Hello doctors,Almost 5 months ago i visited a nuru massage parlour in Romania. I had nuru massage no sex no penetration , just a handjob at the end for finish. For most of the time of the massage i was lying on my stomach and the girl was massaging my back, so i couldnt see what she was doing. When i finished and went home i immediately fall asleep since i was a bit drunk from before and the next day while walking i was feeling a sore sensation on my left shoulder the same on you get when you go for a blood test. At the time i did not payed much attention but afterwards since I am a bit overthinker the thought that she might have injected me with something popped to mind , this happened 3-4 days after the massage. I took a close look on my shoulder and i could see a small dot like the one that you can barely see 3-4 days after a blood test and this made me worry much more. Almost one month after the exposure i got sick with runny nose, cough, phlegm and occasionnaly some chills. All the symptoms went away in about a week but the cough persisted for 2 months maybe a bit more. The timing of me getting sick made me worry even more. Right now writing this question i experience very dry mouth and dry hands which came out of nowhere just went to bed on night and the other i woke up with this dryness. Based on what i am describing above is there any realistic chance of me getting infected this way? Am i being paranoid? Each time i was paranoid about an exposure i would search online or take hiv tests to reassure myself but i do not think that this is the way to go. The reason i am typing here is because i want someone with much better knowledge than me to explain to me cleanly based on what i am describing if this is something to worry about or not and the rest is up to me.Thanks!

Welcome to the forum. I'll try to help.---

Hello doctor,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
What i meant before was that i have been paranoid about hiv as well in the past and everytime i went and got tested, but i believe that this is not the way to go because it may temporarily give me peace of mind but it also enforces this behaviour of me not realizing when i am in danger or not and me thinking that all of the situations i was in demanded an hiv test. If i explain them here i know you would tell me hiv testing was not needed in either one of them.
The main reason i came here to the forums is for you doctors to help me get my mind straight and understand if this was indeed an exposure worth looking into or not.
Is there any realistic chance she might have injected me with something without me knowing and not realizing at the time somehow?
Also regarding my dry hands and dry mouth today 5 moths after along with a canker sore on my tongue hiv related? The reason i am worried about this is that regardless of the weather i never had any problems like this before but now i do.

Thanks for taking the time to look into this, looking forward for your answer.

Thanks for the thanks.---

One last question doctor that will help me get things in perspective. I ordered an INSTI hiv test to test at home just to be sure. I did this 3-4 times in the past in regards to exposures that someone would consider zero risk, and also lab tested several times as well. The reason i want to do it, is because each time i get sick i think its due to HIV. These days my girlfriend got sick as well, she has dry cough and sore throat for the last 3-4 days along with runny nose. I also have runny nose but no sore throat. I want to test because the thought of infecting her from this exposure keeps popping into my head but from the other side i know that over-testing with these home test kits carries a risk of false positive which will increase my anxiety to whole different level. Also overtesting in general does that. Should i test or throw the test away and move on with my life? I know that if i test in the best case scenario easy my worry temporarily but it would just feed my obsession of testing every time just to move on. What do you believe is the best course of action in my case? Can i be sure that she didnt infect me? in your first reply you said that you can not be sure whether she injected me with something or not, same as me so this adds some risk into the equation.

I'm sorry you're so concerned about HIV despite zero risk. Your focus on symptoms is flawed. Symptoms rarely are helpful indicators of newly acquired HIV:  most new infections cause no obvious symptoms, or so mild they aren't noticed; and even the most typical symptoms are caused far more often by other conditions. In other words, neither presence nor absence of symptoms are valid reasons for testing in people without obvious high risk events. Persons concerned about HIV because of genuine high risk should be aware of typical symptoms that might warrant seeking health care, but primarily should rely on HIV testing. Second, repeating part of my initial reply, you apparently do not understand typical HIV symptoms. New HIV infection does not cause cough, runny nose, nasal congestion etc. These are only caused by colds, allergy, etc. The "flu like" symptoms that can occur with HIV are only headache and generalized muscle aching -- not the same as colds etc. HIV also doesn't cause canker sores.---
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