mutliple partners

[constantlyworried]

Hi Drs,
Please excuse me as I meant to post in the expert forum and accidentally posted in the medical communities forum.
I am a gay male. Last year at this time I tested negative. However, I went through a bad break up and went a little crazy (something which I am very ashamed of now. Over the past year I have had multiple partners 15+. I have consistently used condoms for anal sex( I am almost always the top), however I have given and received blow jobs. Although I never never allow anyone to ejaculate in my mouth I do remember tasting precum. I sometimes have bleeding and raw gums and I have also engaged in frottage.
I always ask status, however, after seeing one guy a few times and pressuring him he admitted to me he was hiv+. I only sucked on him for about thirty seconds , however he sucked on me for about a half hour. We also made out heavily.
It is now time for my annual check up and I am scared out of my mind. I do remember during some point in the year having drenching night sweats(which I never have) where I had to change my shirt and pillowcase and put a wash cloth over my face to cool down. (I was on wellbutrin sr at the time and was stressed out about work). I also remember having persistent diarrhea for about a week to the point that it was water ( I am sorry for the details).
I have reevaluated my behavior and hope it is not too late to change it. Given my set of circumstances can you please tell me if:
You have ever seen anyone with a similiar situation test negative?
Are my symptoms consistent with ARS?
Do I have anything to truly be worried about or is my anxiety getting the best of me? I thought I would be in the clear by condom use but now I am worried that I am one of the few who may have been infected through precum.
Thank you for answering my questions!  I thought by usung condoms for anal sex and having unprotected oral I was being pretty darn safe - however, now that it is time to test I am frightened out of my mind.
Thank you Again!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Glad to hear it.  Take care. EWH

[constantlyworried]

Thank You for all your help! Just tested Negative!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Night sweats are a non-specific finding as well.  I do not know if Wellbutrin can cause them but there are many, many causes, inclueing night time heartburn.  EWH

[constantlyworried]

Thank you so much for your quick response. Could the night sweats been a side effect of the Wellbutrin? You have put my mind at ease.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  It sounds to me as though you are beginning to worry that your recent behavior, despite your efforts to protect yourself, might have put you at risk.  let me start by congratulating you on asking your partners and condom use--that is really a huge step towards protecting yourself, particularly if you choose to have lots of partners.  As for your other activities, you are correct about oral sex - the quoted figure for HIV risk, if one has oral sex with an infected partner is less than 1 in 10,000 and, in my estimation that is too high. Some experts state there is no risk at all from oral sex.  Neither of us on this site have ever seen or reading the medical literature of a convincing instance in which HIV was passed by oral sex.  This includes by all of the people who had gum disease, etc such as may have been your case.

As for frottage and kissing, including French kissing- no risk and nothing to .worry about.

The symptoms of ARS are non-specific.  Thus any flu-like illness could be ARS but the realistic chances that it is are tiny because normal, everyday viral illnesses are so very much more common than HIV.

Thus, to summarize, your risk is low.  Nonetheless, getting checked out is a good idea.  IWhen you do, I would get check for other STDs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis) at all sites of exposure.  Your risk for them is higher than for HIV.

Hope this helps.  EWH