health anxiety of theoretical non-exposure

[alight2007]

Hi have suffered the last few months of strange symptoms and my phobia of HIV just made it worse.


Situation : I was in a disco club. In the electronic music scene it's often quite hedonistic. I was on the toilet and scraped my wrist (near the vein I think) on something sharpe of.metal on the wall. I don't know if there was blood/semen on it.
My wrist skin didn't seem to be penetrated completely as there was no blood , just scraped.

Symptoms: after 4 days intense headache , after 2 weeks shingles on my back (could.be from swimming pool), after 4 weeks a flu with fever, headache, cold symptoms . Then from then I had constant headaches and burning sensation in leg/feet/arms/testicles and my shoulder blades which come every now and then. After 3 months I have developed tiny red spots on body and some marks like.mosquito bites (could be from cat allergy as I just got one) and a constant sensation that my right neck gland is swollen under the cheek (but when occupied usually it goes away).

Is this a theoretically impossible risk ? Just can't stop the anxiety which is painful along with the uncomfortable symptoms. What if someone cut themself on the thing sticking out of the wall just before I entered ?

[GuitarRox]

I do agree it is hard to see a doctor in person due to corona virus.  But many doctors are doing medicine over the phone or computer.  Checking the internet for symptoms of testing over and over isn't a great way to overcome anxiety.  True treatment involves therapy and sometimes medication.  So, do talk to your doctor as soon as possible.

[GuitarRox]

Hello.  You didn't have a risk that is related to HIV transmission.  The way HIV is transmitted is very specific.  People get HIV from having unprotected vaginal or anal sex or sharing IV drug needles and that is it.  Air and saliva deactivate the virus.  A scrape on your wrist would not transit the virus at all.  So, this is not a concern.  You don't need to test for HIV from this.  There are lots of viruses going around and that includes the corona virus.  You can see your doctor if you are still unwell but most people recover from a virus without intervention.  

[alight2007]

@GuitarRox Thanks for the information. Yeah the acceptance that it  cannot be hiv as it's not possible for the virus to survive outside the body is very difficult for paranoid health anxiety victims like myself! Hopefully my subconsciousness can accept it too soon !

Thanks again for the information and reassurance :)

[GuitarRox]

Well, you know the deal.  Anxiety is a treatable disorder and you have to proactively seek that help.  You clearly know you have anxiety issues, what do you do to treat it?

[alight2007]

Until now I haven't been to seek professional help unfortunately. I'm sure my girlfriend and friends would support me. At the moment it's difficult to see the doctor because of the Corona outbreak but as soon  as things start to return to normal i will go to the doctor to ask for help.
To reduce my anxiety I try to reassure myself that it's impossible to get HIV by a scratch and distract myself with hobbies or meeting friends which distracts me from the symptoms.

[AnxiousNoMore]

The good news for you is hiv research is over 40 years old, so researchers determined long ago there are just the 3 ways GR mentioned that you can get hiv. Therefore there is no situation left to study so you should not worry. Your problem is suggested in your subject, when you refer to "theoretical" non-exposure, because the proven science is far from a theory. A better title would be 40 years of science proves non-exposure.

[alight2007]

Ah the flu like symptoms after 4 weeks lasted about 4-5 days.