[Question #1616] Hiv symptoms hoping for dr hhh
99 months ago
|
99 months ago
|
![]() |
Edward W. Hook M.D.
99 months ago
|
I am not sure why you have posted this repetitive question. As you may know, Dr. Handsfield and I share the Forum and, despite differences in verbal style, do so because we have not disagreed with our assessments and advice to patients in over 30 years of working together. Dr. Handsfield's assessment and answer to your questions is the same as mine. for that reason, I have pasted in my earlier replies to you.
From my initial response:
“Welcome to our forum. I will try to help. From your description there was no meaningful risk for HIV from this encounter. First, most commercial sex workers do not have HIV or other STIs. Further, in the case of the exposure that you describe, there was no unprotected penetrative sex. The sort of rubbing you describe (frottage) is a form of masturbation with no risk for HIV. Similarly, condom protected sex is a virtually no risk event. When condoms come off as a man is withdrawing form a sex partner, they have done their job and protected for HIV and other STIs.
At the same time however, the flu-like illness you describe is consistent with the symptoms of the ARS (Acute Retroviral Syndrome) and occurred at a time after your exposure when it might occur. While I remain confident that if your activities were as you described, you did not get HIV however, at this time my recommendation would be to go and get a 4th generation, combination HIV antigen/antibody test to prove that your symptoms were not due to HIV but were a badly timed, coincidental, non-HIV viral infection of the sort that most people get every once in a while. If your symptoms were due to HIV, the 4th generation test will be positive at this time.
I should also point out that when at risk persons (you were not) have flu-like illnesses, over 98% of them do not have HIV but have other illnesses (non-STI). I point this out to indicate just how low the odds of infection are for you. Testing will provide you with peace of mind. when your test in negative, be confident that you did not get HIV from the encounter with the CSW you have mentioned. I hope these comments are helpful. Please let us know the results of your test. EWH”
And from my second reply to your follow-on question:
“I was not aware that Canada had not adopted use of 4th generation, antigen/antibody tests and would urge you to verify this. The rest of the world has shifted to these tests, from the U.S. to most developing nations. Even if the tests available to you are antibody only tests, you will get much useful information by testing at this time, more than 4 weeks since your possible (unlikely) exposure since over 90% of persons will have reactive antibody tests at this time and the proportion would be expected to be higher still if your symptoms were due to the ARS.
As far as whether your symptoms match the ARS or not, they certainly do not match perfectly. As you point out, cough, nasal congestion, and sputum production are NOT part of the ARS. On the other hand, the other flu-like symptoms you report - sore throat, fever or feverishness, transient rash and severe muscle aches are often seen in the ARS and they do tend to overlap in terms of when they appear (i.e. they do not occur sequentially over time).
Perhaps I over interpreted the level of concern that led to your questions. As I said above, when all is considered, it is quite unlikely that your symptoms are due to HIV (and even less likely to be acute hepatitis B or herpes) but I also thought (perhaps reading between the lines) that you were concerned. If this is the case, a negative HIV blood test would be strong evidence that your recent flu-like illness not HIV or related to the exposure that you describe and would allow you to confidently move forward without concern. I hope that this rationale makes sense. I am trying to address what I perceived to be your concerns. EWH”
My advice and assessment has not changed and I know that Dr. Handsfield agrees with me.
Finally, with respect to you new additions to your questions:
Muscle trembling is NOT a symptom of HIV.
Yellow urine and urinary frequency are not signs of HIV or any other STI.
I have closed your earlier post. You may ask up to 2 follow-up questions for clarification. EWH
---
99 months ago
|
![]() |
Edward W. Hook M.D.
99 months ago
|
Your questions are repetitive. Asking the same question does not change the answers. I have already informed you that the symptoms are suggestive of the ARS but do not align perfectly and given your obvious anxiety, therefore recommended testing. I suggest you re-read my earlier replies. I also acquired regarding your statement regarding the availability of 4th generation, DUO tests in Canada and learned that these tests have been used and are widely available in Canadian public health clinics for several years.
Night sweats without a temperature are, like so much of what you describe are non-specific.
For symptoms such as yours to be due to herpes without lesions would be most unusual.
Your questions suggest that you are searching on the internet for information. This is a bad idea, what you will find there is often incorrect or taken out of context. Rather, I would suggest you seek Public Health officials in Toronto who I know provide excellent services. When you do, I am confident that they too will tell you that you acquired no STI, including HIV from the low risk encounter you describe. At that time, it would be best to seek help in dealing with the guilt and anxiety which also seem to be impacting you. EWH
99 months ago
|
![]() |
Edward W. Hook M.D.
99 months ago
|
In my experience, I have not seen the ARS begin sooner than 6 days after exposure.
I have seen brief, transient rashes in patients with the ARS but I have not seen the rash manifest only as pink cheeks.
Body aches in patients with the ARS are typically bilateral.
This is my third reply to your questions and therefore, as per Forum guidelines, this thread will be closed later today. Please note that the forum does not permit repeated anxiety driven questions by the same users. This will have to be your last one; future new questions on this topic will be deleted without reply and without refund of your posting fee. This policy is based on compassion, not criticism, and is designed to reduce temptations to keep paying for questions with obvious answers; because experience shows that continued answers tends to simply prolong such anxieties, when the real answer normally should be professional counseling; and because such questions have little educational value for other users, one of the forum's main purposes. I trust you will understand. EWH