[Question #10445] Follow up

22 months ago

Hello I asked a question a few days ago and got a really good response however my question is how reliable would results be for testing two weeks past exposure.. I have a lot of anxiety and have been feeling weird for the past couple of days.. tiredness, weakness.. body is hot but no fever and loss of appetite.. also fogginess.. need to get this monkey off my back

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

22 months ago

I'm sorry you felt the need to return yet again. You just don't get it: YOU WERE AT NO RISK OF HIV and there is NO RATIONAL REASON TO BE ANXIOUS! I would encourage you to go back and re-read your recently closed thread, concentrating carefully on everything I wrote.

Presumably you did not continue PEP, right? How many days did you take it? The symptoms you describe are typical for anxiety itself but not HIV. If you want to prove it to yourself, you can have an HIV test (preferably an AgAb test, i.e. 4th generation). It's too soon to prove you were not infected, but the negative result WILL prove your symptoms are not caused by HIV.

HHH, MD

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22 months ago

Thanks.. I took the pep only once on Sunday.. 3 days after the occurrence.. have not taking the pep since.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

22 months ago

OK, good. It will have no effect on timing or accuracy of HIV testing. As I said above, you could test now if the negative result will help you understand your symptoms are not due to HIV.---

22 months ago

Thanks and when from today can I expect a conclusive result 3 weeks from today?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

22 months ago

Four weeks after the exposure your negative test result will be 99% conclusive, which is good enough. (Your risk of having HIV is no higher than one chance in a million. A 99% conclusive result makes it one in 100 million which -- surely you will agree -- is zero. But if you feel you need a test that all by itself is 100% conclusive, it will have to be 6 weeks after the your non-exposure sexual event.)

Please remember the forum policy against repeated questions on the same topic. This being your second on this exposure, it must be your last. Thank you for your understanding.

Really, disregard this event. There is no realistic possibility you have HIV. Feel free to return to the forum if and when you have a genuine exposure, like unprotected vaginal sex with a high risk partner. But I do hope these two discussions have been helpful to you. Best wishes.

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