POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: alright123 on January 15, 2007, 05:47:47 pm
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I feel like my situation is somewhat unique and any solid advice would be greatly appreciated. I have got all kinds of mixed advice and wanted to get some good advice from someone knowledgeable about HIV and its tramission risks. I apologize in advance for the long posts and questions. I am just very nervous right now.
My status:
I recently got tested for HIV using a PCR DNA test. It was 25 days after exposure and it came back negative. I am 99.9% sure I was negative before the incident I am about to describe, because of that test.
My incident and partner information
I recently had sex with a girl I have known for about 2 months. She seems like a very nice person with morals, etc. I asked her about her sexual history and if she had got tested. She said she got tested on Thanksgiving weekend and everything came back negative. About 3 days ago we were having protected sex and the condom broke. I think we had sex for about a minute while the condom was broken, and as soon as I realized it was broken, we stopped. Because of this I was somewhat paranoid and asked her if she had any other partners since she had been tested and she said yes. She had a few partners that did not involve sex or any oral, just kissing and things with the hands. Although she did have one incident where they both got carried away and the guy penetrated her unprotected and they immeadiately stopped once they realized what they were doing. So basically the sex lasted less than 5 seconds and neither one climaxed. The guy was an ex-boyfriend of her's which she says is a very good guy. All of her partners were white, straight, non drug users, never been to prison partners. They were also in the age of 25 - 32.
Why I am concerned
She said the ex-boyfriend she had the brief sex with had a decently active sexual history since she was with him. So that strated freaking me out.
What my doctor said
I read on the internet about PEP treatment. So instead of deciding on my own I decided to talk with a doctor about it. I went to the local hospitol here and told the doctor of my situation. She said it was my choice if I wanted to start PEP. She said I should go ahead and do it because there are no long term side effects and if I did get infected it could possibly stop the infection. Keep in mind this was about 40 hours after my incident. She prescribed crixivan and combivir. I have already taken 2 doses and she said I could stop whenever I wanted.
1. Was my PCR by DNA test conclusive 25 days after exposure? I was told this test is extrmeely sensative and a false negative, especially after 25 days, is nearly impossible. Is this true?
2. If she was infected from the brief exposure, 2 weeks later, would her viral load be high enough to transmit the virus to me?
3. Do I need to continue taking the PEP medications from my exposure? According to my math, my risk of getting HIV is somewhere along of the lines of getting struck by lightning.
4. Is crixivan and combivir good PEP medication? I read on the internet that cricivan is overy 10 years old and there is much more effective medication out there.
5. What should I do in my situation? Stop taking the meds and move on with life? Take the meds just to be safe? She had no problem getting tested for me, so I would not have to wait 6 weeks to test myself. I could test her now and in another 4 weeks.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and help.
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What kinds of morals a person has, or whether they slept with ONLY white people, or straight people or drug users or those incarcerated by the MAN himself does NOT MATTER when it comes to HIV infection. And you would be wise to not use these as a basis for deciding your risk factors. As I am a good looking white male who is VP of a company and as far as you know I am the all american male and *I* have HIV.
NOW.... in regards to your specific instance.... You have an extremely EXTREMELY low risk for HIV infection based on what you described and a lot of what if's involved in there.
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alright,
A condom break for the insertive partner is not completely without risk, although it really doesn't warrant PEP.
Your post is confusing. If you're on your second dose of PEP, which you started after 40 hours, how could you have a 25 PCR result?
The PCR test you took is not approved for diagnostic purposes because it has a high rate of false positives. However, as you had a negative result, it is very encouraging but by no means conclusive. The only conclusive negative result is a negative antibody test at three months.
As I said, your post is confusing - could you clarify? You seem to be talking about two different incidents, but you only describe a recent condom break. Why did you test with a PCR?
Ann
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Hi, sorry for the confusion. I really appreciate your help and advice. I will try my best to clear up any confusion from my previous post.
Yes, I was talking about 2 different incidents. I was basically trying to make the point that I did not have HIV prior to the incident and I have a test to prove it. I was trying to make it obvious that if I did get HIV it would have to be from the one single incident I described. One incident vs. 2 incidents probably lowers my chances of having HIV. An obvious point I probably shouldn't have made.
Anyways, I will briefly sum up my situation with new information I received today.
1. I had protected sex with a girl 3 days ago where the condom broke. After the condom broke we continued to have sex for approximately a minute. Then we stopped, neither of us climaxed.
2. She got tested on the weekend of Thanksgiving in 2006, everything was negative.
3. She had one incident with an ex-boyfriend of hers on New Years Eve (2 weeks ago) where they had unprotected sex for maybe 5 seconds. They both just got carried away and stopped all sexual activity immeadiately. Neither of them climaxed or anything.
4. She talked to her ex-boyfriend today and he said he also got tested and everything was negative. He also said he would never put her in an unsafe situation like that. Not really sure if that means anything. I have no idea when he got tested or if he had any other sexual activity after he got tested.
5. I got freaked out because of the possibility of her getting HIV from that incident. I started to do research on the internet and came across PEP. All of the websites said you must talk to a doctor to help assess your risk. So I went to the emergency room where the doctor prescribed me Crixivan and Combivir. I started taking it last night and have continued taking it since.
So my questions are as follows:
1. If she was infected from the brief exposure, 2 weeks later, would her viral load be high enough to transmit the virus to me?
2. Do I need to continue taking the PEP medications from my exposure? According to my math, my risk of getting HIV is somewhere along of the lines of getting struck by lightning.
3. Is crixivan and combivir good PEP medication? I read on the internet that cricivan is overy 10 years old and there is much more effective medication out there. Not to mention I started taking it 40 hours after the incident.
4. What should I do in my situation? Stop taking the meds and move on with life? Take the meds just to be safe? She had no problem getting tested for me. So could we go get a rapid test done and if it is negative I should stop taking the meds? What's the smarter move here?
Thanks for your help and time.
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Please if someone could answer my questions and help assess my risk I could make a decision about stopping PEP treatment. I would like to stop because the side effects are not fun, but I do not want to stop without receiving as much information as possible, especially from the experts on this forum.
Thanks for your help and time.
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You already started the PEP continue to take it. It doesn't matter if someone ejaculates or not, even if the risk is lowered. Test 13 weeks after your last dose of PEP. Don't concern yourself about everyone Elise's results you need to worry about your own.
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If I was to stop PEP treatment today would there be any negative effects?
1. Would the HIV be more resistent to treatment later in life?
2. Would I have to start taking medication now and for the rest of my life?
This is all assuming I did get HIV.
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PEP is only 85% effective. If you quit taking it since you haven't been on it that long to begin with nothing is going to happen. Will you develop a resistant to those meds? I would hardly doubt it.
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Don't concern yourself about everyone Elise's results you need to worry about your own.
Well the only person I could have got HIV from would be that single person. If she tests negative then there is no possible way for me to get it, unless I already had it, which I don't becuase I recently got tested. If she is willing to test herself and she comes back negative I should be able to safely assume I didn't get it right?
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An HIV test is only good for 13 weeks previous.. So if she had unprotected sex anytime inbetween then it maybe to early for the test to pick up antibodies. Her test doesn't mean anything unless you both test together and you both get a negative result.
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The ONLY way to know if you have it or not is to test yourself. She could lie, manufacture documents etc. etc. So the only way to 100% KNOW without a doubt is to get tested yourself.
While I say this, I do believe you will test negative.
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An HIV test is only good for 13 weeks previous.. So if she had unprotected sex anytime inbetween then it maybe to early for the test to pick up antibodies. Her test doesn't mean anything unless you both test together and you both get a negative result.
I had sex with her approx 11 days after she had unprotected sex with someone else. Is that even enough time for the virus to reproduce and get to levels that would be transmitable through vaginal secreations?
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We don't play the guessing game. You need to go test and get your own results.
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Since I am on PEP would I still most likely test positive at 6 weeks for a normal antibody test like everyone else? Or would I have to get tested 6 weeks after I got off of PEP? From my understanding PEP would not effect an antibody test, but would effect a PCR test. Is this correct?
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PEP does interfer with antibody production. That is why you test 13 weeks after your last dose.
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It has been exactly 1 week and 1 day since my potential exposure. Today I noticed the side of my cheeks seemed a little raw. So I started to feel them with my tongue and noticed it felt like the skin was coming off. I looked in the mirror and it seemed like I had just burnt the inside of my cheeks or maybe bit them, I'm not sure. Either way the skin came off very easily, was in patches, and was somewhat white. Only my right cheek had it bad, my other cheek didn't. So my questions are:
1. In ARS is it common to have only thrush as a symptom? I have no had any other symptoms that I know of.
2. Is 1 week and 1 day too early for ARS? Isn't it possible for ARS to occur this early?
3. How long does thrush typically last if it goes untreated? Assuming it was due to ARS.
4. I was on PEP for a couple of days after the expose and got off because my incident was very low risk, as it seemed. Could PEP make ARS happen faster if you were only on it for a couple of days?
5. If you get on PEP and then get off wouldn't it make the virus multiple faster afterwards?
Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. Very scared right now.
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hi,
i am not an expert, from what i know , i think Fever is most common appear in ARS, and following is Lump sore throat, Rash is very common also with high fever.
i am trying get rid of worry since i post many and recieve many feedback here.
Ask Andy, Rapidrod, or other experts here, they willgive you more details.
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Keep your threads together so we few but lazy don't have to go find your original post.
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If someone could please answer my questions I would greatly appreciate it. I can't sleep. I am so worried, and information on thrush is hard to find. Please any help is appreciated. Thank you.
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bamboo, keep all of your thoughts in your own thread you are in no position to be posting in other's threads.
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OK. #1 is you have to stop starting new threads. If you continue to do that you are going to risk being banned from the site. Just because you're anxious about HIV doesn't give you the right to ignore the rules of the site.
Spreading your remarks around like that makes it difficult for readers to get a clear picture of what has happened and is happening, especially since you have started and stopped PEP and keep tossing in all kinds of totally irrelevant questions. Unfortunately your anxiety seems to be running the show right now.
I'm going to try to get things down to the essentials now. First of all, forget about checking with any of your partner(s) past or future about their status. They would be well within their rights to tell you to bug off. YOU are responsible for your own health. Period.
Now, you as I read it, you had two incidents. One was protected intercourse and the second one protected until the condom broke. Condoms provide very effective protection against HIV transmission, so as far as the first incident is concerned you weren't at risk. During the second one you were protected until the condom broke and your exposure to the HIV virus would have been very brief, if in fact the woman was HIV+, which from what you have reported seems unlikely.
Initiating PEP was inappropriate in my opinion. I suspect you must have conveyed your anxiety to the doctor in order to get that ok'd to be begin with.
HIV is not an easy virus to transmit. It's significantly harder to accomplish from female to male. Given yours was a single and very brief potential exposure, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor against transmission having occurred.
If you're going to drive yourself nuts about this you can get tested initially at 6 weeks. The average time to seroconversion is 22 days and all but the very smallest number of those who will seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure to the virus. I certainly expect you will test negative. Re-test at 13 weeks to confirm the earlier result and again, I would expect you to continue to test negative.
Stop trying to figure out every friggin' detail about ARS and any relationship to anything else including so-called symptoms. That kind of what if and guessing stuff will only feed your anxiety. Stay productively busy and you will find the waiting time to be test can go faster than you may imagine at this moment.
I expect you to come out of this ok. Now get on with your life and lay off of surfing the net and tearing around everywhere desperately about this. It's bad for your health. No kidding. And make sure if you have anything more to say that you keep it in this thread.
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I truly apologize for starting new threads.
Lastly, is thrush alone, 1 week after exposure, an indicator of HIV or ARS?
Thanks for your help.
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No it is not. HIV has NO specific symptoms you cannot prove or disprove the presence of HIV through ANY symptoms. Rod never got sick. I had a bad case of the flu and thousands of others in our situation have had thousands of variations of ARS. You cannot determine your status this way, only a test given at the appropriate time can diagnose your HIV status.
Not to mention it came on WAY to quick.
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Thrush is not and never has been an HIV specific occurence. Period.
It's a very common event among those who are NOT HIV+ as well as sometimes among those who are poz.
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Thanks again for all of your help.
I read this:
As the immune system continues to weaken and CD4 cell counts drop, many patients take antibiotics to prevent opportunistic infections. Both Bactrim and Dapsone, prophylaxis for PCP, can disrupt the normal bacteria balance in the digestive tract. When this happens, candida overpopulates not only in the mouth, but in the intestines as well.
Is prophylaxis for PCP referring to PEP medications? Because I did take them for a couple of days.
Lastly, if this was ARS wouldn't a PCR test be positive by now?
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You're mixing two things up. PEP was specifically designed to short circuit HIV infection in relation to health work-related accidents. It becomes available to others when a doctor prescribes it in relation to a risky incident.
Bactrim is specifically prescribed to prevent PCP, an HIV-specific pneumonia in someone who is known to be HIV+.
A PCR is so sensitive it can sometimes detect HIV within 48-72 hours after an exposure. But with some it takes longer so it's recommended to do it at 28 days after a possible exposure. Since it was not designed for diagnostic purposes, it is also recommended to confirm a negative result with an ELISA at 13 weeks. A negative at 28 days with a PCR is the next-best-thing to an all clear and signals the person will likely continue to test negative.
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I take Bactrim DS everyday and have for almost two years and have never had thrush.
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Also, if I did get thrush wouldn't it stick around for a while? I removed all of the white stuff, which was probably skin, but regardless, if I removed it, would it come back or is that it?
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If you think you had or have thrush, that's something for a doctor to diagnose. And yes, it would not disappear simply by your brushing it away or whatever you did.
You're bothering yourself needlessly. Really.
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I went to the ER today and the doctor said it wasn't thrush, but he wasn't a specialist either. His guess was probably as good as mine. He did give me some other doctors that are specialists that I should see.
Thanks for everyone's help so far. I am still scared. I can't work, sleep, think straight, etc. I am losing my mind. I had a couple more questions.
1. Does thrush cause ulcerations? I have about 3 ulcers on the side of my mouth that are somewhat painful.
2. Is it common for thrush to only occur on one side of the mouth?
3. I have not really had any problems today. If I do not have anymore can I expect that what I was experiencing was not thrush? Doesn't thrush stick around for more than a day or 2?
4. Also, isn't is extremely rare to get thrush after a week of exposure? Is it possible?
5. Before I started to noticed my thrush I used listerine for a prolonged period. Probably 3 - 4 minutes. Is it possible for the skin on my cheeks to get irritated and as a result peel off?
Thanks for your help and time. I don't mean to be redundant, just want to be thorough and understand my situation. You guys have been great.
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alright123, before you ever post again read the lessons. You'll find the links in the "Welcome" thread.
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First of all, thanks for your help and time. Any comments are greatly appreciated.
I am a 23 yr old heterosexual white male, non drug user. Been tested prior, all negative. A week ago I had unprotected sex with a 21 year old girl for about 15 minutes. During sex noticed a huge wet spot on my bed. Maybe urine (from drinking a lot that night) or squirting? The next night we had unprotected sex again for about 10 minutes.
My partner:
1. White 21 yr old female, non drug user, lived in suburb of Oklahoma her whole life
2. High GPA and prestigious scholarship
3. Just got out of 2 yr relationship with 24 yr old white male, not bisexual, non drug user
4. When she first got with her boyfriend, her and her boyfriend got tested together. All negative.
6. Also got tested during check up in December. Said it was "routine". All negative
7. Said I was the only other person she slept with in college
8. To her knowledge her boyfriend did not cheat on her.
4 days after my exposure I began to feel slightly dizzy. Currently (12 days after) I am still feeling slightly dizzy. I kind of feel like I'm in a daze. This is my only symptom. I don't really feel that tired, no fever, no swollen lymph nodes, and no rash. To be completely honest, I have been a little worried / anxious about acquiring HIV, but not that much. At first I was really freaked out, did tons of research, etc. Then after a few days I realized how low risk this event was and kind of got over it. I was able to carry on with my daily activities without a problem.
My main concern is that I still feel light headed / dizzy. I know anxiety can cause a lot of symptoms but I do not feel like I am that anxious. Not enough to make me feel like this.
My Questions:
1. Does this sound like a symptom of acute HIV infection?
2. Can even the smallest amount of anxiety cause dizziness?
3. Should I be worried about being dizzy or just dismiss it and move on with life?
Thanks for your time and help.
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Alright,
You should keep all your additional thoughts, comments and questions in your original thread. (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=8100.0) This helps us to follow your story and give you accurate advice.
If you cannot find your original thread, click on the the "show own posts" link that appears in the left hand column of any forums page. You should also take the time to read our Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) which explains our posting guidelines.
MtD
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I am sorry, I posted a while ago and this is completely unrelated to my other post. I figured a new thread was in order. If we could just keep this discussion in this thread I would greatly appreciate it. If not I will find my old thread.
Thanks.
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It doesn't work that way here. You must return to your orignal thread. If you need to change you subject title please do so.
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Irrespective of how unrelated you might think these issues to be, you are required by the posting guidelines to keep all your posts in your original thread. You can find that thread by clicking on the red link in my post above.
One of our moderators will be along soon to merge the two threads and then your new questions will be answered. Alternatively, if you can't wait for your threads to be merged you can re-post your question in your old thread where it will be answered.
Your new concerns will not be addressed until you return to your old thread. Those are the rules.
MtD
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First of all, thanks for your help and time. Any comments are greatly appreciated.
This is a completely new issue, so please disregard any posts above. If possible, I would like to change my thread title to: "Constant dizziness, sign if acute HIV infection?" thank you
I am a 23 yr old heterosexual white male, non drug user. Been tested prior, all negative. A week ago I had unprotected sex with a 21 year old girl for about 15 minutes. During sex noticed a huge wet spot on my bed. Maybe urine (from drinking a lot that night) or squirting? The next night we had unprotected sex again for about 10 minutes.
My partner:
1. White 21 yr old female, non drug user, lived in suburb of Oklahoma her whole life
2. High GPA and prestigious scholarship
3. Just got out of 2 yr relationship with 24 yr old white male, not bisexual, non drug user
4. When she first got with her boyfriend, her and her boyfriend got tested together. All negative.
6. Also got tested during check up in December. Said it was "routine". All negative
7. Said I was the only other person she slept with in college
8. To her knowledge her boyfriend did not cheat on her.
4 days after my exposure I began to feel slightly dizzy. Currently (12 days after) I am still feeling slightly dizzy. I kind of feel like I'm in a daze. This is my only symptom. I don't really feel that tired, no fever, no swollen lymph nodes, and no rash. To be completely honest, I have been a little worried / anxious about acquiring HIV, but not that much. At first I was really freaked out, did tons of research, etc. Then after a few days I realized how low risk this event was and kind of got over it. I was able to carry on with my daily activities without a problem.
My main concern is that I still feel light headed / dizzy. I know anxiety can cause a lot of symptoms but I do not feel like I am that anxious. Not enough to make me feel like this.
My Questions:
1. Does this sound like a symptom of acute HIV infection?
2. Can even the smallest amount of anxiety cause dizziness?
3. Should I be worried about being dizzy or just dismiss it and move on with life?
Thanks for your time and help.
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I have posted in my new thread. Sorry about that.
http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=8100.new#new
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Alright,
Thank you for returning to your original thread.
You've had unprotected vaginal sex and as such you do need to be tested for HIV. As you already know the window period for HIV testing is 13 weeks from the date of the last sexual encounter. HIV is a fragile virus and as such is not easy to transmit, especially from female to male. Neverthless you should be tested.
You should also be aware that other STD's such as chlamydia and gonnorrhoea are much more prevalent and much easier to transmit than HIV. You can carry these diseases with no symptoms. You should make an appointment to have a full STD screen performed.
As you've been told before, symptoms or their absence mean nothing when it comes to diagnosing HIV. It doesn't change now.
I would add one other thing. Your race, the race of your partner, her educational abilities and the like mean nothing to HIV. HIV is an equal opportunity operator. I fail to see the relevance of you raising those issues here. HIV transmission is about what people do, not who they are.
MtD
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I would add one other thing. Your race, the race of your partner, her educational abilities and the like mean nothing to HIV. HIV is an equal opportunity operator. I fail to see the relevance of you raising those issues here. HIV transmission is about what people do, not who they are.
MtD
Thank you for your post. Well considering she and her boyfriend got tested together at the beginning of their relationship, and she has yearly routine check ups, which all came back negative I assumed this made my risk lower. She also did not cheat on her boyfriend and I was the first person she has slept with since the break up. I assumed this would also make my risk lower. I know little risk is not no risk, but according my calculations I would have a greater chance of getting hit by lightning. The only thing scaring me is the fast that I am light headed / dizzy all day long for over a week. I am just scared this is a sign that HIV is replicating in my body or something.
Thanks for your time and comments.
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Alright
To reiterate what you've already been told. You had unprotected sex and therefore you will need to be tested for HIV. Fortunately the transmission of HIV from female to male is quite low and doesn't happen easily. Your self diagnosis of "dizziness" neither confirms nor negates HIV infection. As far as dizziness and HIV primary infection are concerned this is meaningless, not useful (likewise no other "symptoms" can help determine infection.
The more important point. This is now your 2nd "worried post." Now in the first instance it seemed that you had a condom break, this was out of your hands. I'm worried though, that after all the stress of this instance, you would be so quick to jump in bed with someone else and not consider using a condom. This girls race, GPA, monthly income etc. etc. mean nothing as far as HIV is concerned. There is no way to know what her previous sexual practices were or what her boyfriends sexual practices were. (In fact I once read a study linking higher intellect to a propensity for unusual sexual fetishes, ahh the beauty of statistics).
You are the only one who can protect you and that means using a CONDOM - EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU HAVE SEX, until you're in a monogamous relationship and both partners have definitively tested negative.
ScienceGuy
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I completely agree, I made a terrible mistake that will never happen again. In fact, after this I plan to not put myself in situations that could possibly lead to sex. I also plan to stay away from alcohol. I had way too much to drink and ended up making a bad decision. I feel like the biggest moron right now. I have no idea why I did that. Now I'm starting to panic and freak out again.
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I wouldn't freak out too much. As you already know the odds are enormously in your favor that you'll be fine. It appears highly unlikely that this girl is HIV positive and even if she was, the odds of a one time encounter and you becoming positive are extremely low.
Thus it is very likely that you will escape this unharmed but hopefully you will get SMART about HIV prevention in the future.
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Alright, I've merged your various threads here. No more new threads, please. Keep all of your comments and questions here. Thanks for your cooperation.
As to your dizziness, etc., those are common symptoms of anxiety. They certainly aren't anything even remotely HIV-specific, which is no surprise. Your risk was low. Transmission from female to male is not easy to accomplish. Given this was a single incident and the other details you have reported, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that you are going to test negative.
During the waiting period. you need to give up the drama and focus on staying productively busy. You'll be amazed at how quickly the waiting period can pass. And yes, I do expect you to test negative.
Cheers,
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Please help, any information is greatly appreciated.
I shined a flashlight in the mirror today to the back of my throat. In the very back kind of below my tongue there was this white gunk. Just a little bit of it in one area. I went to drink some water and it was no longer there. Can't HIV cause white spots / gunk in the back of your throat? If it does, is it that easily removed?
Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.
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That's normal to have "white gunk" in the back of your throat.
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Thanks for your reply.
The strange thing though is that it was very white and looked pretty thick. Another strange thing is that my throat is not sore at all. If I was to get thick white gunk in the back of my throat wouldn't my throat be sore as well?
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Well since your throat isnt sore and you have white gunk back there (which is normal sometimes) you have answered your own question....
"If I was to get thick white gunk in the back of my throat wouldn't my throat be sore as well?"
Apparently not.
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Today I looked at my chair, which is black, and noticed a considerable amount of dandruff. Quite a bit actually. I have never had dandruff in my life. Also t he past few days the back of my head has been itching / burning. I knew something wasn't right. I have been reading on the internet that this is a sign of a weakened immune system. I have not really had any other symptoms except this. I am freaking out here. Can this be a sign of a new HIV infection? It's been 3 weeks after my possible exposure.
Thanks for your help.
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I also found this:
'Though a lot of people with the problem don't have HIV, yet it could be one of the earlier indications,' he said.
I am totally freaking out here. Please help.
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That's the kind of information that one gets when posting to other WW on Medhelp. Get some Head and Shoulders and seek the help of a mental health professional.
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I am posting on other forums because it's nice to get a variety of opinions.
Don't think you it's too much of a coinciedence that I get pretty bad dandruff 3 weeks after my exposure? I have never had dandruff like this in my life. 3% of the worlds population experience dandruff, but 30% of HIV infected people experience it. Also, many websites have suggested that this is an early indication of HIV. They said problems with the skin are generally where HIV shows up first. I have also had mild headaches and 3 days to 12 days after exposure I felt dizzy and a little fatigued.
I am seriously freaking out here, I have never been so scared in my life. I don't have anyone to talk to about this. I would like some solid advice about this if possible. Please help.
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30% of HIV infected people experience dandruff? Post the URL to where you got this information and go buy yourself some dandruff shampoo.
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Here is what I found:
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"A sudden, strong tendency to flaking or seborrhoeic dermatitis in a middle-aged person who has never had such problems before can be a sign of HIV infection."
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/dandruff.htm
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"HIV-positive people are 10 times more prone to excessive dandruff and it could be treated as an early sign of the diseas"
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=17584
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"Seborrhoeic Dermatitis among HIV-positive people is as high as 30 percent as against three percent among general population," he said.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/health/hiv-patients-prone-to-excessive-dandruff/262634
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I have never had dandruff before. Why in the world would it all of a sudden get so bad out of nowhere?!?! This is really freaking me out.
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You repeated the same story as the one. Well after 23 years of having HIV, I have never had a severe case of dandruff. No where does it mention early signs of HIV now does it? Now due to HIV not having any specific symptoms and dandruff can be caused by a hundred different reasons and you have not been found to be infected with HIV. I call it hogwash. Buy yourself some shampoo and wash your hair.