Aa
Severe symptoms - scared!
Hi! Three weeks ago, I had a heterosexual encounter. The hiv status of the woman is unknown. We had unprotected oral sex (I only received a blowjob, no other oral activities) and protected vaginal sex. In addition, mutual mastrubation occurred.
10-14 days after this encounter, I started to have symptoms. Think about fatigue, headaches, extreme nausea and unexplainable muscle and joint aches (strange, since I've been mostly resting for the last week). The nausea went away after a couple of days, but three weeks after the encounter I still have those severe muscle and joint aches (over my whole body). I can't really explain it, but they don't really feel like symptoms I've ever had when I had a normal flu....
A sti and hiv test two weeks after the sexual encounter came back negative. An insti self test today (so three weeks after the encounter) was also negative. I'm waiting for the 4 week benchmark to do a new and more reliable test. What do you think about my risk for hiv, considering my symptoms? The severe symptoms are really worrying me...
10-14 days after this encounter, I started to have symptoms. Think about fatigue, headaches, extreme nausea and unexplainable muscle and joint aches (strange, since I've been mostly resting for the last week). The nausea went away after a couple of days, but three weeks after the encounter I still have those severe muscle and joint aches (over my whole body). I can't really explain it, but they don't really feel like symptoms I've ever had when I had a normal flu....
A sti and hiv test two weeks after the sexual encounter came back negative. An insti self test today (so three weeks after the encounter) was also negative. I'm waiting for the 4 week benchmark to do a new and more reliable test. What do you think about my risk for hiv, considering my symptoms? The severe symptoms are really worrying me...
Answers are not going to vary from "standard" when the assessment is accurate. We understand that you are concerned, but as you have been advised, you did not have a risk for HIV. There is nothing additional for our members to say about your no-risk event.
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This answers all of your HIV questions, and if you can think of any more just reread about the 3. You had zero risk therefore testing is irrelevant to your situation because you had zero risk. HIV is a fragile virus, which is instantly inactivated in air and also in saliva which means it is effectively dead so it can't infect from touching, external rubbing or oral activities. It doesn't matter if you and they were actively bleeding or had cuts at the time either because the HIV is effectively dead.
Only 3 adult risks are the following:
1. unprotected penetrating vaginal with a penis
2. unprotected penetrating anal sex with a penis
3. sharing needles that you inject with.
The only way to get HIV is if you did one of the 3. The situation you describe is a long way from any of these 3.
Even with blood, lactation, cuts, rashes, burns, etc the air or the saliva does not allow inactivated virus to infect from touching, external rubbing or oral activities. Doctors have calculated the risk from what you describe to be less than that of being hit by a meteor, therefore no one will get HIV from what you did in the next 40 years of your life either. The above HIV science is 40 years old and very well established, so no detail that you can add to your encounter will change it from zero risk.
Your symptoms are likely in your imagination so stop examining your body to see if they disappear or else see your doc - but it has nothing to do with hiv..
It is abnormal to test repeatedly for the same disease and since there is no disease to test for, then yet another test will indicate hiv phobia.
Only 3 adult risks are the following:
1. unprotected penetrating vaginal with a penis
2. unprotected penetrating anal sex with a penis
3. sharing needles that you inject with.
The only way to get HIV is if you did one of the 3. The situation you describe is a long way from any of these 3.
Even with blood, lactation, cuts, rashes, burns, etc the air or the saliva does not allow inactivated virus to infect from touching, external rubbing or oral activities. Doctors have calculated the risk from what you describe to be less than that of being hit by a meteor, therefore no one will get HIV from what you did in the next 40 years of your life either. The above HIV science is 40 years old and very well established, so no detail that you can add to your encounter will change it from zero risk.
Your symptoms are likely in your imagination so stop examining your body to see if they disappear or else see your doc - but it has nothing to do with hiv..
It is abnormal to test repeatedly for the same disease and since there is no disease to test for, then yet another test will indicate hiv phobia.
7 Comments
Giving a blowjob is also a small risk (especially when you have semen in your mouth), but I didn't do that...
Nonetheless, could my condom have teared without me noticing? I took it off myself and noticed nothing extraordinary...
I know this is a rational risk assessment, but you can find a lot of stories on the internet/forums where people are confused since they got hiv although they only engaged in 'safe sex' (just as me). I find it hard to believe that all of them are making that up...
Nonetheless, could my condom have teared without me noticing? I took it off myself and noticed nothing extraordinary...
I know this is a rational risk assessment, but you can find a lot of stories on the internet/forums where people are confused since they got hiv although they only engaged in 'safe sex' (just as me). I find it hard to believe that all of them are making that up...
No, it is not any risk so reread the advice and learn the 3. Otherwise why did you come here if you think you know more than the expert doctors who we rely on for advice?
If you google for death you can find someone who will tell you that you can die from anything you plan to do in the next 10 minutes. Example you can actually get E Coli from any burger but you don't test for that after every meal, so your priorities are misplaced worrying about crackpot theories from strangers who have no medical training. It is best to stop pretending you can do an hiv doctor's job and the first step is to stopping googling cold turkey, since you don't google all day trying to locate other diseases that you might have.
We rely on the expert docs, so can't be arguing with whatever you can locate on the internet or we will be here all day playing detective.
If a condom fails, it is a large rip down the seam and it hangs in tatters from the ring and is hard to get off. That didn't happen.
If you google for death you can find someone who will tell you that you can die from anything you plan to do in the next 10 minutes. Example you can actually get E Coli from any burger but you don't test for that after every meal, so your priorities are misplaced worrying about crackpot theories from strangers who have no medical training. It is best to stop pretending you can do an hiv doctor's job and the first step is to stopping googling cold turkey, since you don't google all day trying to locate other diseases that you might have.
We rely on the expert docs, so can't be arguing with whatever you can locate on the internet or we will be here all day playing detective.
If a condom fails, it is a large rip down the seam and it hangs in tatters from the ring and is hard to get off. That didn't happen.
Definately did not any of those three (and my condom didn't hang in tatters from the ring)...
I was only telling what moderators on Poz Forum are posting. In addition, people such as Hunter Handsfield (who used to be active on this forum) would call such a risk "exceedingly unlikely", but not impossible (see "asktheexpertsnow"). So I'm sorry I doubted your medical expertise... Not that it matters: I didn't give a blowjob, I only received one.
My follow up question is the following one: does a third generation self test (e.g. insti self test) always shows up positive when you're having ARS symptoms. Some experts tend to say that the symptoms of acute HIV infection are caused by the immune response to the virus, not by HIV itself. Antibody production is part and parcel of that immune response. Therefore, within a few days of onset of symptoms, a test for HIV antigen or antibody should always be positive. What do you think about that?
Last, but not least: I think I've had all the typical ARS symptoms by now (except for fever)... Not really reassuing me. i will definitately let you know the outcome of my final test (4th gen test at 4 or 6 weeks), and I hope I will be able to post that I'm a coward and you were right all along :-)
I was only telling what moderators on Poz Forum are posting. In addition, people such as Hunter Handsfield (who used to be active on this forum) would call such a risk "exceedingly unlikely", but not impossible (see "asktheexpertsnow"). So I'm sorry I doubted your medical expertise... Not that it matters: I didn't give a blowjob, I only received one.
My follow up question is the following one: does a third generation self test (e.g. insti self test) always shows up positive when you're having ARS symptoms. Some experts tend to say that the symptoms of acute HIV infection are caused by the immune response to the virus, not by HIV itself. Antibody production is part and parcel of that immune response. Therefore, within a few days of onset of symptoms, a test for HIV antigen or antibody should always be positive. What do you think about that?
Last, but not least: I think I've had all the typical ARS symptoms by now (except for fever)... Not really reassuing me. i will definitately let you know the outcome of my final test (4th gen test at 4 or 6 weeks), and I hope I will be able to post that I'm a coward and you were right all along :-)
Let's stick to the topic of hiv prevention, instead of being "sorry" as you put it.
We don't care what some other forum says or we will be here all day arguing. We rely on the opinion of expert doctors instead so you effectively got their advice. This is not a discussion forum where people pose their theories - the reason is because the reality is hiv prevention is straightforward and is solely dependent on whether you did the 3.
Since you had zero risk there is no sense discussing how to do a placebo test - there are no guidelines for that.
You can check any thread here, and note that no one on this forum will disagree with the advice I have given - everyone who gives advice here knows that symptoms can't prove anything - even for people who actually had a risk who try to have their symptoms analyzed here. Stopping self examination is the FIRST step to peace.
There is no need to post your results of the placebo test, since no one in the history of hiv got it from oral. It would be more useful to seek therapy or talk to your doc instead of living with this fear and wasting your time reading what experts you cited say because without medical training it is easy for you to misinterpret.
Googling for death will always locate someone who will tell you that you can die for whatever you can think of doing in the next 10 minutes, so the OTHER step to peace is to stop googling cold turkey and leave diagnosis to a doc instead.
You can actually get E Coli from a burger but you don't test for that after every meal so priorities are misplaced when you test for something that google has made you anxious about.
We don't care what some other forum says or we will be here all day arguing. We rely on the opinion of expert doctors instead so you effectively got their advice. This is not a discussion forum where people pose their theories - the reason is because the reality is hiv prevention is straightforward and is solely dependent on whether you did the 3.
Since you had zero risk there is no sense discussing how to do a placebo test - there are no guidelines for that.
You can check any thread here, and note that no one on this forum will disagree with the advice I have given - everyone who gives advice here knows that symptoms can't prove anything - even for people who actually had a risk who try to have their symptoms analyzed here. Stopping self examination is the FIRST step to peace.
There is no need to post your results of the placebo test, since no one in the history of hiv got it from oral. It would be more useful to seek therapy or talk to your doc instead of living with this fear and wasting your time reading what experts you cited say because without medical training it is easy for you to misinterpret.
Googling for death will always locate someone who will tell you that you can die for whatever you can think of doing in the next 10 minutes, so the OTHER step to peace is to stop googling cold turkey and leave diagnosis to a doc instead.
You can actually get E Coli from a burger but you don't test for that after every meal so priorities are misplaced when you test for something that google has made you anxious about.
There was a sizeable study performed involving serodiscordant couples, who performed oral sex over a number of years, and by the end of the study, ZERO participants who were HIV-negative, and gave oral to someone HIV+, were infected with HIV.
These are all just standard answers...
I know the risk was small (and your forum even says non-existent), but my symptoms are real. I really hope you're right, but I doubt it. I will be going to the doctor tommorrow (test results will probably be back on Tuesday). If that test shows up negative (although it is not yet 100% conclusive), I'm inclined to believe you! Otherwise, I'm the first guy who contracted hiv by having "safe sex" (I really don't aspire to be that guy...)
I really don't know how you can be so sure about your answers, while other sites or organizations (e.g. CDC) say something different.
I know the risk was small (and your forum even says non-existent), but my symptoms are real. I really hope you're right, but I doubt it. I will be going to the doctor tommorrow (test results will probably be back on Tuesday). If that test shows up negative (although it is not yet 100% conclusive), I'm inclined to believe you! Otherwise, I'm the first guy who contracted hiv by having "safe sex" (I really don't aspire to be that guy...)
I really don't know how you can be so sure about your answers, while other sites or organizations (e.g. CDC) say something different.
"but my symptoms are real." They are not real hiv symptoms though since you can't have hiv! (And since you haven't seen a doctor, I have no idea if there are any symptoms, since human imagination is powerful and capable of confusing people suffering from anxiety.) So you are mixing up cause and effect by fixating on a disease then looking for symptoms to work up an impossible hiv theory. You don't have any medical training, so it is unrealistic for you to have so much faith in your own sci-fi theories.
"These are all just standard answers... " That is irrelevant since they are correct. It is not necessary for you to understand the biology for it to be a fact either.
"These are all just standard answers... " That is irrelevant since they are correct. It is not necessary for you to understand the biology for it to be a fact either.
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