POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Unknown on June 04, 2006, 09:20:45 pm
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I have read various threads dealing with the "window period". I too am concerned with this window. I tested negative at 12 weeks and 3 days. That, according to the CDC is 97 percent accurate. I think it does have an effect psychologically but I wonder if there is also any real difference. Beyond that, the type of test I took was the Oraquick, I think Advanced. What I was not told was I shouldn't have eaten or drunk anything before the test. I read one site that said one hour before so as to not mess with accuracy. One healthworker told me 5 minutes and most others say that it can not effect the result. I was sitting in the waiting room drinking a Dr. Pepper after eating rice next door. I did go and wash my mouth out with water before the test. I don't think it was 5 minutes even before I rubbed the swab on my gums. Anyway, negative at 12 weeks and a few days after expecting a positive.
But I have a few questions.
1. Difference between 12 and 13 weeks? Any real difference or just not measurable?
2. Can drinking or eating before the rapid test effect accuracy? Is it accurate as long as the control line is there? Could this have resulted in not enough plasma to register? Would the control line see that?
3. I have what one might term hairy leukoplakia. With this - should I doubt my results? How ofter is this during seroconversion? I get anything from "what?" to "often".
4. What should I do now?
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1. No, there is no real difference. It's 12 weeks in Europe, the UK and Australia etc and 13 in most of the US, except for MA, where it's 6.
2. No.
3. Leukoplakia is not a symptom of HIV infection, per se.
4. Get on with your life. You've reliably tested negative. Practice safer sex. Don't share needles. Be good to your mother and puppy dogs.
MtD
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Is Europe using the 4th generation tests or the Oraquick?
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Is Europe using the 4th generation tests or the Oraquick?
Whatever tests they use in Europe will be perfectly acceptable for an accurate diagnosis. Generations and what not are really not your concern.
You've tested negative. I suspect you were told this in the old forums. I really suggest you read the lessons here and possibly the sticky thread at the top of this forum. It outlines what the Moderators do to WW's who have passed their expiry date around here but keep asking pointless questions.
MtD
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With all due respect, and I do respect your opinion and knowledge, this is the first time I have ever posted in this forum. You may check my IP if you would like. I understand that there are people in here who will not believe they are negative no matter what, this is a common problem on all forums dealing with this issue. I am not one of those people. I do not need to be told the same thing three times, maybe twice for verification, but when it comes from someone who is knowledgeable then I don't need the verification. I will not ask the same question of you twice. If someone has another opinion they are free to answer it after reading my original post.
The confusing thing about HIV and testing in that there are so many different numbers out there. This is what I have gathered from the CDC, 25 days average seroconversion, 2-8 weeks for most people, 97 percent by 3 months. All my questions have to do with respect to those numbers and how they are arrived at. My question on Oraquick, after gathering so many different answers, I decided to post here in a place where perhaps there may be someone who does testing and is more familiar with the tool. Had I not been eating and drinking before the test, there would be no issue there. Had I not developed unusual lesions on my tongue, there would be no question about accuracy of testing at 12 weeks instead of 13. Ultimately, the only solution is for me to retest. Maybe even sooner than later. I am awaiting a lab from a swab on my tongue. If it comes back normal, then I will leave this behind. Be sure that I am not here to pester you. I have the greatest respect for the time you are willing to invest here and I will pay tribute to that by not wasting your time. Thanks for your answers.
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First time here? I hang my head in shame. I don't know how I'll cope with the guilt.
Doesn't change my answer though. If you want to obsess over numbers and generations and what the CDC thinks, go right ahead.
You don't have HIV.
MtD
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Your right. I have to stop this.
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Unknown,
OHL is difficult for even a doctor to diagnose. You most likely do not have OHL. If whatever is going on with your tongue continues to bother you, you'll have to see your doctor and/or dentist about it.
Your test result is conclusive. You never told us what made you worry about hiv infection in the first place and you might not have even needed to be tested.
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 and you can consider your recent test as your first annual test. As long as you are using condoms for intercourse, every time, no exceptions, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return negative results.
Please read through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use those condoms with confidence. Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) at the top of this forum for links to the Transmission Lesson and the Testing Lesson.
Use condoms and avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
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I got a call from the doctor today, they said that one swab result returned with excess fungal particles. They are perscribing me Difucan to take once a day for 10 days. In my book, this does not bode well. Can stress cause thrush/ candidiasis by killing good bacteria? My tongue is white. Im not felling good about my results on Thursday right now for the epstein barr.
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Unknown,
Nothing you describe is indicative of primary hiv infection. Work with your doctor to get to the bottom of the symptoms troubling you. They are not hiv related as you have conclusively tested negative at the appropriate time.
Btw, what was your risk??
Morgan
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Unknown,
You have a conclusive negative hiv test result. You do not have hiv.
Oral thrush has nothing to do with hiv - anyone can get oral thrush. Same goes for the Epstein Barr virus. Anyone can get EBV. It is the virus that causes mono and is practically a rite of passage for teens and young adults, but you don't have to be young to get it.
You are hiv negative. Keep working closely with your doctor to resolve your other issues. Whatever is going on, it has nothing to do with hiv.
Ann
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Morgan,
At this point it doesn't matter what Unknown's risk was - he is conclusively hiv negative no matter what.
Ann
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Ann,
Yeah, I understand that. Just thought it would be good to let them know whether or not they are pursuing testing over a non-risk encounter.
Morgan ;)
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I had sex with a female in feb of 2006 and tested negative 12.4 weeks later using a rapid test. I worry this test was not accurate because I drank water within 5 minutes of the test because I was so nervous my mouth was dry. The reason I tested was because of all the symptoms I was having. I developed a sore throat 6 days after contact and had huge tonsils with white spots, sore lymph nodes in the groin pelvic area 2 weeks later and noticed a white spot on the side of my tongue in May. I have what looks like hairy leukoplakia on both sides on my tongue. I have had excessive gas a stomach growling which could be attributed for the candidasis. Bowel movements were loose for the longest time after the exposure, I still have loose ones often. Now, after testing negative in May, I have been prescribed Diflucan and Nystatin for a white coating on my tongue that I developed - I was never told I had thrush. They called in an order to the pharmacy after results came back from a swab. After looking into the reason these are prescribed I can not say I’m thrilled. I did take amoxicillin at 500 mg twice a day for about a week to fight the throat infection when this started in March but could I still have oral thrush from that? How long can the tongue be coated white after oral thrush starts and is fought? If oral thrush is a seroconversion symptom, shouldn’t my immune system kick it after a while? We are in June already and I’m waiting for a normal tongue. Now I have developed a persistent cough and spit out small amount of mucous for the last 2 weeks, thought its getting a lot better now, and have isolated sore lymph nodes on my back and left leg today, my left chest area last week - nothing that swells but they are sore to the touch. Did I screw up the test in May when I drunk water right before the test - I wasn’t told not to drink or eat anything? I know that I have posted before but my symptoms are not going away and I have been tortured with not being able to accept a negative result because of them. I want to accept the result but what is going on here?
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Unknown,
Your symptoms mean nothing when it comes to hiv. Go see your doctor again if you feel things have not been resolved.
Amoxicillin absolutely can cause thrush - but ARS rarely does. Rarely as in I've never heard of someone having thrush as a part of ARS. Not real people, in the real world. It only seems to happen on webpages that delight in scaring people with "possible ARS symptoms". Sheesh. There oughta be a law.
I can guarantee you that you are not the only person that has had a dry "anxiety mouth" when they went for their test and I can also guarantee you that you are not the first person who drank water before the test. I can also guarantee that when the makers of the tests were putting them through the approval process, this is something that was looked at. If something as common to human nature as eating and drinking made any sort of difference to the rapid tests, they wouldn't be approved for diagnostic use for hiv infection.
All that was a long winded way of saying - you are conclusively hiv negative. It's time to move on with your life, making sure you always use condoms for intercourse in the future.
Ann
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Thank you so much for your response on this question. I know that I shouldn't worry after a negative test but the circumstances do not allow me to let it go at this point. I am going to follow forum rules and keep it here so I and others can follow this. This developed within 3 months of possible exposure. No doctor has confirmed it as such but they wouldn't want to just on clinical representation though I have read it can be diagnosed using such. One doctor told me the ridges look normal but I have a coated tongue that is not normal and there are white lines that could be caused by vitamin deficiency, another told me it looks perfectly normal - he saw me after my medication got rid of a lot of it but has dealt with HIV cases before. A person at our local AIDS Foundation said it looks like it but he has only seen the worse cases and could not judge it without medical experience. This is similar to what I have developed on the right side of my tongue more so than the left.
http://www.yamagiku.co.jp/pathology/image/033/1.jpg
In particular, the white lines can be seen very well when viewed with a flash light. I did have a candidiasis superinfection, confirmed with a lab swab, over it toward the back where my tongue rubs with my teeth that caused it to have more like a cotton topping. The diflucan and Nyastin got rid of it but the ridges are still there. I spoke to oraquick customer support and they recommended that no food or drink should be consumed 15 minutes before the test but their tech support told me its more like 10 or 5 minutes. There is a control line that detects antibodies to make sure enough antibodies are present but they have only tested it to make sure water will not fool the control line. They are presently performing more tests on more materials. I am presently using a garlic pill, an acidophilus pill, eating yogurt and swishing with warm salt water in an attempt to get more of a natural color back to my tongue. I have also avoided using any antibiotics which may have started this. I noticed it gets a lot worse under stress. I do hope this is a result of my normal tongue, stress and antibiotics.
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I am going to the doctor tomorrow and will get more diflucan. Hopefully, he can answer some of these questions.
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The doctor gave me nyastatin for my tongue. It is still coated and the oral rinse doesnt seem to be getting rid of this white tongue. He perscribed it once a day for ten days which is less than what I have read is the normal dosage. Tonight I was able to scrape off a good amount of material with my index finger from the rear of my tongue in one area. When I speak for long periods of time to coworkers, it seems to foam up and dry up. How long does this, oral thrush, take to subside? If it is a symptom of initial HIV infection, though very unlikely I understand now, would it be me resistant to drugs and last longer than normally? Thanks for any answers someone may have on this condition, even if it is not related to HIV. PS is there any else I could do that wouldnt mess with the effectiveness of the nystatin but help resolve this condition. I am holding back on the acidophilus, should I?
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When I tested with oraquick in planned parenthood, there was another John Doe. Unfortunately he tested positive, truely heart breaking, and I knew because they started to give him paperwork and information on where to go and drew his blood. I also heard them say that it would be reported. They were quiet about it but I overheard what they were saying. So as far as confidentiality goes, there is only so much they can do when they have to give the person additional information. I imagine it depends on how it is set up.
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Unknown,
I merged the comments you made in another thread into your own thread. The comments you made had nothing to do with the thread you posted in. Please do not hijack other people's threads.
We need you to post all your additional thoughts or questions in this thread. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread.
If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Ann
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Hey Unknown i dont know how much help i can be, but i will tell you this. I like you also had oral issues, red spots in mouth, white spots in my cheeks and sone on my tongue.. my exposure was low risk or no risk basically i tested oraquick 4.5 months past exposures and it was negative. so having thrush doesnt mean its hiv. i took nystatin for a week and it helped
I still dont know what caused it, all i know is my mouth was very dry all the time, and i was extremely stressed out and depressed this was way before the oral issues came along so maybe it was just building. and i started to smoke some marijuana as well. dry mouth + stress + smoking all can cause or increase your thrush, so thrush can happen to anyone. I still get red spots in my mouth from time to time and it goes away in a few days by itself i think its cause i smoke weed alot..
anyways goodluck you will be fine you dont have hiv.. just keep a good oral hygiene and eat some yogurt and keep your mouth moist and dont smoke if you do.. and most importantly dont surf the net and stress yourself out, this will weaken your immune system and can cause alot of issues including oral problems.