I am a 25 year old hetrosexual male (in a relationship) ,who had unprotected sex with a 22 year old female from the UK who i met in a club around 7 weeks ago. Since then I have been in very anxious about HIV an would be gratefull for some advice.
I dont know much about my possible exposure as i was very drunk, i almost dismissed the possiblity of HIV/STD's the morning after because as far as I can remember the encounter never lasted long (possibly less that 5 minutes) however I have had concerns since then.
I developed a flu like illness the next day after my possible exposure which included enlarged painfull lymph nodes in the groin, neck and armpit. This was coupled with a feeling very bad dizzyness (which was the worst symptom of the illness) and headache with joint pain but I generally felt well enough to move around.
It took around 4-5 days for these symptoms to subside, in which i felt fine again. However, around 4 days later i started to notice dull aches in my legs (mostly calfs, mostly when sitting or lying) coupled with lower abdominal pain. I dismissed the dull aches for the first 2 weeks but they progressively got worse and are now affecting me throughout the day and i am having to take alot of painkillers to ease the aches. This is coupled with tiredness, pains with lymph nodes in my armpit and groin and a generally feeling slighty unwell.
At four weeks i visited my GP, told her my symptoms above plus what i throught was oral thrush, she confirmed that my tongue was rather white but said it was not thrush. She checked me over and generally thought it was some sort of virus. She asked if i had had unprotected sex, in which I said yes, she suggested i get tested for HIV, which properly freeked me out and the last few weeks have been utter hell.
I went along to my local GUM clinic and spoke to the doctor there, he said that my symptoms were not specific to HIV, but I would need to come back in two months to be sure. I took a normal 4 week anti-body test and routine STD test. With what the GP said still ringing in my head I went along to a Private medical practice and got a 28 day HIV duo test at 34 days.
I am glad to say that all HIV/STD test came back negative. Which has helped me stop worrying so much. However I still have these symptoms mostly badly aching leg muscles and painfull swollen lymph nodes every day. I am due to book another appointment with the doctor and I just kinda know she will want me to go back for 3 month test due to my symptoms. I am just unsure where to go from here.
In your professional experience do you think there is still a concern for HIV?
Do you think I should get tested for other sexual illnesses like hepatitis?
I am more worried for my girlfriend as I am having sex with her. She seems to be fine however, but the guilt of giving her something, as you may appreciate is hard to deal with.
I've copied and pasted it beneath so I can deal with each of the points clearly.
""I am a 25 year old hetrosexual male (in a relationship) ,who had unprotected sex with a 22 year old female from the UK who i met in a club around 7 weeks ago. Since then I have been in very anxious about HIV an would be gratefull for some advice.
I dont know much about my possible exposure as i was very drunk, i almost dismissed the possiblity of HIV/STD's the morning after because as far as I can remember the encounter never lasted long (possibly less that 5 minutes) however I have had concerns since then.
I developed a flu like illness the next day after my possible exposure which included enlarged painfull lymph nodes in the groin, neck and armpit. This was coupled with a feeling very bad dizzyness (which was the worst symptom of the illness) and headache with joint pain but I generally felt well enough to move around.You will not develop HIV symptoms this early - simply not possible - much more likely to be just hangover / miscellaneous other virus - not HIV
It took around 4-5 days for these symptoms to subside, in which i felt fine again. However, around 4 days later i started to notice dull aches in my legs (mostly calfs, mostly when sitting or lying) coupled with lower abdominal pain. I dismissed the dull aches for the first 2 weeks but they progressively got worse and are now affecting me throughout the day and i am having to take alot of painkillers to ease the aches. This is coupled with tiredness, pains with lymph nodes in my armpit and groin and a generally feeling slighty unwell.
At four weeks i visited my GP, told her my symptoms above plus what i throught was oral thrush, she confirmed that my tongue was rather white but said it was not thrush. She checked me over and generally thought it was some sort of virus. She asked if i had had unprotected sex, in which I said yes, she suggested i get tested for HIV, which properly freeked me out and the last few weeks have been utter hell.Good for her - an entirely correct response - absolutely correct advice
I went along to my local GUM clinic and spoke to the doctor there, he said that my symptoms were not specific to HIV, correctbut I would need to come back in two months to be sure. I took a normal 4 week anti-body test and routine STD test. With what the GP said still ringing in my head I went along to a Private medical practice and got a 28 day HIV duo test at 34 days. perfect - this will have given you a certain result
I am glad to say that all HIV/STD test came back negative. Which has helped me stop worrying so much. However I still have these symptoms mostly badly aching leg muscles and painfull swollen lymph nodes every day. I am due to book another appointment with the doctor and I just kinda know she will want me to go back for 3 month test due to my symptoms. I am just unsure where to go from here.
In your professional experience do you think there is still a concern for HIV? no - not at all - your GP was correct to suggest you had HIV etc testing - this was obviously done and the tests are negaive. You do not need to fret any further about HIV
Do you think I should get tested for other sexual illnesses like hepatitis? I would imagine / hope that the NHS clinic did test you for hepatitis b - check with them and see
I am more worried for my girlfriend as I am having sex with her. She seems to be fine however, but the guilt of giving her something, as you may appreciate is hard to deal with.well look, you did something you regret but you've done the right thing consistently and have had an extremely reliable HIV test and other STD tests - you are not HIV positive and you will not put your girlfriend at risk of infection with HIV. I understand you feel guilty but I think you've done your pennance and you can now put this aside.
Hi Doctor, thanks for your reply.
Im glad to say that im feeling slightly better at 9 weeks post possible exposure, although still have a white/dryish mouth and calf pains but not nearly as bad. The rest of the symptoms have died down.
I am not going to bug you doctor I just have two final questions. In alot of your post you say retesting would only occur if the patient was clinicaly ill. Now when i went to get tested, i was experiencing the calf muscle aches, pain in lymph nodes and loose greenish stools, however I felt generally fine pretty much how i am today. Do you think that this would cause concern for retesting or am I stressing about nothing?
You had an extremely low risk episode with a confirmatory excellent negative 4th generation HIV test. So you are not HIV positive.
The symptoms which would concern me would be 1) very high temperature 2) very sore throat 3) body rash - all together, all severe and all going on for more than just a few days. If you don't have any of those you would be very hard pushed to convince me that a further test was necessary.
You my friend are very firmly HIV negative. Best wishes, Sean
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