I am devastated
Hi
I am really looking to hear if anyone has experienced what I have and ended up negative. Or if you think this could be something else.
2 days after I received unprotected oral sex I developed a flu like symptoms and sore throat and fever. It was horrid I was in bed for two days sweating.
The next two days I started getting sores in my mouth and blotchy red flat rashes all over my body. I developed a bad cough and lost my voice a little.
I am devastated as this sounds exactly like HIV. I was clinging onto the fact these symptoms started 48 hours which I thought was too early by websites say 48 hours is in the range.
My odds of recieving oral was so low and now my life is over.
I'm only on day 6 and already it's terrible. New blotches popping up every few hours and my arms and body feel like they are on fire and prickly.
Anyone experience anything like this?
Hi
. It is clear and understandable that you are troubled by these symptoms you are experiencing. You are correct that the risk from receiving oral sex is low. As noted in this article on transmission risk from our editorial team, the estimated risk from receptive oral sex is less that 0.04 percent: https://h-i-v.net/transmission-risks. Of course, this does not account for individual unique circumstances. It is true that the symptoms you mention may occur during seroconversion (see: https://h-i-v.net/symptoms/early-stage), but they can also have other causes.
Also, you mentioned 48 hours being in the window for potential seroconversion. The medical sites I'm familiar with mostly mention one to two weeks. This one from the CDC notes "These signs and symptoms of acute HIV infection can begin a few days after you are exposed to HIV and usually
last for about 14 days:" https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/prep_gl_patient_factsheet_acute_hiv_infection_english.pdf. This site specifically says "there are no symptoms of having acquired HIV only two days after a possible exposure:" https://www.thebody.com/article/can-you-get-hiv-symptoms-in-the-two-to-three-days-, but I need to stress that we are not medical professionals and cannot specifically confirm online medical information.
Of course, the only way to be sure is to get tested. All HIV tests have a window with a minimum amount of time before they can detect HIV. This article from our editorial team gives an overview of the different tests, with the window periods: https://h-i-v.net/test-types. We know that getting tested is hard, but it can also provide peace of mind. Also, if there is a positive result, the early treatment begins the better. HIV treatments have advanced dramatically and now full and happy lives are possible, as many here can attest. Wishing you the best and please feel free, if you like, to keep us posted on how you are doing and to ask questions. Best, Richard (Team Member)Thank you Richard. The odds of this is crazy but I am 100% convinced I am positive.
I have seen many sites mostly specifying 2weeks minimum and read a journal on incubation times and the mean time was 21 days and the range was 5-60. So I am well below this so really clinging onto this at the moment.Hi
. It is definitely understandable that the wait until you can get tested is hard. You may have noticed from the last article I posted; the one on test types mentions that the nucleic acid tests have the shortest window. It says the window opens in 10 days. I have seen other sites say a little longer, so it is important to ask a professional how long to wait for an accurate reading depending on the particular test. In the meantime, it would be too easy and simplistic to say to try to stay calm, but I hope the information provided on seroconversion helps you cling to some good thoughts. Best, Richard (Team Member)
Hey, I'm in similar situation. I got the symptoms like dry mouth and throat infection from day 4 of exposure. I have taken the HIV RNA test at 12 days of exposure. It came back negative. But I still have the symptoms. Did you take the test? Hi
. You may already be aware of this information, but want to share that most medical sites, such as this one, state that the HIV RNA test can accurately detect HIV 10 to 33 days after exposure: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/hiv-rna-tests. The accuracy of the test does increase over time, but I saw references to 95 to 99% at the beginning of the window. Have you had a chance to speak with a doctor about your symptoms? Best, Richard (Team Member)
Hi Richard, I did that test after 12 days and got a message back from the labs saying that they couldn't give me my result as they never took enough blood. I didn't return to give a new sample as I waited until the month was up and did my 4th gen with my doctor.
I was fully expecting this to be positive and it came back negative. So this was negative at 38 days, waiting another few weeks to do another one but my doctor said it was reasonably conclusive.Good to know it came back negative. How are you feeling now? So you still have any symptoms?
