Aa
Possible exposure
10 weeks ago to the day, I visited a sex worker and may have made the worse mistake of my life. Started out with a condom but it broke at some point. I was drunk so I have no idea how long. At the time I just shook it off and went home.
About 5 weeks later, I started getting chills, some night sweats, headache and just generally felt like crap. I also developed very itchy skin all over my body. At the time I credited this to some medicine I was taking as these were all listed as side effects. While searching for these I found out about the primary symptoms of hiv and the madness begin.
That same week
My wife came home with a rash on her back. That was very itchy and looked like whelps. It was gone by morning, but she has since told me it came back several times over a week. She has had headaches and have been very tired. This is really not uncommon for her. Since my incident we had sex once and did not really even do much. I did not ejaculate in her, but she may have gotten some in her mouth. Even then it would not have been much since I have been suffering from retrograde ejaculation because of the medicine I was on.
I decided to stop the medicine and then the chills, nausea and sweating got worse.developed a post nasal drip and the worse case of dry mouth I have ever had. I've had bouts of direhea since then. I also got really dehydrated for a couple of days.
5 weeks 3 days post exposure I went to the health department and got an oraquick swab test. It came back negative which helped me until the nurse told me it had to be three months to work.
Over the next week, my chills, headache and nausea subsided dry mouth. The itch continues as well as the post nasal drip, productive cough and direhea.
7 weeks 3 days, I went to the store and bought a oraquick. Took the test but did not follow the directions exactly as I had drank some tea about 15 minutes prior to swabbing. The result was negatitive, but the control line was faint.
The madness continued at 8 weeks 2 days, I bought another one and this time followed directions to a tee. It came out negatitive and had a strong control line.
These tests have given me hope that perhaps I dodged the bullet, but then the mind gets in the way again and the doubt starts to sneak back in. I have two weeks left until I can take a 3 month conclusive. Just not sure I can take it till then.
I even calculated percentages if my risk of coming in contact with a person with HIV, based on location, race, and gendar. My percentage of this actually happening was very low. I have a 10 times better chance of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightening than obtains hiv, and while my math problem helped im still nervous
Most of my anexity comes from the various information on the web about symptoms. So my questions are:
Is an HIV rash itchy and can it come and go multiple times over a week? Can ARS cause itchy skin without any rash? ( I have not seen any really dry skin, nor redness of the skin, that I did not cause by scratching)
Can symptoms come in waves like I describe over the course of 5 weeks.?
How confident would you feel that and oraquick swab test is accurate at 8 weeks?
Will you create antibodies before symptoms cease?
What are your thoughts about my over all chances of testing negative at 12 weeks?
Do I sound like my fear and guilt of potentially infecting my wife may be a more likely cause of my on going symptoms?
Tia
About 5 weeks later, I started getting chills, some night sweats, headache and just generally felt like crap. I also developed very itchy skin all over my body. At the time I credited this to some medicine I was taking as these were all listed as side effects. While searching for these I found out about the primary symptoms of hiv and the madness begin.
That same week
My wife came home with a rash on her back. That was very itchy and looked like whelps. It was gone by morning, but she has since told me it came back several times over a week. She has had headaches and have been very tired. This is really not uncommon for her. Since my incident we had sex once and did not really even do much. I did not ejaculate in her, but she may have gotten some in her mouth. Even then it would not have been much since I have been suffering from retrograde ejaculation because of the medicine I was on.
I decided to stop the medicine and then the chills, nausea and sweating got worse.developed a post nasal drip and the worse case of dry mouth I have ever had. I've had bouts of direhea since then. I also got really dehydrated for a couple of days.
5 weeks 3 days post exposure I went to the health department and got an oraquick swab test. It came back negative which helped me until the nurse told me it had to be three months to work.
Over the next week, my chills, headache and nausea subsided dry mouth. The itch continues as well as the post nasal drip, productive cough and direhea.
7 weeks 3 days, I went to the store and bought a oraquick. Took the test but did not follow the directions exactly as I had drank some tea about 15 minutes prior to swabbing. The result was negatitive, but the control line was faint.
The madness continued at 8 weeks 2 days, I bought another one and this time followed directions to a tee. It came out negatitive and had a strong control line.
These tests have given me hope that perhaps I dodged the bullet, but then the mind gets in the way again and the doubt starts to sneak back in. I have two weeks left until I can take a 3 month conclusive. Just not sure I can take it till then.
I even calculated percentages if my risk of coming in contact with a person with HIV, based on location, race, and gendar. My percentage of this actually happening was very low. I have a 10 times better chance of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightening than obtains hiv, and while my math problem helped im still nervous
Most of my anexity comes from the various information on the web about symptoms. So my questions are:
Is an HIV rash itchy and can it come and go multiple times over a week? Can ARS cause itchy skin without any rash? ( I have not seen any really dry skin, nor redness of the skin, that I did not cause by scratching)
Can symptoms come in waves like I describe over the course of 5 weeks.?
How confident would you feel that and oraquick swab test is accurate at 8 weeks?
Will you create antibodies before symptoms cease?
What are your thoughts about my over all chances of testing negative at 12 weeks?
Do I sound like my fear and guilt of potentially infecting my wife may be a more likely cause of my on going symptoms?
Tia
I Know the symptoms are never a way. I've read enough stories of how different every one is. I guess I'm just trying to hopefully relate them to other potential causes for my piece of mind. Thanks for the answer
There is no point in ever trying to relate your symptoms to HIV, because HIV symptoms are not specific at all and can be linked to a number of different things. Plus, if your symptoms were related to HIV, you would have tested positive.
You have had a risk and should test at 3 months for a conclusive result.
You have also put your wife at risk by having unprotected sex with her.
There is no need to calculate your chances and play the numbers game because all it takes is one time.
I do not expect you to test positive from this, however. One time condom breaks rarely. rarely lead to infection. Especially from the insertive partner
You have had a risk and should test at 3 months for a conclusive result.
You have also put your wife at risk by having unprotected sex with her.
There is no need to calculate your chances and play the numbers game because all it takes is one time.
I do not expect you to test positive from this, however. One time condom breaks rarely. rarely lead to infection. Especially from the insertive partner
One thing I forgot last week, I went to the doc and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Have you ever heard of bronchitis being a ARS symptom?
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