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Delayed Serconversion
I had a low risk exposure 51/2 months ago in healthcare. Where a droplet of blood went in to my eye. I rinsed it out but probably not long enough...my boss was laughing at me for being nervous and said that you cant get HIV that way. So I called the PEP hotline and spoke with about 6-7 Drs.And I went to the ER all DRs told me because of low risk they wouldnt recommend PEP and that they have never heard of a case with such a small inoculation caused disease. Anyways, we asked the patient of his status about 4 times and he assured us he was in good health but refused to take a HIV test...After the PEP window passed I got very nervous and stressed out and wished I didn't listen to the Docs. I was convinced that the patient lied and I was doomed. About 8 days later my ARS symptoms started I got loose stools for 2 days, Night sweats for about 2 weeks, Thrush (confirmed) on my tongue, burning throat and (I think) hairy leukoplakia on the tip of my tongue, And still 5 months later my symptoms persist and more have come about such as numbness in my thighs, sores on my body that are healing slowly, shortness of breath, heart palpatations and insomnia and all I can think about is that I know its HIV. Despite all my symptoms all of my tests have been negative thus far.
Oral Swab at 3 weeks- NEG
I had a PCR-RNA test at 36 days- NEG; no virus found; less than 48 copies/1.7 ml
Oral swab at 6 weeks- NEG
Antibody test for HEP C, Syphllis and HIV 1/2 at 12 weeks- NEG
Antibody test for HEP C, Syphllis and HIV 1/2 at 5 months and 1 week- NEG
Biopsy on skin lesion- NEG
I am hysterical about this. 1) Could pregnancy and extreme stress delay seroconversion? 2) Can Hep C or Latent TB delay seroconversion? Is there any more tests I should take besides the antibody test? Can the current tests detect low levels of antibodies? Can I be testing false NEG? HELP HELP HELP.....
Oral Swab at 3 weeks- NEG
I had a PCR-RNA test at 36 days- NEG; no virus found; less than 48 copies/1.7 ml
Oral swab at 6 weeks- NEG
Antibody test for HEP C, Syphllis and HIV 1/2 at 12 weeks- NEG
Antibody test for HEP C, Syphllis and HIV 1/2 at 5 months and 1 week- NEG
Biopsy on skin lesion- NEG
I am hysterical about this. 1) Could pregnancy and extreme stress delay seroconversion? 2) Can Hep C or Latent TB delay seroconversion? Is there any more tests I should take besides the antibody test? Can the current tests detect low levels of antibodies? Can I be testing false NEG? HELP HELP HELP.....
You do not seem to understand. This thread is OVER. This forum has rules about excessive posting, and you crossed the line a long time ago.
You are welcome to join my HIV Anxiety Support group and post in there as much as you want, although I will just repeat the same advice that you have been given here. But you have now reached the point where you are done with this forum, and it is done with you.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/HIV-Anxiety-Support/show/595
You are welcome to join my HIV Anxiety Support group and post in there as much as you want, although I will just repeat the same advice that you have been given here. But you have now reached the point where you are done with this forum, and it is done with you.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/HIV-Anxiety-Support/show/595
Hi, I know you are sick of me. Please read on... I am very scared...you settled my fear a short while but I have started freaking out again. My oral symptoms are just driving my fear and I am sooo convinced I have HIV. Anyways NO ONE is going to take my fears away so I just took another series of tests. Dr. ordered 2 PCR's, HIV Ab test, and a CBC at 51/2 months post-exp. I am anxiously awaitng results and praying. Anyways, I am just so confused by all the different testing guidelines and you are so definitive on the 3 month window as to say even those with terminal cancer and who are extremely sick will test within this time frame.You seem very knowledgeable and I trust you and Docs opinion.
However, I just want to know...how do you know that? How can you be so sure? Everyone is different and bodies are all different. I am just wondering how you and the Docs are so certain and definate on the 3 month window. Have you witnessed or anyone you know any HIV patients who tested out past that 3 months? Are there any cases? I just know of the one damn nurse who was coinfected with Hep C. I would love to know more about her story. I hate her for screwing this whole thing up... What if I am like her and have so much going on inside that I am delayed...Please help me... can you give me any case scenarios are examples you can know of.
However, I just want to know...how do you know that? How can you be so sure? Everyone is different and bodies are all different. I am just wondering how you and the Docs are so certain and definate on the 3 month window. Have you witnessed or anyone you know any HIV patients who tested out past that 3 months? Are there any cases? I just know of the one damn nurse who was coinfected with Hep C. I would love to know more about her story. I hate her for screwing this whole thing up... What if I am like her and have so much going on inside that I am delayed...Please help me... can you give me any case scenarios are examples you can know of.
Dear LORD.
Listen.....you are in control of your own fate and what you are going to choose to believe. You have gotten wonderful advice in the expert forum from Dr. Hook who told you that you are conclusively negative. Yet, that didn't even register to you. You'd rather believe nonsense you read online and in your DENTAL texts (which are not going to be very accurate....they are dental books...not to mention outdated).
My last bit of advice to you is to throw your textbooks away. They are NOT going to be all inclusive...they are going to focus on oral health and dentistry. I can tell you POSITIVELY that pregnancy absolutely can cause thrush...ask your OB/GYN...not to mention all of the other symptoms you are having are either pregnancy related, or are anxiety induced.
You need to pull it together and get yourself to a therapist yesterday. You are obsessing over this and thinking irrationally...not to mention, causing so much anxiety, that you are making yourself physically sick. You say your skin issue looks like KS? KS occurs LATE in HIV infection, and most people who end up with it are usually hospitalized at some point b/c of the advanced disease.
The choice is up to you, we're done here. You NEVER had a risk to begin with, and your tests conclusively PROVE that you don't have HIV. You are doing yourself and your baby NO favors by continuing on this path.
Get yourself some help.
Listen.....you are in control of your own fate and what you are going to choose to believe. You have gotten wonderful advice in the expert forum from Dr. Hook who told you that you are conclusively negative. Yet, that didn't even register to you. You'd rather believe nonsense you read online and in your DENTAL texts (which are not going to be very accurate....they are dental books...not to mention outdated).
My last bit of advice to you is to throw your textbooks away. They are NOT going to be all inclusive...they are going to focus on oral health and dentistry. I can tell you POSITIVELY that pregnancy absolutely can cause thrush...ask your OB/GYN...not to mention all of the other symptoms you are having are either pregnancy related, or are anxiety induced.
You need to pull it together and get yourself to a therapist yesterday. You are obsessing over this and thinking irrationally...not to mention, causing so much anxiety, that you are making yourself physically sick. You say your skin issue looks like KS? KS occurs LATE in HIV infection, and most people who end up with it are usually hospitalized at some point b/c of the advanced disease.
The choice is up to you, we're done here. You NEVER had a risk to begin with, and your tests conclusively PROVE that you don't have HIV. You are doing yourself and your baby NO favors by continuing on this path.
Get yourself some help.
If the tests have been that good and sensitive for that long than why does the post exposure schedule require you to still test out to 1 year? And I know other things cause oral thrush but pregnancy is not a common cause (nowhere in my books mention it) and it is extremely common in HIV. I cant get my hopes up because I am so worried that I am an unfortunate case that is just not showing up on tests yet and the timing of when the strange symptoms started 8 days after incident seem all to mysterious to me. I have never felt so strange and sick in my life and I know pregnancy causes lots of stranges things but if women went through what I am going through our population would decline. nothing I have is pregnancy common. the numbness in my thighs happen to be on the femoral nerve (front portion) where most women get sciatica. The strange sores almost look like KS to me but not any pregnancy related rash I've found. My tongue is a mess how would that just bounce back to normal after delivery? my shortness of breath seems more of a painful gasping for air rather than just baby pushing on my diaphragm. I just don't know how to take these results I have had as conclusive and move on. I just feel like I need more closure.
"my boss was laughing at me for being nervous and said that you cant get HIV that way."
You ought to trust your boss. He/she sounds like someone who actually knows what they're talking about!
You ought to trust your boss. He/she sounds like someone who actually knows what they're talking about!
Last 2 years? Try almost 6 years, and 10 years.
I don't know WHY a text book would say that, but it is wrong. There are a LOT of common misconceptions about HIV. Heck, a lot of the stuff we were taught in nursing school was wrong.
The ONLY thing you need to worry about is that you have conclusively negative test results.
Go to the expert forum here on MH (HIV Expert Forum) and search "delayed seroconversion".
Other than that...I don't know what else we can possibly tell you. You would have never gotten HIV from this incident to begin with...even IF the patient had been confirmed +...you don't even KNOW this pt's status (which would most likely be neg).
You aren't doing yourself any favors worrying yourself sick.
I don't know WHY a text book would say that, but it is wrong. There are a LOT of common misconceptions about HIV. Heck, a lot of the stuff we were taught in nursing school was wrong.
The ONLY thing you need to worry about is that you have conclusively negative test results.
Go to the expert forum here on MH (HIV Expert Forum) and search "delayed seroconversion".
Other than that...I don't know what else we can possibly tell you. You would have never gotten HIV from this incident to begin with...even IF the patient had been confirmed +...you don't even KNOW this pt's status (which would most likely be neg).
You aren't doing yourself any favors worrying yourself sick.
It just seems like everything I read feeds my HIV fear. Such as my text book(Dental Management for medically compromised patients) updated in 2004 states in rare cases one may not have detectable antibodies for up to 35 months (don't know if its a textbook typo but that is what it says). Also, it states that if you have Candida, hairy leukoplakia, etc... you cannot rule out HIV despite Negative antibody tests. SO when I read that it makes me very nervous. Also, My other text book Oral Pathology (updated in 2000) states in rare cases antibodies may take up to 1 yr or longer. So how can I just drop this so easily. Can these texts be wrong? Has something changed in testing in the last 2 years to confirm that further testing is not necessary past 3-6 months?
I know it is not good for me I have been a basket case and I am emotionally broken over this incident at this time in my life.
Listen...you need to let this go. Your HIV tests have PROVED that you didn't get HIV from this incident (not to mention that the "exposure" was not risky to begin with).
Thrush can be caused by many many things.....the least likely being HIV.
Symptoms related to new HIV infection do not persist for months.
Bottom line...you did NOT get HIV. Many of your symptoms are likely due to stress and anxiety. Continue working with your doc where the symptoms are concerned....but you can POSITIVELY rule out HIV.
Lastly, "delayed seroconversion" is an urban myth anyway. Newly infected people test POS for HIV very rapidly. There are only a few, very rare instances where it would take someone longer than 3 months (but no longer than 6 months) to test POS. NONE of them even remotely apply to you. Post organ transplant, advanced/terminal cancer, chemo.
Time to move on and put this behind you. This level of stress certainly is NOT good for you in your condition.
Thrush can be caused by many many things.....the least likely being HIV.
Symptoms related to new HIV infection do not persist for months.
Bottom line...you did NOT get HIV. Many of your symptoms are likely due to stress and anxiety. Continue working with your doc where the symptoms are concerned....but you can POSITIVELY rule out HIV.
Lastly, "delayed seroconversion" is an urban myth anyway. Newly infected people test POS for HIV very rapidly. There are only a few, very rare instances where it would take someone longer than 3 months (but no longer than 6 months) to test POS. NONE of them even remotely apply to you. Post organ transplant, advanced/terminal cancer, chemo.
Time to move on and put this behind you. This level of stress certainly is NOT good for you in your condition.
Your prenatal exam and tests (including HIV antibody assay)are all you need.
-JC-
-JC-
Neither Thrush(Candida Albicans) nor Oral Hairy Leukoplakia are HIV specific in any way.
-JC-
-JC-
I am a dental hygienist so I know that there are certain mouth conditions specific to HIV...Thrush and Hairy Leukoplakia for example are very HIV specific so why do so many people insist that symptoms mean nothing? I know that if I went to the Dr. with my oral conditions they are just going to check for HIV. I am sorry I am so desperate I am 1 month away from having a baby and I want this behind me for the safety of my baby. So if there are any tests I should have done I want to know which ones are best. I was thinking of having a cd4 test, and some viral load test? any suggestions
Symptoms mean NOTHING where HIV is concerned. You've had many reliable tests which confirm it's NOT HIV causing the symptoms. The tests you've had rule out any delayed sero-conversion. Your results are NOT false negatives. See your doctor if your symptoms continue.There are hundreds of other tests you can take ( none of which have anything to do with HIV) Your symptoms are NOT HIV related, your tests prove it. Stop believing what's floating around in your head and start to acknowlege facts.
-JC-
-JC-
But what of the symptoms? Shouldn't you keep testing if symptoms persist? every Doc I have gone to immediately ask about my HIV status when I mention I have Thrush? Also, What of false Negative results or delayed serconversion? I want this nightmare to end but I cannot let go of this...Any other tests I can take?
Indeed, the HIV antibody assays and PCR-RNA test performed at the appropriate time indicate you are CONCLUSIVELY HIV NEGATIVE
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