Aa
HIV worries
Hi there,
I had a stupid lads weekend in Spain 8 weeks ago when we ended up in a brothel and I engaged in sex with a prostitute for the first time ever. I know that I put a condom on to start with but the details are hazy therefater. I am now paranoid about HIV and am feeling symptoms. From week 5 until now I have had a sore throat and this weekend my glands in my left armpit have swollen slightly. No other symptoms, I had a blood test 10 days ago for another issue and all was normal. I tested negative for HIV with a rapid finger prick test in a clinic17 days post exposure and also my partner has tested HIV negative last week.
Do ARS symptoms happen so late and for so long post exposure? I am someone who worries a lot, whether it be for work, personal reasons, etc so am hoping that a large amount of what I am feeling now is stress related and not HIV related. Thanks for your help.
I had a stupid lads weekend in Spain 8 weeks ago when we ended up in a brothel and I engaged in sex with a prostitute for the first time ever. I know that I put a condom on to start with but the details are hazy therefater. I am now paranoid about HIV and am feeling symptoms. From week 5 until now I have had a sore throat and this weekend my glands in my left armpit have swollen slightly. No other symptoms, I had a blood test 10 days ago for another issue and all was normal. I tested negative for HIV with a rapid finger prick test in a clinic17 days post exposure and also my partner has tested HIV negative last week.
Do ARS symptoms happen so late and for so long post exposure? I am someone who worries a lot, whether it be for work, personal reasons, etc so am hoping that a large amount of what I am feeling now is stress related and not HIV related. Thanks for your help.
It is, unfortunately, impossible for me to say you had no risk and do not need to test because you have no memory of what happened AFTER you initially used a condom. Did she remove it? Did you? Did it slip off? Did it break?
Without knowing these facts, I would strongly recommend that you test.
Since you are already 8 weeks post exposure, you could have any blood drawn HIV test now which would give you a very good indication of your status. There are some experts out there who feel 8 weeks is conclusive, but we follow the international guidelines of 12 weeks for a 100% conclusive result.
You are past the window period for ARS, which shows up anywhere between 2-6 weeks and lasts for about a week. You would KNOW if you had ARS!
The rapid finger stick test you did at 17 days was rather useless as the average time to seroconversion is 22 days. Most who are infected will test positive by 4 weeks if a 4th generation DUO test is used. For various reasons a small number will take longer and that is why we follow the international recommendation to retest at 3 months for a conclusive negative result.
The blood work you had done recently does not look for HIV. A very specific test is needed to diagnose HIV.
Symptoms are NEVER used to diagnose HIV as they can be indicative of hundreds of other issues.
I trust you and your partner are using condoms until your final results are in at 12 weeks.
I wish you the best outcome
RubyWitch
Without knowing these facts, I would strongly recommend that you test.
Since you are already 8 weeks post exposure, you could have any blood drawn HIV test now which would give you a very good indication of your status. There are some experts out there who feel 8 weeks is conclusive, but we follow the international guidelines of 12 weeks for a 100% conclusive result.
You are past the window period for ARS, which shows up anywhere between 2-6 weeks and lasts for about a week. You would KNOW if you had ARS!
The rapid finger stick test you did at 17 days was rather useless as the average time to seroconversion is 22 days. Most who are infected will test positive by 4 weeks if a 4th generation DUO test is used. For various reasons a small number will take longer and that is why we follow the international recommendation to retest at 3 months for a conclusive negative result.
The blood work you had done recently does not look for HIV. A very specific test is needed to diagnose HIV.
Symptoms are NEVER used to diagnose HIV as they can be indicative of hundreds of other issues.
I trust you and your partner are using condoms until your final results are in at 12 weeks.
I wish you the best outcome
RubyWitch
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