lasted about 5 minutes, I pulled out at the end. I felt no symptoms at all after this happened, I went on holiday from the US to Europe and while there everything was fine so this was about 1 week after. I flew back to the US and slept a few hours, when I got off the flight I instantly felt I had a horrible sore throat but no cough, I presumed this was due to the long flight. The sore throat lasted about 1 week an is now cleared but what I have noticed is swollen Lymph Glands. I have 1 on the right hand side of my neck, just below the jaw line, it's not noticeable but if I run my fingers down I can feel a slight longish lump."I just again presumed this was due to my sore throat?!
The sore throat is gone now but the lymph node is still there, I did some research on google (I know it's wrong but I can't help it) and read other possible locations of lymph nodes so I instantly felt my groin and felt 2 of then on each side, both are quite high up on my groin, almost identical positions and feel like 2 small pea like balls, below one side I can feel 1 or 2 more if I press hard enough, I can't see them just feel them.
As you can imagine I am in a horrible state right now, anxiaty is running wild, I can barely eat any food but I'm putting that down to my nervous state of mind. I want to also add that I have had no other symptoms, no fever, no headache, no stool issues, no rashes. I've for a few raised red spots that look like heat spots but I don't think that's a worry for me. My chest is slightly red like I have a bit of sunburn but no spots or anything.
I've booked an appointment with my doctor for next Wed so that will be 32 days since my night of shame, that will be 4 weeks since my exposure, if anything I think it's to just get something done and put my mind at ease.
I know you get asked this a million times but does the symptoms I have be something I should be worried about? Can I get swollen lymph nodes from another std, can I get them through anxiety?
Any advice or words or wisdom would be greatly appreciated good or bad.
Thanks for your time
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Your symptoms are in no way specific to HIV ... so we wont discuss or do you a disservice by guessing whats causing them . You have had a risk for HIV and the only way to know if you are infected is to test at the appropriate time .
The average time to seroconversion is 22 days. Most who are infected will test positive by 6 weeks. For various reasons a small number will take longer and that is why we follow the CDC recommendation to test at 3 months for a conclusive negative result.
The earliest you should test is 6 weeks past any possible exposure and again at 3 months to conform the results . Keep in mind that a 6 week negative test rarely becomes a positive one when you retest at 12 weeks but it still must be confirmed .
Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
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 without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through the 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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
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Hi Jeff,
As ever you have been kind and fast enough to reply to me so I thank you for that!
I know myself I need to get tested to put my mind to ease, I've got an appointment next week so I will go ahead and get a test done, if anything it will take a load of my shoulders, I'm very worried I have HIV. I've never had a reason to feel my groin so I have no idea if I've always has lymph nodes there, I'm guessing not so it's just utterly bizarre that I have unprotected sex and then they appear a few weeks later, this is what is worrying me. I've only had a sore throat and a slight runny nose which both happened as soon as I got off that flight but I know some people don't even get symptoms at all for months and months on end and don't even know they have it.
I'm also slightly worried that the sore throat is gone but the lymph node is not, not sure if that's normal for people! Is it at all possible that due to me being convinced I have HIV that my body is therefor producing things like lymph nodes or is that just nonsense?
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We rarely have a people who actually go on to test positive but one thing you guys all have in common is the most horrendous crippling painful Aids any human has ever had to endure .
The good news is that about 20 minutes or less after your negative test result you will make a miraculous recovery and be well again .
You did have a risk but the only thing to do now is to test ... that's the only way forward .
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Thanks again Jeff!
The final and last question I have if you don't mind, do we always have lymph nodes in our groin area, what I mean by that is that I'm a slim guy so when I stand up, lean back and run my fingers down I can feel the odd pea shaped lymph node, of I was infected/lymph node fighting off the virus would these lymph nodes increase in size?
I was reading a few thing that the lymph nodes are always the size of a pea / longish thing nut and that when the body is fighting a virus for example the nodes will increase in size and once the virus is down they will return to their normal pea shapes size, is this correct?
Just to put my mind at ease Jeff, if you for example run you fingers up and down your groin are you bound to feel a few pea shaped lymphs?
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We get these questions allot . Sometime those pea size things and gristle feeling things are not lymph nodes ... they are connective tissue . If you keep putting your fingers in your lymph nodes they will swell leaving you to think there is a problem ... it happens quite often . It takes VERY LITTLE poking to make a lymph node swell and hurt so do not do it .
I have broken one of my biggest rules here and that's discussing symptoms ... its useless to do so and is a guessing game . If you are sick go see a doctor and discuss it with them because they can actually find out whats going on where we cannot .
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Paul,
Swollen lymph nodes in the groin can sometimes be the only obvious symptom of having caught one of the other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs such as chlamydia or gonorrhea.
As you had unprotected intercourse, you also need to check for other STIs - the ones you're MUCH MORE LIKELY to pick up than hiv.
Ann
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Paul . Please only post in this one thread no matter how long between visits or the subject matter . You can find this thread by going to your profile and selecting show own post and it will take you here .
I removed you post from the living with HIV forum . As a person who is not living with HIV you are only allowed to post in this one thread . Thanks .