HIV worry

[WorriedGirl106]

It’s been a little over 4 months since the encounter I am concern about. I had unprotected vaginal sex with a man who’s status is unknown to me. Since the encount I have been tested for everything at 34days and 46days all negative except HSV1&2. But I am concern about HIV, do not trust HVS blood test.
Now my tests are as follows; both HIV test are 4th Gen HIV 1&2 combo, the first one was a fringer prick at 34days and the second one was from the vein at 46days, all negative. But I have been getting some weird symptoms that have been freaking me out, acid reflux, neck pain that lasted over 3 weeks. I am getting another HIV test in the next few days which will be at 19weeks now but I am terrified that it could be positive. I would appreciate any advice?

[Sara_MHModerator]

As our members have already answered you fully, we are now closing this discussion.

***  thread closed ***

[WorriedGirl106]

I am terrified and this is still concerning me, why would Dr Hook in another website like ASHA now state that a 4th Gen combo test is considered conclusive at 6 weeks, 42 days. Claims that doctor have reconsidered their accessment based on a CDC paper that was written a few years ago, at least that is what he informed one of the individuals asking regarding HIV testing. That scares me because if their accesment could change from 28days to now 42days, what’s to say it wouldn’t change again ?? Is anyone investigating this ? Is there another explanation for this change? I get that for most individuals 28dys might be conclusive but according to the Dr it could be 42days. So this worries me. When can I finally feel at peace.

[CurfewX]

42 days is extra cautious.  A VERY small number of people turned up positive after a 4-week negative.  It is not uncommon for testing guidelines to change with new tests, and the test was new.  

When can you feel at peace? That's up to you.  If you can't accept your conclusive negative, therapy might be in order.

[AnxiousNoMore]

Your ideas are not scientific. See our doc and a therapist because your problem is not disease, it is fear of disease.
Even though you don't have any scientific training, you only believe in your made up science fiction theory that the timelines can change on you in future, so that is too illogical to discuss. There are lots of diseases that you can actually get but you are wasting your life fretting over your science fiction ideas so you should see a therapist before these ideas get out of hand..

[AnxiousNoMore]

I meant this. See your doc and a therapist because...

[Chima7]

I think you're overreacting here, to be honest. If you didn't trust the results of the first test, the second one should've been enough to appease you of your negative status. Nothing about your symptoms suggests HIV symptoms. And besides which, it's not possible to test negative if you're experiencing true HIV symptoms at the time. If your symptoms were HIV related, your tests would've both been positive. The fact that they're both negative confirms you don't have HIV. There are hundreds of other medical reasons which are possible to cause those symptoms, many of those are way more common and easy to catch. HIV is really not easy to catch and your partner would've had to be HIV positive for there to even be a risk. He most likely is negative so you're worrying over nothing here now. I suggest you consider seeking some therapy because health anxiety is a debilitating mental problem, which as you can see, will cause all sorts of problems if it's not addressed properly by a professional.

[WorriedGirl106]

But that is the issue when it is the test finally conclusive enough for me to move on and not worried about any possibility of having this disease. If the guidelines or Dr. doctors  assessment changes. What are my chances that if I take another test now that I will be negative? I have been avoiding it due to fear how it would change me

[Chima7]

Are you actually reading people's replies to you or just ignoring everything? Because you've received multiple replies to your questions from multiple people and you're still asking the same questions. There's nothing more that anyone can tell you that hasn't already been said.

[AnxiousNoMore]

See your doc and a therapist.

[mike_no]

Your 46 days negative concludes that you do not have HIV.

For a healthy individual and given the modern testing technologies, there is absolutely no reason to speculate HIV beyond 6 weeks time frame.  You should not think that you may sero-convert late or detectable amount of antibodies wouldn't have formed yet.

Practically, nothing else but being on chemo for treatment of last stage cancer would probably be the only reason for late sero-conversion. Also,  testing technology has advanced drastically, third generation tests have enabled antibody detection with a relatively smaller window than the yesteryear's first and second generation of tests.  Even a slight antibody production is detected efficiently. I strongly suggest you to refrain from getting in to "What-if" scenario. Accept your negative and move along.

[biology2017]

Nope. The 4th gen test looks for antigen and antibody.
Unlike a 3rd gen test which looks for antibody only.
So it is highly impossible for the scenario u said to exist.

[WorriedGirl106]

Is there any record of anyone testing positive after 2, 4th Gen HIV tests pass 46days/ 6 1/2 weeks later ?

[AnxiousNoMore]

4 weeks is conclusive so it is abnormal to test twice.

[WorriedGirl106]

I appreciate your response but it doesn’t address my question, I am curious if there have been any reported case of individuals testing positive beyond 6 weeks after a negative result.

[laxus2012]

it actually did answer your question. conclusive means exactly that. you will not test positive after that, unless you have another risk for HIV. you do not need to keep testing because of your anxiety, but listen to the advice you've been given here. there is a post by one of the doctors on here regarding a room of experts never seeing a neg test turn pos after a certain date, which i believe he referenced the 28 day mark. sorry for not linking it, but you may be able to search. that being said, its really pointless because you're negative, qnd will remain negative from this exposure.

[AnxiousNoMore]

If you don't trust the tests that were developed by scientists despite the fact that you don't have any medical training, then your problem is an irrational fear of disease. Any negative person can get those symptoms, so it is unscientific for you to think that you have isolated the cause to a disease you have been proven to not have.

[WorriedGirl106]

Just for clarification, it’s not that I don’t trust HIV testing, I don’t trust HVS testin. I am only testing for HIV due to hearing that the window period is three months.

[AnxiousNoMore]

Sorry, 3 months is very outdated or else is used by conservative organizations or sites that use theoretical risks that have never manifested in 40 years of HIVhistory. 4 weeks is conclusive so it is abnormal to test twice.