I had a possible exposure to hiv in Jan. Unprotected sex with a male. I have a question, I started developing symptoms about a month ago today. I tested two weeks into symptoms which was 4.5 months after exposure and I test at almost 5 months exactly and both were negative using 4 th gen testing. I also have been donating plasma every week since that date. Twice a week actually. I know they screen every plasma donation using a NAT test via pooling. Am I correct is thinking I'm am hiv free or should I be waiting for the 6 th month test and hope it is free and clear? I also have had a CBC done at my doctors office to narrow down why I have these symptoms.
Hello, I think you almost certainly are negative. The new tests can detect the virus as early as 40 days so I'm pretty confident you don't have to worry about that. But you could retest when the 6-month window has passed just for your peace of mind.
I feel like every symptom I have is directly because of HIV. To top it off they have lasted for 4+ weeks. I don't see and end in site and I feel like I'm going insane.
No please don't do that. You have to remember that each hiv symptom could just be a symptom of another condition. I suggest you go and have that final 6 month test so you will be sure and then focus on finding where the sypmtoms come from so you'll get the appropriate treatment.
I've only just seen this, but if you only have sex once, then it's already highly unlikely that you'd have picked up HIV, even if the man was HIV+, which is also unlikely.
You haven't said what symptoms you have, but if you've tested negative at 4.5 and 5 months after exposure, and haven't had unprotected sex since, then I would bet my house on you not having HIV.
I would bet my house also, but my symptoms are fatigue and dizziness with muscle weakness. I can't seem to shake it. And yes it was just one exposure and it was on January 20th of this year. I tested at weeks 20 and 21 both a 4th generation test and both negative .
Oh and they have laser for 5 weeks
*lasted
I think I'm going to go insane worrying about this.
Maybe you have some other problem, but I don't see how it could be HIV. Was there anything unusual with the CBC results?
HIV isn't the big problem it used to be anyway btw. More people in developed countries die with HIV than from HIV. It doesn't even make that much difference to their lives. If you google "hiv diabetes pemberton", you'll find an article in the Spectator by Dr Max Pemberton titled "As a doctor, I’d rather have HIV than diabetes".
Only thing they could say about my CBC was that my white blood cell count barely from the first time it was drawn to 3 weeks later. But they said it went down slightly and still within normal range.
Well just got the results from my 24 week blood test and they were negative also. I don't know what is going on. I feel like I'm having seroconversion symptoms but they are super late (5 months) after exposure and they have lasted for 7 weeks. 😔 I can't get over this at all. I don't know where to turn and who to talk to about it.
Just my opinion from someone who has suffered anxiety about potential sexual infection (so far unfounded), a lot of the symptoms that you attribute to seroconversion, are possibly because you are exhausted from the constant cycle of worry racing through your mind. If you are constantly releasing adrenaline by a rhetorical chain of thinking, you will cause your body to be drained, muscles tired from continually feeling tense, and you'll feel mentally tired. I know this as I have also suffered depression about a none-sti related subject. The feelings are the constant, not the subject matter. The tests that you had, are very, very sensitive, and as such, are as conclusive as medical science can currently offer. Take the situation back to basics. You had one instance of unprotected sex with a man, who may or (more than likely) may not be HIV positive. The odds of being infected even if he was, are very slim from a single instance, and even if he ejaculated inside you (you didn't stipulate). (A fact that is widely regarded as true in the medical profession but not broadcast fro obvious reasons) Then on to the testing, 4th Generation testing which is used by the NHS can detect HIV well within the window of 3-months. Again, there has to be a catch-all standard, and 3-months is considered that! You have tested negative far beyond that and I would state that is conclusive. I am able to offer you this not as a healthcare professional, as I am not, but as an empathatic, fellow worrier who chooses to refute the opinions of Drs and Gum clinic staff, and would rather find the crumb of doubt that throws all the FACT into uncertainty, and the cycle continues.... you are undoubtedly fine.
I have heard on many forums that people are stating that it could be anxiety related. I feel as though I can tell something is wrong with my body and I can't find a doctor around me that will say nah you don't have hiv. I just want someone to tell me I'm ok. I have called hiv clinics they tell me 3 months post exposure is 99.99% accurate and it's still not easing my mind. My doctor tells me I'm crazy for even thinking hiv. I don't know what else I can do. I have had leg weakness and nausea for about 7 weeks my tongue is white and throat feels as though something is stuck in it. Today I wake up and the corners of my mouth are bothersome. I just can't shake all these symptoms and they keep coming back and we are moving towards 8 weeks of all of it. I have never had anything knock me down like this, it's terrible. Honestly it's hard for me to make it through a day.
I'm really having a rough time...
The tests are conclusive. If you cannot accept this, then I am not sure how anyone could convince you otherwise. I know you will know how you feel better than anyone, but you MUST accept the results to be true. What else is there? Your symptoms could be attributed to a number of things, but HIV isn't one of them, as the tests have ruled that out. Please try to come to terms with the truth that you are not HIV+ and maybe try to address your irrational belief that you are unwell. Keep your chin up!
Every little thing that happens I relate back to it. I have so many different things going on right now it's ridiculous and all link back. I am never under the weather. The hardest part is that I can convince myself that it's all in my head and the tests are conclusive but I feel like absolutely s**t. I can't get going to save my life and I can't get over the hump of feeling miserable and it's all day long. I just want to crawl in a corner in a ball all day.
I know what you are going through, I have lived it. It is horrible, debilitating, and makes you feel there is no hope. It has been recommended that I have CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) to manage the thought processes. The last time I had it, I stopped as I finally started to feel better, I became able to tell myself it was only my mind, and then things started to fall into place. If you begin to understand that it is only the anxiety that is the problem, not what you have convinced yourself is wrong with you, you will realise that the subject matter if thought about for long enough, is interchangeable, and therefore although the catalyst, is not the problem. The mind is a very, very powerful thing, as I write this, I have a runny nose, itchy eyes, aching limbs, sore finger and toe joints, an intermittent itch in my penis, a pain in my head, an itchy thigh, loss of libido, leaking urine, tingling in my little fingers, trouble concentrating, feeling tired, loss of appetite.... now if I pumped all that into a search engine, I would be told that I could have a multitude of issues ranging from seroconversion, to Mulitple Sclorosis, to Neuropathy, to Prostatitis. None of which I have..... but I could, even if I had been told otherwise by several healthcare professionals, convince myself I am the exception, the one that slipped through the net. In our heightened state of distress, everything is distorted. I wish I was the type of person that can just accept that the overwhelming probability is nothing is wrong.. alas, I am not, and this will continue, with the subject matter switching from terrifying topic to topic. It is completely irrational, but it seems I need something to occupy my mind.
Thank you for responding to me! I understand what you are saying completely. I just don't understand why I wake up every day and my muscles are sore immediately. I can't get through the day without muscle aches constantly. I have dizziness every minute of every day. I can't concentrate on anything besides how am I gonna live my life with hiv. It's completely taken over my life. The only thing I can hold onto is the fact that I have negative test results. So then I think well I'm going off of recommendations, what if it's just now becoming detectable in my body and that's why it's negative still. These thoughts can't escape my mind, but the worst part is not a day goes by for the past two months that the physical symptoms aren't there. It doesn't change in intensity is doesn't ever go away. Can't eat lost 12 lbs.
No problem, I hope it helps. I strongly recommend that you read (or listen to) The Chimp Paradox by Prof. Steve Peters. This will help you, I am sure.