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Hiv exposure, symptoms and concern, help!

Posted , 3 users are following.

alex71505
alex71505

Hi,

Where do I start...

In late April/early May of 2012, I slept with a girl who I was seeing, I was 20 at this time she was 23. I had two sexual encounters after this which I think were about 2/3 weeks later. Hard to remember exact.

 Anyways, I contracted an NGU infection, from her, as there was a strange smell coming from her vagina, which I didn't notice until the very last time we had sex. Each time was unprotected, as she stated she was on birth control. 

I had a horrible discharge that was coming from my penis, went urgently to NHS clinic and was admistered antibiotic injection, along with a full blood screening and chlamydia and gonnorhea. All negative, just an NGU infection. I was told to return to tests for hiv and other blood STDs a week or so later to rule out a window period, which now looking back was way too soon! But they didn't consider this a risky encounter as she was white female and also myself with no risky behaviour in past etc!

Follow up was negative and I was pleased. Anyway, I went abroad after that episode, to Spain and approx 4 weeks later I came down with an awful flu like illness. Night sweats, malaise, and head aches. I was really ill and prior to this I really had never been ill before like that, only the cold you get per year. 

I panicked after reading that it could be hiv seroconversion, so when I got home from holiday I booked a private hiv test at a clinic. I had recovered but was very very concerned. So now, I think this was maybe, early August 2012? I tested positive for hiv on a finger prick rapid test 4th gen, for antibodies. I was shocked. However the Doc then gave me the 3rd gen finger prick for only antibodies and it was neg. blood was drawn and sent to lab for further analysis. The exact same test kit was positive again, but two other kits were negative!? It was classed as indeterminate and repeat testing was advised via the lab. The doc was certain that this was a false positive but said feel free to test again.

I then went off to university in September 2012 and started to notice strange symptoms that I had never experienced. No appetite, fatigue, white coated tongue and just generally not feeling good at all! So I really got upset and decided to rush back home and re test, this was mid sept, the resulsts, all negative. This also included all other stds, everything.

I still had symptoms though, they were the things making me worried as I was ready to just move on etc. I continued testing for the rest of 2012 and until one year exact post exposure because I wanted to be certain, and also not put anyone else at risk. All negative.

I moved on with this after that, was happy I'd done all I could to be 100% sure. But my throat, tongue are so bad, still to today, thick white coating which is basically thrush, I've seen docs since then constantly and they have no idea what is up. I've tested for hiv again a couple of times in 2015,16 and this year to double check again on Doc advice, all clear. All blood tests for generic testing are normal, cd4 count was 793, I even tested for RNA in private clinic, all hiv clear.

So can anyone advise what I should now do? The problem is- I'm very tired all the time, still very very low appetite even after 6 years. My symptoms are still really weird, scabs coming off scalp, and hands, jock itch on occasions. Thick white coating on tongue which I can scrape off but it grows back every day, it looks certain to be thrush to me, it's horrible because I can't drink or have fun anymore because it proliferates so much and makes me feel awful! My kidney function is the only thing that isn't optimal, slight mild impairment. I wish I could just know what is wrong?! 6 years nearly this has gone on and I've had no real help from docs, I've tried fluconazole, nystatin etc, not really seen a major improvement. Docs are certain that something isn't right as my throat is very very inflamed but they are not 100% if it's thrush due to no improvement on meds or no white patches elsewhere on mouth, except for the tongue. Any help? I just want someone to give me some insight as to their opinion etc. Could this still be hiv related?? 

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • erika90744
    erika90744 alex71505

    Posted

    Sounds like you could have an underlying medical condition. You should check for lupus or your thyroid. Lupus mainly affects women but it can also affect men just rarely. You sure your not just anxious? My anxiety makes me imagine pain thats not even there sometimes.
    • alex71505
      alex71505 erika90744

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply. Thyroid is something you may be on to there, I will discuss with my GP. Cheers. Defo not anxiety, I've been happy to move on and get on with things, I mainly ignore the symptoms but they just persist whatever the situation, the symptoms are what bring about my concern, although I tell myself I've testing for literally everything 

  • ml66uk
    ml66uk alex71505

    Posted

    3rd gen and 4th gen false positives are rare (1.5%) , but do happen.  The odds are sky high against getting three false positives (and would suggest that the results are probably somehow related), but if you've had a negative western blot test since, then you don't have HIV.  In your situation I'd probably keep testing anyway, but whatever your problems are, I don't see how they can be HIV-related.

    • alex71505
      alex71505 ml66uk

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply. It was only the 4th gen that was positive not 3rd. I have also continued testing since then, i.e 5 years after I had that false positive and it's negative, negative on the 4th gen test aswell. I have also had negative hiv RNA viral load and 793 cd4 count since. So I don't see why testing again would be recommended? 

    • ml66uk
      ml66uk alex71505

      Posted

      Oh ok, I thought you'd had two positive 3rd gens as well.  I don't think there's any need to be tested for HIV again, but given the shock of having a false positive, it would be understandable for you to want to keep checking.

      I'd imagine that you've had a full barrage of blood tests a few times already, so I'm not sure what else I can suggest, but I hope the doctors can find something that works, or it's not impossible that the symptoms might just disappear without any obvious reason.

      This condition page may help, though I suspect you know most of what's in it already:

      https://patient.info/health/oral-thrush-yeast-infection

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