POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Prado on May 30, 2008, 06:22:10 pm
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Hello all and greetings from Finland!
My story is that I (am a man aged 28) had sex with a SW in Kuala Lumpur in the end of December 07. The condom broke down meanwhile the act and in the end I just noticed that. Because of being a bit drunk, I just did nothing. The condom could have been broken about a minute or two. But the way the girl acted after sex - makes me sure of her positiveness (she became scared of me).
One week after that, I became a slight cut (bleeding a lot) to my arm, and it wasnt about to be cured (had to get some antibiotic balm) and it still remains red and sore except of 5 months from occassion. Three weeks after contact I became lowgrade fever for 1,5 weeks, had a neverending diarrhoea of 3 weeks, my lymph nodes became swollen and they still are a bit achy and enlargened. I also had on that period of two weeks strange headaches, rash on my chest. And in the beginning of that period, I started to feel sore throat, which lasted about 2 months.
I have been reading these sites many times and I should be convinced, I am HIV-neg, because my HIV-AgAb-tests (3rd Gen) came back negative for 34 and 73 days. But, something inside me says I am positive and I am going to seroconvert late. I have my reasons - first of all, I know (in my country) cases there hiv-test became positive at about 100 days - I might be one of them. Second, my type of tissue is proven to be HLA-B27 that makes the infection improve slower. Third, Iīve been drinking a lot because of my nerves. And fourth, just before the trip to Kuala Lumpur, I took hepathitis A/B vaccine, which makes me think the antibodies of HIV might be not detectable at 73 days.
Thanks for reading my story, so I still have some weird symptoms in mouth (geographic tongue, and lymph nodes on my neck are swollen. I asked my doctor to get a mycoplasma analysis, but he didnt believe in it cause I had no problem with lungs. I surely try to fight myself to a further HIV test in next week.
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Well if an HIV antibody test at 73 days came back negative, you're all but assured of testing negative at the close of the window period. I confidently predict that your test next week will come back negative.
You cannot tell if someone is positive by the way they act.
MtD
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Prado, the average time to seroconversion is 22 days. All but the smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert wil do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure to the HIV virus. It is sginificantly harder to pass HIV from female to male than from male to female. Given that you were protected until the condom broke, the odds are way high in your favor against transmission having occured. With your current negative result, like Matty I expect you will continue to test negative.
None of your symptoms are in anyway HIV specifc and symptoms will never tell you anything accurately about your HIV status. Your doctor needs to sort out what the real cause of them is. I don't see this as an HIV situation despite all your fears and anxiety about it. You're interpreting things about the sex worker's behavior which may or may not be accurate. They're all through the veiwpoint of your fears.
Get tested again at 13 weeks and collect what I expect will be a negative result. Good luck and keep us posted.
Lastly, mixing casual sex and excessive drinking is a really good thing to avoid in the future. It's somethng that puts you into a state where taking proper precautions becomes less likely and all too often safer sex goes out the window.
Cheers,
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Many thanks for your replies, which I think Iīve heard before, but havent taken them seriously :)
I would like to make it clear that safe sex is the only intercourse I could ever imagine with a foreigner - no matter how many beers Iīve drunk. I just did not know that it is recommended to wash your penis with soap if u notice the condom is broken. I believe I got something from the girl cause two days after that my penis felt achy when peeing. And Iīve made all STD tests - all negative. My doc says, it might be some virus, cause the bacteria are normal.
Ok, Iīll let you know my next labs, the only thing to make me scared is my type of tissue, because it is also proven to assist the HIV to infect. Secondly, I still had some symptoms like sore throat in the time of 73days test - still on ARS?
If HIV is not my matter, it must be some other very strange virus. One thing I remember during my "ARS" - sorry for using the word... - was that one night my fever just raised up to ~105F and my lymphnodes on my neck suddenly became like achy golfballs. I went to sleep and in the morning I was like nothing had happened and made a ~10mile run... I canīt find an explanation for all these symptoms - neither does my doc, he still lives in ancient times and wants to excluse HIV before further investigations (he believes the test is reliable 6mths after risk)... Fear just canīt cause all this mess...
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Fevers to ARS don't last only one day and lymph nodes are not painful in HIV infection.
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But the way the girl acted after sex - makes me sure of her positiveness (she became scared of me).
Um....did it never occur to you that she was probably scared that you gave something to her since the condom was broken and you "just did nothing" because "of being a bit drunk"?
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Safer sex is NOT something to practice only with foreigners. It is something you should be doing with ANYONE you are having intercourse with until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship in which both partners reliably test negative together.
Prado, I still expect you to come out of this incident ok. Really.
Cheers,
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Thanks rapid, before that sudden raise in fever i had had low grade fever for over a week. Nothing to stop me going, but made my lazy and wanna rest. But, hoperaising comment!
What comes to thunterīs thing, good question, we did discuss about it. Or better, I told her I did not have any STDs, but she said nothing to it. And she really understood what I told her and I started to fear immediately after the act. After all, I did ask about her status indirectly, and all I got was a more indirect reply.......
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Yeah, I am starting a relationship with a woman I really like, and I have to find out whatīs wrong with me so that she didnt get the same disease. Thatīs also one reason I am afraid of HIV, cause it is quite rare over here, and people dont know much about it. But thanks for your comment, I promise to calm down and tell you the (apparently good) news.
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Well, as far as HIV is concerned I expect you to come out ok. If you haven't had a full STD panel done in more than a year and have been sexually active, doing one now would be a good idea.
And remember that we always say until a couple have securely committed to monogamy and have reliably tested negative together, until such time condoms should continue to be used for intercourse.
Cheers,