Very scared about HIV! Please HELP!

[dave45822]

I'm a heterosexual male, I always practice safe sex and have only had sex with 3 people. However, on 5/6 I was with a girl my age. We didn't have sex, but for about 5-10 seconds i rubbed my penis around the opening of her vagina. She told me she was on her period and proceeded to give me oral sex. I didn't think anything of it for weeks (no symptoms, she seems like a normal, clean girl), but somehow i started worrying about it again. I thought a simple blood test would make me stop worrying once and for all. On 6/5 I got a test at a local doctor's office and a few days later I got back an INDETERMINATE result. They told me that they did a Western Blot (almost positive they didnt do an ELISA), but they assured me I was still negative. I had never been more freaked out in my life. I went to a local hospital where they have their own lab for these tests and had a NEGATIVE anti-body test result in about 30 minutes. This helped, but i started worrying again because i thought I got the test too soon. about 9 weeks after the exposure, around 7/7, i went to get another rapid test and it came back NEGATIVE. However, the people there told me to wait 3 months before I could be sure. I still have about 3 weeks to go and I have completely lost it. I start to picture myself having to live with HIV and I have lost motivation in school and almost everything else  
   I read that tests today give accurate results in 6-12 weeks or even sometimes 25 days. I've convinced myself that my immune system may be naturally weaker (sinus congestion for 8 months, constant rash on foot for years, and more recently, mosquito bites and scabs taking longer too heal than the internet says) as a sign that my body would take longer to create antibodies if i had it. This would make the 2 tests i took meaningless. I can't control the fear in my head. I just want to put my mind at ease before I ruin other parts of my life due to my anxiety. Thank you so much for your time.

[dave45822]

Oh and I also want to point out that almost every morning, I spit up a little very brown mucus

[dave45822]

Hey again, sorry if Im starting to annoy you, but my curiosity and habit of analyzing this worry from every aspect has prevented me from having a complete peace of mind. My primary worry now has to do with my chronic sinus issues. for about 8 months now, every moment of my life, i have post nasal drip and inflamed sinuses to where sometimes i cannot breathe out of my nose. I constantly spit mucus also. I got tested for 36 inhalant allergies and have little to no allergies to all of them. I also tried mulitple types of anti-biotics and I still have the sinus infection. Therefore I'm almost sure my infection is viral. I know my sinus infection isn't caused from HIV, but from my knowledge I conclude that my body isn't creating sufficient or proper anti-bodies to completely alleviate my symptoms after 8 months. With all this information I now consider the slim possibility that if my immune system is weak, maybe my T cells are depleted or too occupied to create HIV anti-bodies in time for my tests to read if I had it. I start to also observe how my mosquito bites and scabs take longer to heal than normal, and my common minor sore throats, and correlate them with this worry. Worst of all, I now recall my initial indeterminate results and wonder if that was a sign of seroconversion

Thankfully I got a NEGATIVE rapid test at 81 days (~12 weeks)

Could you possibly give me a scientific explantation of how the seroconversion process works (which part of the immune system creates antibodies, how long it takes and factors that inhibit or slow the process, and how my body would go through that process)? Im UNBELIEVABLY thankful for all the time you've given me but I cant be completely satisfied with "NEGATIVE" for an answer until I understand every aspect of the molecular action taking place in my body. That's what I get for majoring in Biology :(

Please keep in mind that Im not trying to convince myself Im infected. By now you probably view me as someone with anxiety problems, but if you just help me realize my irrationality with a scientific explanation, I would be very grateful.

Thank you very much for all your time Doc!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Sorry, nothing more to say.  Indeterminate tests are very upsetting and I understand this.  I am confident that further testing, no matter when you get it, will show that you did not get HIV from the exposure you described.  I hope you will be able to move forwardd soon.  EWH

[dave45822]

Hey doc sorry to bring this up again, but I still cannot seem to shake this off. I'm starting to convince myself that my immune system is really weak and that i may not have seroconverted all the way if I had HIV. I have all types of red marks, bites, and cuts on my skin that take ages to heal, which i correlate with my immune system being bad. I haven't been actually sick in awhile, but I have very minor sore throats pretty commonly, not enough to affect my daily routine though. Even if I did have a weak immune system, I probably don't have HIV still, but that makes me think my tests are meaningless. I just feel like if I cant put this immune system worry behind me, I won't be satisfied with a negative result at 3 or maybe even 6 months. Thanks again for your time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Correct.  EWH

[dave45822]

Thanks doctor! So a test at 3 months isn't even necessary at this point?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Your repeat tests PROVE that you o not have HIV.  You were just unlucky.  It's natural enough to worry about a positive preliminary test for HIV but now, with more information, you can and shoul move on with confidence that you do not have HIV. EWH

[dave45822]

So does this mean that my paranoia about having HIV because I had that indeterminate results are completely invalid? I went to a local doctor yesterday to talk about my anxiety problems in general and he gave me another rapid test which came bak negative (10.5 weeks). I'm almost able to put this all behind me, but I still have that worry lingering in the back of my mind that maybe my body hasn't created all the antibodies yet IF I had it. Sorry if I'm starting to be ridiculous but you have already made me feel 10x better and I just want to be completely sure. Thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Indeterminate HIV tests occur while the body is in the process of developing its entire array of antibodies to HIV but before they have all developed. Typically once the process of antibody development occurs it proceeds rather rapidly with indeterminants which are going to become positive doing so in the week or two following the indeterminate result.  Most indeterminants however are due to persons have antibodies which coincidentally react with some component contained in an HIV screening test.

The rapid tests for HIV are highly reliable.  EWH

[dave45822]

Ok, so to just clarify: IF i did have hiv, and had that initial indeterminate western blot, does that mean my body would be deep in the process of creating detectable anti-bodies? Is there a specific time that guarantees a conclusive result after receiving an indeterminate western blot? If so, my paranoia about my immune system already being weaker would be an invalid assumption because my body would already be fighting it right? This is all hypothetical and i hope it makes sense.
- The thing that still makes me nervous is that my 2 negative tests were both rapid ones. The first one they took a good amount of blood out of my arm to test, but the second one was only a small amount of blood from a finger prick, so is that just as reliable? Both places said all their tests either come back positive or negative, never indeterminate.
- I appreciate your first response, I already feel a lot better, but because of the paranoid person I am, I don't feel like I'll have complete tranquility until I eliminate my chances from all directions. I worry that if I had that first result even though the chance was very small, God forbid I could be that unlucky to have the virus itself.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  Your partner was low risk and the exposures you describe were virtually no risk for HIV.  A small proportion of person tests for HIV will have indeterminant initial tests for HIV. This is the reason that a second test (like the Western blot) was positive.  Your repeat tests indicate that you do not have HIV.  If you were developing a positive test for HIV, your other tests for HIV would be have been positive or indeterminant but not negative.  

The idea that the problems you mention signify a weak immune system are not warranted.  

My advice-believe you test results.  You had some bad luck but you do not have HIV.  In adition, I suggest that you stay off the internet.  It will mislead you, not help.   EWH