[Question #8540] Unprotected sex fears of HIV due to body sensations

43 months ago

Hi Doctor,

Thanks for reading my question and getting back to me.

I had unprotected sex on the 25/12. Immediately after I started getting vaginal muscle spasms, which stopped after a little while.

The next day I had a stomach ache, which I assume was just due to overeating over the holidays and trapped gas.

On the 27/12 the vaginal muscle spasms returned and also happened in the stomach.

Fast forward to today I have been experiencing muscle spasms all over my body, tingling, burning and numbness and pins and needles in different areas of the body. This week has been less but I’m starting to feel sensations around my knees, groin, and under armpits. And have also been having pelvic aching pain since the 25th.

I’ve done all STD tests after 2 weeks and all was negative but I’m considering doing another HIV tested either this week (4th week) or wait for 6 weeks.

I have not experienced an other symptoms. I have also done various other tests to rule out anything else (I.e MRi, ultrasound) and all are fine.

Doctors have said it’s least likely to be HIV due to the symptoms and not to worry but I’m concerned over the body sensations and muscle twitches.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks again.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

43 months ago

Welcome to the forum; thanks for your confidence in our services.

I agree with your doctors: neither HIV or any other STD is known to cause such symptoms. In addition, no infection of any kind can start to cause symptoms within hours of exposure. I have to wonder whether this is primarily an anxiety reaction, perhaps due to your concerns about HIV, or maybe about a sexual decision you may regret.

Statistically, in UK the frequency of HIV is near zero in men who are not in one of the traditional risk groups, e.g. men who have sex with men, injection drug users, and immigrants from HIV endemic areas like southern Africa. Without these risk factors, the chance your partner has HIV is extremely low. However, given your concerns, it would make sense to contact him and confirm that he has no reason to believe he has HIV; and perhaps to be tested now. If he were to test negative, you would know for certain you could not have acquired HIV from him.

Without that, of course you are free to get tested again for HIV. It's 4 weeks since the sexual event Christmas Day, and a negative AgAb (combo, 4th generation) HIV blood test will be 98% reliable -- with 100% reliability in another two weeks. Stay mellow until you have the results of either your own test or your partner's: almost certainly it will be negative.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

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43 months ago

Hi Doctor,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I did a test at 4 weeks and HIV comes back at 0.07 and syphilis as 0.18.

The doctor said that’s nothing to worry about but are you able to tell me what that means and would there be any changes in that if I tested again at week 6?

Thanks.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

43 months ago

Your doctor is correct. Pay no attention to the numerical values of your test results. Any value below the positive cut-off (usually 1.1) is negative; there is no difference in meaning of, say, 0.09, 0.5, or 0.8. The same specimen tested 10 times would give 10 different numbers. If you go ahead with testing at 6 weeks, you can expect different numbers (which could be higher) than at 4 weeks. All you should be concerned about is the interpretation: positive or negative. ---
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