Hi. I am a 22 year old female.  A year ago I had a “possible exposure” and one time encounter with a Hispanic male. He doesn’t do IV drugs, but unfortunately, he lied to me about his amount of partners. He sleeps with a lot of women but no men. He’s 100% straight as far as I Know. Two months after the one time encounter, he showed me his STD test results from Quest, and he was negative for everything you can think of except HSV1 positive IGG. His HIV 1/2 4th gen duo test was negative and this was about 56 days past the encounter. I asked him for his results because I got sick around 3 weeks after the encounter (drenching night sweats, muscle aches, fatigue, weight loss). I went and got tested myself and I tested negative for everything including a negative HIV 1/2 3rd gen antibody test and RPR. This was approximately 100 days (14.2 wks) past the encounter. Why my NP ordered a 3rd gen screening test and not 4th I don’t know why. I was told I had to test again at 6 months but I got scared because a month after my neg 14.2 wk test I developed swollen lymph nodes (anterior triangle, cervical) and I also developed a rare rash called PLEVA. Around the onset of PLEVA I had a positive IGM cytomegalovirus test. Then, I also developed oral thrush, an eye stye for a couple days, brittle slightly pale nails, a petechial rash, parathesia in my extremities (one time), monocytosis on my CBC, and recurrent bacterial vaginosis. I didn’t return for my 6 month test. It’s now been a year and I still have not tested again. I finally got the guts to make a testing appt. What are the odds I am hiv positive? I have had no other risky exposures since the one I had a year ago and no other exposures before or since my 100 day neg 3rd gen lab test. Just this week I developed a swollen lymph node behind my ear! I’m so scared. 

He also did an oraquick test I mailed him, he did the swab and everything for me over FaceTime and it was negative. This was around 22 weeks post the one time encounter. This is in addition to the 2 month (8 week) neg HIV1/2 AB/AG test he showed me. But he has since changed his number and doesn’t speak to me anymore so I don’t know if he ever turned out positive. 

I should mention I have type 2 narcolepsy, and I take high amounts of prescription stimulants for this, could this have caused delayed antibody production in my test? Thanks so much! 

Welcome to our Forum. Thanks for your question Bottom line, my advice is that you were probably not exposed to HIV and clearly do not have it from the exposure that you had. There is much evidence to support my statement.  Let me go through it.---

Thank you Dr. Hook, so I should be looking into other causes for my symptoms and disregard further testing? I’m 100% negative? No other possible exposures to this date. Thank you so much! 

Yes, you are 100% negative and should look for other reasons for your symptoms.---