A love letter for worrywells....

[Notworriedanymore]

Guys - I just wanted to share my experience over the last few months - in hopes of calming your minds, and tell you what I've gotten out of it.

On June 14th, I had unprotected vaginal intercourse with a friend of mine who was previously sleeping with a bisexual male intravenous drug user (both vaginally and anally). She hasn't been tested in a long while. 9 days after we slept together - without me even knowing what acute HIV symptoms were, I began feeling very run down. I had mono once (and you can't really get it more than once apparently), and I felt exactly like that again. Soon after, I developed a sore throat (the same kind you get when you have mono) - chills, soaking night sweats, diarrhea, itchy arms, rash on my arm and legs, EXTREME debilitating fatigue, EXTREMELY swollen lymph nodes (intermittently, they would come and go in different places in my neck, armpits and groin), and nausea. My poop was beige, which signalled a problem with my liver.

After completely convincing myself that I had contracted HIV through the explanation of it being a "mono-like syndrome" on the internet, I waited about 7.5 weeks before getting tested (took a 4th gen at a sexual disease clinic). Never posted in any of these forums - as I felt as though my symptoms were way more on par with HIV than anyone complaining about a bit of a headache or sore throat or tiny bit of fever - and afraid that peoples reaction would be different to those who have minor symptoms.

After waking up every morning, extremely certain that I was going to receive a call from that clinic telling me to come in, I slowly just got more and more and more worried that "today is going to be the day." after two weeks (about 9 weeks post exposure) my symptoms weren't going away. my lymph nodes swoll up again, the night sweats continued. I went to a walk in clinic, and the doctor said he thinks it has to do with my liver considering the beige poop, so he sent me for a liver test. Enzymes came back elevated, looked it up - and many people with acute HIV had increased liver enzymes. My HIV test came back negative, though.

At this point, I was certain there was something wrong. The doctor chalked all of my symptoms up to being my alcohol consumption, as I had been drinking more than usual considering a breakup that happened a few days before all of this. When I asked him to do the HIV test again because we were approaching the end of the window period, he called me a hypochondriac. He sent me for a test for mono as well as HIV.

>Sunday morning I woke up with a massive headache and a relatively high fever - so I decided to go to the emergency room. After seeing someone and explaining my story, they made an appointment for me to visit internal medicine. Yesterday, I finally got the treatment I needed - the doctor looked at all of my symptoms, explained that if I didn't have the 7.5 week negative he would be concerned for HIV, and then sent me for every test in the book.  Lymphoma, HIV (4th gen), hepatitis, etc... took an x-ray of my lungs. During these tests, he ran up to radiology to tell me that they didn't do the previous HIV test, so he's going to double check that they do it this time. He had no explanation why the clinic didn't do the HIV test.

This morning, he called me and said "Everything came back looking fine. You're HIV negative. I think you caught CMV - and it manifested itself in a mono-like syndrome. Either that or your EBV - mono reactivated and caused another episode. But either way, you don't have HIV!

I have never been so relieved in my life. When people say "Don't judge this virus by symptoms" - they're F***ing right.

I received another call from the hospital saying I need to come back in because they found bacteria in my blood, so it may be that my symptoms were attributed to that.

Either way, to all of you straight males in here, you most likely don't have HIV. (I can't say anything about other groups as I'm not part of them and don't know general risk exposures :/ ) There might be something wrong with you, it might be coincidental that it may be right after a sexual experience - AND DO GET TESTED NO MATTER WHAT, but I want you to know - that you're most likely going to be fine.

I hope this gives you guys some sort of reassurance. Have a good day!

[Jim Allen]

Thanks for sharing.

End of the day it does not matter who you are with, or their history as HIV does not care. All that matters is your own behavior and how you do it.

I am glad you tested negative and hope you use condoms going forward no matter what.  Remember to test yearly and if you do make a mistake again test at 6 & 13 weeks post incident for a conclusive result.

Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, every time, no exceptions.

Keep in mind that some sexual practices which may be described as ‘safe’ in terms of HIV transmission might still pose a risk for transmission of other STI's, so please do get fully tested regularly and at least yearly for all STI's including but not limited to HIV and test more frequently if unprotected intercourse occurs

Also note that it is possible to have an STI and show no signs or symptoms and the only way of knowing is by testing.

More information on HIV Basics, PEP, TaSP and Transmission can be found through the links in my signature to our POZ pages, this includes information on HIV Testing

Kind regards

Jim

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[Notworriedanymore]

So I posted a little while ago about my 7.5 week and 90 day HIV negative tests following my non-guilt ridden sexual exposure with one of my friends... I just want to go over everything in detail.

Sexual exposure: unprotected vaginal for about 25 minutes, she wasn't very wet and I'm uncircumcized. - a little bit after this experience she got sick with a bad dry cough that was not contagious. She had been sleeping with someone in a couple high-risk categories.

To go over my symptoms;

6-7 days post; sore throat, increasingly bad - felt like my mono sore throat when i had mono 8 months prior, lymph nodes begin to swell. Had night sweats for the following 3 nights.

day 8 lymph node in the neck starts to get worse, grows to a visible size

day 9 - fuzzy headed all day, get home after helping my friend move, sweats / extreme fatigue / chills begin really intensely. I had diarrhea which was beige and rather violent (which later was confirmed to be increased liver enzymes), extreme loss of appetite (Which continues)

day 10 - wake up thinking i just worked too hard the previous day, am in a complete state of dysphoria with extreme fatigue -
I don't remember this period of time too well as I was so messed up
continuing on from there most symptoms subsided - the only symptoms that remained were slightly swollen lymph nodes, extreme fatigue, and really intense day sweats.

At this point I started googling my symptoms and came to the conclusion that I may have caught HIV.

at about 4 weeks post exposure, I got a rash on my arm - it was just redness and really painful if i hovered my hand over my hair follicles. went away within 24 hours, and then reappeared again on my legs about 3 days later. I also noticed some really really red painful spots on my scalp.


about 7 weeks post exposure, I got a staph infection on my side

I went to the doctor and got a ag/ab test at 7.5 weeks. It ended up coming back negative.

at 9 weeks, about 4 cervical lymph nodes in the left side of my neck swoll up, one of them being "attached" to my skin. Also woke up with pain in my sides under my ribs when I breathe in deeply, and diarrhea. The fatigue and night sweats continued (night sweats intermittently).

at about 12 weeks post exposure, I woke up with a fever and sore throat again, so I decided to go to the doctor again. The extreme fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and malaise remain. I got another negative 4th gen test here - negative for mono as well.

I tested positive for strep throat at this point (Which I believe I got from work as a few people had been sick a few days prior) and have been taking antibiotics. I continue to have night sweats (the past 4 nights in a row).

~not sure if related, but my arm bruised up really intensely from a blood test and has still been extremely bruised for the past two weeks

I have 2 or 3 persistent swollen lymph nodes in my neck still, and the fatigue is debilitating.

I've run out of answers as to what this can be if it isn't HIV, it seems as though it fits the profile of acute HIV infection so well; the doctor said "It's probably a CMV infection or EBV, since the HIV test came back negative". "We can't prove a current infection as it's been so long, I can only tell you if you've had these infections in the past."

It just seems so coincidental that I'm experiencing swollen lymph nodes and fatigue for this long, which seems to be a problem which a lot of HIV positive folks experienced for a long time after contracting it - and the fact that it happened so suddenly after an unprotected sexcapade.

It's gotten to the point where I'm convincing myself that HIV is not going to kill me, and I know that I'll get better no matter what, and I think about the people I"m going to tell that I'm positive, etc..

Two fourth gen tests at 7.5 weeks and 90 days are considered pretty conclusive, am I really home free? I have heard of people worrying about minor symptoms make it so that 3 month HIV negative tests are recommended because most people will convert by then - and also the people who they're telling this information to have had such small risks - so since "most" will convert, and risk is small, the odds of someone actually having it from those exposures is negligible.

Anyway, thank you for input, I'm not too afraid of HIV in the long run if I do have it, I'm more afraid of the shock it'll put me in learning I have it and the reaction I'll have, not sure if I'll be able to keep my job etc...

[Jim Allen]

Sore throat regardless of your status has nothing to do with HIV and we don't discuss symptoms here. Its pointless to worry about them and the vast majority of people experience none. All that matter is if you had a risk test and prevent risks in the future

Your concern was unprotected intercourse and testing following that event, well the vast majority to produce antibodies (even if you have no symptoms) at detectable levels post infection is 22 - 28 days. Now to rule out any possible outliers a repeat test is recommend at 3 months post exposure (13 weeks)

Hence the guideline test at 6 weeks and 13 weeks post exposure.

Jim

[Notworriedanymore]

Thanks a lot, Jim. I have a lot of respect for you and everything you've been doing for these scared people (including myself haha).

I'm going to the doc on Tuesday, he told me to call him back if I get night sweats again.

I'll keep this forum updated regardless of what happens (If I get diagnosed with something else), I hate reading posts without a full conclusion!

Have an excellent day!

[Jim Allen]

You're welcome.

I must however point out for clarity and to set correct expectations that the main reason people don't finish the stories here is simply because, the HIV results are negative and they don't need to post after that.

The other main reason is unless they had a positive result, people are simply limited by us to 3 posts (for free) only.

I do however appreciate the thought, but my general rule on the forum is sick people should see a doctor not google symptoms, or post about them. This is the "Am I infected" forum for HIV, so we do not focus / engage or discuss other illnesses.

With regards to HIV, look test at the 3 month mark for a conclusive HIV result and continue to work with your doctor to treat whatever is making you feel sick, I wish you well and i truly hope you feel better soon.

All the best.

Jim