Ran into your site a few months ago and have been following the threads which have been very helpful to me. I had an exposure about 3 months ago (protection used initially but the last 5 minutes we took off the protection). Was really stupid of me as she only told me a few days later she was HIV+.
I have been trying to be calm since then and have tried to look for all possible symptoms on my body. I did not have fever or sore throat or swollen lymph nodes or rash within the 2-6 weeks post exposure period you talk about on your website but on the 9th week post exposure i had a cough and a rash on one of my right fingers. It is now about 12 weeks post exposure and I have a bad tooth (one of my molars in really sore but not swollen) and a few days to my tooth ache i had a bit of white on my tongue. I have also developed some pain in the left part of my chest.
What I need to know is if seroconversion can take place after 8 weeks post exposure and if the symptoms above are related to it. My week was really terrible as my wife came down with a very high fever although tests revealed she had malaria which has now been treated but I fear and hope i have not infected her. We had sex same week as my very stupid encounter (did not come inside her as i was too worried) and so I would say she also is 12 weeks post exposure.
Kindly take your time to reply me as the infection is not well taken here as people still think they can die if they come in contact with someone infected though this is changing gradually. We are also advised here to take our tests every 6 months and not 3 months. I did one 3 months ago which came back negative and waiting now till October for the re-run test.
Finally, is there a way i can get an HIV self testing kit delivered to me in Africa for a price? Your help would be highly appreciated in this regard.
Even though in strict terms your risk was very high given that the lady concerned informed you that she was HIV positive (would have been polite for her to tell you that bit before) the actual averaged chances for this event are around about 1% chance of being infected from what you describe. When I say averaged this figure takes into account all the various permutations that might alter the figure so its not exact by any means but does give you some idea and hopefully some reassurance.
Please stop sleeping with your wife until you know the answer, the last thing you want is to infect her if you are infected.
Certainly we can post you a saliva HIV sampling kit or a blood spot sampling kit which you then return to us and we can let you have the answer 5 working days after receipt of the sample from you. If this test demonstrates a positive result then you would need a further test to confirm it.
The cost of this kit is £45. If you wish to proceed with this then please contact Lisa Wood on Lisa@freedomhealth.co.uk and she will make the arrangements.
Thank you for your reply. I would do as you have said and contact your staff for details on how to send the money for the kit.
Thanks again as i have since stopped having sex with my wife. I just pray our sex a few days after my stupid encounter (5days later) would not cause her any harm.
Worried Sick in West Africa.
Worried Sick in West Africa.
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