Need one last clarification please regarding HIV. After my last post I mentioned I went for an HIV test after all and it came back negative . The thing is that a week after the test I am feeling a weird tingling in my armpits and neck and I thinks it’s due to lymphadenopathy cause I can feel some nodes inside my neck and when I Google it says that a possible association for stiff neck and armpits pain is swollen lymph nodes. What I am worried about is regarding the testing site I visited for HIV . It was a free anonymous std screening which is conducted by the AIDS solidarity movement volunteers . I wasn’t looking while the guy was pinching my finger to get blood drop because it makes me feel dizzy so the only thing I felt was him squeezing my finger and some scratches from the tube he used to collect the drop in . For some reason it stuck to my head that the guy there might have infected me with HIV when o wasn’t looking because the whole process of collecting the blood drop took way more time than it should and also the things he was saying to me were inconsistent in regards to HIV . He mentioned he was gay and that HIV does not differentiate between straight and gay people although in all world health organisation sites it mentioned that HIV is more prevalent in men who have sex with men. Then he told me that I should go every year and test for HIV even if I am in a monogamous relationship and he was trying also to promote to me that having hiv is nothing these days since it’s like having diabetes . Is there any way he could have infected me without me looking ? Why I am feeling these armpit and neck pain 10 days after testing there ? Is there some correlation or am I just paranoid here ?

Trying to evaluate lymph node swelling in the internet is a great example of this.  First, most people have lymph nodes that can be felt by an experienced (detection of lymph node swelling is a clinical skill that not even all doctors are accomplished at- there are many things that can be felt when poking around that might be misidentified as lymph nodes) clinician- the challenge is to determine whether lymph nodes detected by an experienced are abnormal or not, and, if they seem to be abnormal to figure out why.  The list of things that cause lymph node swelling is huge but, when you go to the internet, one of the first things that pops up is HIV.  This is an example of the sort of "rabbit hole" that I mention above.

Finally, please don't worry that you were infected when you were tested.  This is a common but unwarranted concern.  Ten days is too soon for recently acquired HIV to casue lymph node swelling or any other symptoms for that matter.  An addition, testing is closely regulated, testing materials are not re-used so there is no chance of accidentally contamination and there are no proven cases in which someone has become infected when being tested for HIV.  

Please don't worry.  Believe your tests.   EWH

Thank you for taking the time to review my post once again.

I know that I sound a bit paranoid I recognise this but please answer my below questions to help put my mind at ease.

The reason I am worried is because of the guy that took my blood drop for the rapid test . He seemed a bit off as I mentioned in the previous post and because I wasn’t looking it stuck to my mind that somehow he infected me on purpose since with the things he was telling me it was like he was promoting to me that it’s cool to be HIV+. Instead of focusing on prevention he was only telling me how manageable the disease is nowadays and that the safer sex you can get is with someone who is positive and on treatment .

So to my questions

1) Testing was made by pinching my finger to get a blood drop and after the only scars I was able to see was the dot from where he pinched to get the drop and some scratches which I assume were from the small plastic tube he guided through my finger to collect the drop. No wounds or anything just scratch marks and the dot. Is there any way i could have been infected somehow or if he did try to infect me I was going to feel something else apart the first pinch I saw him do on me ?

2) lymph nodes can occur without no other symptoms in ARS or is it always accompanied by something else ?

3) I bought an Oraquick test and used on me 13 days after this event when I started having this weird symptoms if they were due to HIV the test would have been positive ?

Yes, while the OraQuick is our least favorite test, if your symptoms were due to HIV then the OraQuick would have been positive

I hope my answers will help you to move forward from your unwarranted fears.  EWH

So from your point of view based on the incident I describe there is no point from me to abstain from sex with my girlfriend fearing that my swollen lymph nodes are due to HIV ?

Why is this thread still open? Just noticed now.. If I am allowed I just want to add one more thing.

I heard your advice doctor and tried to leave this behind me but on one side of my neck I can see some swollen lymph nodes, or at least more swollen than the other side of the neck since in one side I can see them and in the other I cannot. I am also having armpit and groin discomfort but cannot locate any swollen nodes? Does this sound like generalised lymphdenopathy?

End of thread.  EWH