Worrying symptoms hiv one time

[Erinreport]

In August I had a run in with an East African CSW (country has around 1% HIV).

I had indulged in a lot of sex earlier in the night (protected) so was a little raw down there. I picked up a girl and went back to my house where we proceeded to have unprotected oral sex (both ways).
Near the end of the night we had 2-3 minutes of unprotected vaginal whereby I finished outside of her. We had a discussion on her (and my!) HIV status and she claimed to be negative but due to the moment she didn't dwell on the question.
Now fast forward 10 days, I developed a retro-orbital headache and intermittent vertigo, this vertigo would become quite server when outside walking to the point that I would have to sit down. I had some moments of feeling flush but no major fever or flu symptoms. The headache and vertigo lasted 13 days then spontaneously cleared up.

I put this incident at the back of my mind and thought I would wait until my next annual screening to be tested for HIV and other STIs however in October I developed a severe burning mouth, mostly the tongue and hard palate. I started googling and all things pointed to Oral Thrush - UH OH red flag for HIV. This pain with no obvious change to the oral mucosa lasted for 4-5 weeks (I tried nystatin to no success) and the pain subsided with a change of toothpaste but never fully went away.

Earlier this month I developed Serb Derm on my scalp (dandruff is normal for me, but now its worse) and some itching of the eyebrows and forehead, and now since Christmas my burning tongue is back with vengeance! Obviously this triggers me to think of HIV - reoccurring 'Oral thrush' and Serb derm are often the first signs of an infection (post ARS), correct?

Do these symptoms (And i know symptoms don't usually mean anything) suggest the need to be tested before my annual screening (medical) in March?

[AnxiousNoMore]

"And i know symptoms don't usually mean anything). "  You figured out the solution - symptoms should be ignored, so accept your own advice and stop wasting your life studying your body. Take a test as Curfew said - it's a lot easier than worrying for 5 months all day long. Why wait for March when you can end this misery now with a test?

[AnxiousNoMore]

A test result will be very quick so in case my message above sounded harsh, I meant it is better to take this quick test now rather than spend another 8 weeks worrying about your body by putting off the only useful diagnostic - a test - for 2 more months.

[Erinreport]

Yes you’re right I’ll get an over the counter test tomorrow. What do you think my chances are?

[CurfewX]

IF she was HIV+, your chances from a one-time encounter are 0.04%.

[Erinreport]

Thanks and considering there are 390,000 positive women in the country,  of which 293,000 are on ART treatment the chance of coming into contact with the 97,000 untreated females is kind of small. Add that to the 0.04% stat
Thanks for the faith

[CurfewX]

Exactly.  Perspective is very important.

Humans, in general, are very poor at risk assessment.  Your chances of being in a serious car accident on the way to buy a test greatly outweigh your chances of having HIV from this encounter, but most people would drive to the pharmacy without a second thought.

[Erinreport]

Took the OraQuik oral swab test this morning - NEGATIVE , thank you for all your help

[CurfewX]

I don't know why people think that oral thrush is a "red flag" for HIV.  It isn't.  Oral thrush is MUCH more commonly due to other causes.  HIV is actually the least likely cause.

I'm not going to comment on the other issues - when people start to think they've been exposed to HIV, they tend to relate all medical issues to HIV.  The choice of whether to test now or not is completely up to you.  In most places, HIV testing is either free or inexpensive, and there are over-the-counter test kits that would be conclusive by now.  If you are sexually active, or you are concerned, you should just test now to put this behind you.