Firstly I would like to congratulate you on the great service that you provide over the internet. Not only is your advice / thoughts clear and to the point but I think it's great that you are willing to provide an honest opinion that does not necessarily mean more testing (profit) for yourselves when you honestly feel that it is not required ... ... Aren't all Doctors suppose to follow this approach!? - I'm crossing my fingers that my scenario will be similar.
Day 0 - Visited a brothel in London - Worst decision of my life and still regretting it 9 weeks later. The lady dried my penis with some tissue before putting a condom on. She then performed about 3 minutes of oral sex. This was followed by about 2 minutes (don't laugh) of penetrative viginal sex using the same condom. I also kissed her which was a silly idea. It's unfortunately the same old story as many other posts where I was very drunk and it was a one off .. The condom was still on when I pulled out and I remember taking it off and handing it to her. I also believe that there weren't any tears in the condom after this episode but I now wish that I had a better look. I still hate myself for all of this as it's not the sort of thing that I ever thought I would get myself into.
Here are my questions - Feel free to only answer some as there might be a few:
1) - The lady asked me couple of times if I didn't rather want to do a 69 - I didn't want to but this makes me feel concerned that maybe she was HIV positive as she clearly would not have minded me "licking" her? I guess my question is am I being rational about this from a health point of view?
2) - When I took the condom off, I remember the lady saying something like: "Careful .. " .. I was drunk and this might have been because I was just pulling it off rather than gently rolling it down .. can't really remember exactly how I took it off. Again this made me wonder if she was warning me to be careful so that I didn't catch HIV. I guess my question here is trying to gauge the risks of catching HIV from being wreckless when taking a condom off and accidentaly getting some of the vaginal fluids onto my penis that way. I also noticed that she held onto the condom whilst having sex which makes me feel a bit more encouraging as she probably didn't want it to come off. Before we started I said to her several times that we had to be "safe" ...
3) - I was really paranoid over this episode and started washing my penis like mad that night + the days that followed .. with all sorts of soaps etc. Not sure what I was trying to achieve. I developed an itchy rash on my penis a few days later and about 2 weeks later when it didn't want to go away a doctor said it was possibly a yeast infection. He gave me anti-fungal cream which didn't really work and after 3 weeks I saw another doctor who said he didn't think that it was a yeast infection and that I should stop using the cream. My penis got better since then. I guess my question here is: If it was a yeast infection (which I still don't know if it was) .. does that mean that I could just as well also have caught HIV? Is the one as easy to catch as the other? This worries me a little that maybe there was something wrong with the condom and that I did not realise.
4) - About 4 weeks after this episode I started to develop a few tiny sores in my mouth .. more like scratches and not very many ... main problem is that I realised my mucous glands / the two bumps at the top of my mouth felt swolen and sore. I also felt that these little balls (sorry not sure what they are) on the inside of my lower lip felt a bit sore - Problem here is that I could have irritated these more with my tongue bly flicking them around - Question here is can the swollen mucous glands / bumps on my mouth indicate an HIV infection? At this point I also started to develop a cold / sinus dripping.
5) - Being convinced that I had picked something up I went to a private clinic in London in the City where they tested me for: Hep B, Hep C, Ghonoria, Clamidya & Syphillis + Herpes 1 & 2. I was too scared to do an HIV test at this point as silly as it sounds. All of these tests came back negative apart from Herpes 1. This visit to the doctor was about 28 days after my episode and the doctor gave me antibiotics (he said it was a general 500mg) as my penis was still a bit red and irritated .. again he didn't think it was a yeast infection.
6) - On day 33 - I was so paranoid about HIV that I just had to go for the test. I was given an HIV DUO test which came back negative. BUT .. then the next morning I have noticed that I had a white tongue - I still have it and it doesn't look like thrush as it's not patches and it does not scrape off easily. It's also more white towards the back of my tongue with tiny white dots at the back. I looked this up on the internet and almost every second google link that relates to a white tongue mentions HIV?? This made me believe that my result was wrong / got swapped around in the lab?! I have also now started to believe that the antibiotics messed with my HIV results .. could this be the case as I had my HIV test done on Day 5 of taking the antibiotics?
7) - On week 5 my cold started to turn into a bad dry cough and I also experienced some flu like symptoms .. although never felt like I had a very high temperature.
8) - On week 7 my cough was still going, but it's now less dry and producing a bit more phlem(sp?) .. I have now however developer extremely sore chest pain & pains in my upper ribs. This could be from the constant coughing although everywhere I read up on the internet to they say thay a cough / cold should not last for more than 2 weeks. Staring at my tongue in the mirror every 5 minutes did not help either so I decided to go for another HIV test. I went to a different private clinic in London this time - Also in the City. They have done another HIV DUO test which again came back negative. This was on the 7th week / Day 50 to be precise. My question here is: If my cough / chest pain & white tongue was caused by HIV should this test have picked something up? Could this test still be affected by the antibiotics which I have now stopped using for 2 weeks?
9) - Week 8 and I went to another doc (didn't explain the full story as I just wanted my chest checked out) who said that I developed Bronchitis. This freaked me out again as I understand that a chest infection is quite common if you have an HIV infection. The doctor looked into my ears and said that it looked like I had some sort of viral infection - Again, I should have asked but could he have refrerred to HIV?
10 - It's now week 9, and I still have a sore chest and I still have a white tongue. I also still have a bit of wheezing which means every now and then I need to push a cough out quite hard.
11 - When they sent my blood away for the DUO testing they take a fair amount of blood, more than what would be required for the finger pricking techniques (which I haven't used) .. Is the DUO test and automatic device or is it someone looking through a microscope trying to find bits a pieces? I guess I hope it's automatic ... and then do they only test once or do they do it more than once in case of a faulty device?
12 - Final Question - Should I test again (will probably be too scared to do this anyway)?
I am quite simply scared to death and I guess the reason why I'm emailing is because many of the other replies to people who had DUO tests done and were Negative are quite encouraging and I'm hoping that my symptoms will not override this in your opinion. I'm starting to convince myself that my symptoms are a better indicator than my test results although I know I should not think this way. It scares me to bits every time someone says to me: "Oh dear, have you still got your cough" .. It's been 4 weeks
I haven't slept great at night as a result of this, and can't remember when I last went through a day that I haven't consider HIV for 10 minutes. I also had some night sweats at night and find that my mouth and throat are very dry at night.
I was trying to find a way of marking my questions in a different colour to make it easier for you but can't seem to find a way - Apologies for the long mail and as I said, only have to answer the questions you feel are important as I don't want to take up too much of your time.
Thanks again for reading this long message & if I only knew about you guys then I would have had my tests done there. I'm cautiously hoping that I don't have to visit your practise soon although I say that with the most respect.
BB
Very long question so I'm just going to reproduce the questions and answer each:-
Quote:
1) - The lady asked me couple of times if I didn't rather want to do a 69 - I didn't want to but this makes me feel concerned that maybe she was HIV positive as she clearly would not have minded me "licking" her? I guess my question is am I being rational about this from a health point of view? No - she was just offering you another service. It has no bearing in my mind on her HIV or other status
2) - When I took the condom off, I remember the lady saying something like: "Careful .. " .. I was drunk and this might have been because I was just pulling it off rather than gently rolling it down .. can't really remember exactly how I took it off. Again this made me wonder if she was warning me to be careful so that I didn't catch HIV. I guess my question here is trying to gauge the risks of catching HIV from being wreckless when taking a condom off and accidentaly getting some of the vaginal fluids onto my penis that way. I also noticed that she held onto the condom whilst having sex which makes me feel a bit more encouraging as she probably didn't want it to come off. Before we started I said to her several times that we had to be "safe" ... Again, irrelevant. She probably didn't want semen on her new carpet
3) - I was really paranoid over this episode and started washing my penis like mad that night + the days that followed .. with all sorts of soaps etc. Not sure what I was trying to achieve. I developed an itchy rash on my penis a few days later and about 2 weeks later when it didn't want to go away a doctor said it was possibly a yeast infection. He gave me anti-fungal cream which didn't really work and after 3 weeks I saw another doctor who said he didn't think that it was a yeast infection and that I should stop using the cream. My penis got better since then. I guess my question here is: If it was a yeast infection (which I still don't know if it was) .. does that mean that I could just as well also have caught HIV? Is the one as easy to catch as the other? This worries me a little that maybe there was something wrong with the condom and that I did not realise.No - again, there is and probably never was anything wrong with your penis except over-zealous scrubbing to clean it up. Its delicate you know. When you stopped scrubbing it got better. Ain't nuffink wrong wiv it mate.
4) - About 4 weeks after this episode I started to develop a few tiny sores in my mouth .. more like scratches and not very many ... main problem is that I realised my mucous glands / the two bumps at the top of my mouth felt swolen and sore. I also felt that these little balls (sorry not sure what they are) on the inside of my lower lip felt a bit sore - Problem here is that I could have irritated these more with my tongue bly flicking them around - Question here is can the swollen mucous glands / bumps on my mouth indicate an HIV infection? At this point I also started to develop a cold / sinus dripping.Again -all irreleavnt - you used a condom and so you wont have HIV. The mouth symptoms are irrelevant and probably imaginary.
5) - Being convinced that I had picked something up I went to a private clinic in London in the City where they tested me for: Hep B, Hep C, Ghonoria, Clamidya & Syphillis + Herpes 1 & 2. I was too scared to do an HIV test at this point as silly as it sounds. All of these tests came back negative apart from Herpes 1. This visit to the doctor was about 28 days after my episode and the doctor gave me antibiotics (he said it was a general 500mg) as my penis was still a bit red and irritated .. again he didn't think it was a yeast infection. No question here - but all that sounds as I would expect it
6) - On day 33 - I was so paranoid about HIV that I just had to go for the test. I was given an HIV DUO test which came back negative. BUT .. then the next morning I have noticed that I had a white tongue irrelevant - you should see mine - I still have it and it doesn't look like thrush as it's not patches and it does not scrape off easily. It's also more white towards the back of my tongue with tiny white dots at the back. I looked this up on the internet and almost every second google link that relates to a white tongue mentions HIV??stop looking it up then This made me believe that my result was wrong / got swapped around in the lab?! I have also now started to believe that the antibiotics messed with my HIV results .. could this be the case as I had my HIV test done on Day 5 of taking the antibiotics?This is all irrational paranoid nonsense - the lab didn't mix up your sample, there's nothing wrong with your tongue except you keep looking at it and your HIV test is correct
7) - On week 5 my cold started to turn into a bad dry cough and I also experienced some flu like symptoms .. although never felt like I had a very high temperature. I've had a cough too - its the season
8) - On week 7 my cough was still going, but it's now less dry and producing a bit more phlem(sp?) .. I have now however developer extremely sore chest pain & pains in my upper ribs. This could be from the constant coughing although everywhere I read up on the internet to they say thay a cough / cold should not last for more than 2 weeks. Staring at my tongue in the mirror every 5 minutes did not help either so I decided to go for another HIV test. I went to a different private clinic in London this time - Also in the City. They have done another HIV DUO test which again came back negative. This was on the 7th week / Day 50 to be precise. My question here is: If my cough / chest pain & white tongue was caused by HIV should this test have picked something up? Could this test still be affected by the antibiotics which I have now stopped using for 2 weeks?all irrelevant nonsense - you are not HIV positive
9) - Week 8 and I went to another doc (didn't explain the full story as I just wanted my chest checked out) who said that I developed Bronchitis. This freaked me out again as I understand that a chest infection is quite common if you have an HIV infection. The doctor looked into my ears and said that it looked like I had some sort of viral infection - Again, I should have asked but could he have refrerred to HIV? rubbish
10 - It's now week 9, and I still have a sore chest and I still have a white tongue. I also still have a bit of wheezing which means every now and then I need to push a cough out quite hard.
11 - When they sent my blood away for the DUO testing they take a fair amount of blood, more than what would be required for the finger pricking techniques (which I haven't used) .. Is the DUO test and automatic device or is it someone looking through a microscope trying to find bits a pieces? I guess I hope it's automatic ... and then do they only test once or do they do it more than once in case of a faulty device? I don't know why they took more blood - usually we take two small bottles as a routine
12 - Final Question - Should I test again (will probably be too scared to do this anyway)?No, you're absolutely fine
I am quite simply scared to death and I guess the reason why I'm emailing is because many of the other replies to people who had DUO tests done and were Negative are quite encouraging and I'm hoping that my symptoms will not override this in your opinion. I'm starting to convince myself that my symptoms are a better indicator than my test results although I know I should not think this way. It scares me to bits every time someone says to me: "Oh dear, have you still got your cough" .. It's been 4 weeks
I haven't slept great at night as a result of this, and can't remember when I last went through a day that I haven't consider HIV for 10 minutes. I also had some night sweats at night and find that my mouth and throat are very dry at night.
I was trying to find a way of marking my questions in a different colour to make it easier for you but can't seem to find a way - Apologies for the long mail and as I said, only have to answer the questions you feel are important as I don't want to take up too much of your time.
Thanks again for reading this long message & if I only knew about you guys then I would have had my tests done there. I'm cautiously hoping that I don't have to visit your practise soon although I say that with the most respect. Absolutely - you don't need to - just forget about this now - you don't have HIV and you certainly don't need any more HIV tests anywhere.
BB
Didn't think I would post again but I think paranoia is starting to get the better of me again
I realise that you had already replied twice to this thread so apologies if this is frowned upon.
I just wanted to ask (a hypothetical question really) - Although I don't believe this was the case - Assume the condom wasn't on properly (which I think it was) / had a break in it .. and that the person was positive .. considering my symptoms (even white coating on tongue (more than I have notice before), bronchitis & chest pain + a lingering cough for 4 weeks) .. should I still find re-assurance in the 33 Day + 7 week DUO tests that I had done? If my symptoms were directly related to an hiv infection would the DUO at 7 weeks have picked something up?
I would be happy for you to close this thread on the next reply.
Thanks again for your time .. and if everything turns out to be well (or not) I hope to make another small donation in the future as this was a bit of a wake-up call for me in many ways. Promise.
BB
PS - I can only imagine that you guys are getting sick / annoyed with posts like these where people can't let go .. but I can't even biggen to tell you how priceless your advice is.
should I still find re-assurance in the 33 Day + 7 week DUO tests that I had done? If my symptoms were directly related to an hiv infection would the DUO at 7 weeks have picked something up?
Absolutely yes. You are not HIV positive. Leave your tongue alone!
HIV + Chest Infection + Other Symptoms
Linear Mode
