rayne
03-07-2004, 11:23 AM
First of all I want to apologize for starting yet another thread regarding to HIV symptoms. I can see that there are many people like me starting threads but going through a couple of them I found that they either didn’t answer all my questions or I just needed to get my own personal reassurances on this issue.
I live in Southeast Asia and I recently engaged in high risk sexual acts with a high-risk partner. I'm positive that the exposure to this person was long enough that if they had had HIV I would have gotten it. This happened early last month and I returned home around the 9th. I felt a little jaded. I thought that those feelings were more in line with the guilt I was feeling for fooling around on my spouse who I had never cheated on. Now when I came back I found that I had 3-5 mouth ulcers inside my cheeks and lips. I've had canker sores before, and maybe it was the paranoia/guilt, but something about this outbreak felt a little different.
On the 15th I felt a tingling feeling on my lip and slightly feverish. Two days later, a cold sore/fever blister formed on the border of my lip. Now I can't recall ever getting one of these things before. So that coupled with the canker sores. I figured that I had got my first oral herpes infection. I did some research, and the three main symptoms I was feeling (slight fever, Sore throat, tiredness) were consistent with a primary HSV infection. I had also been exposed to extreme sunlight and stress from what I did. But as I continued doing my research, I found something that made my heart completely drop. A lot of the symptoms I was feeling were completely consistent with initial exposure to HIV.
I found this out just when my blister was healing up. I went to my doctor and expressed my concerns. The doctor told me that even given the risk I took, it is highly unlikely (but not impossible) that I have HIV. She said that my slightly elevated temp (99.5) was normal and that nothing in my blood pressure indicated that my body was currently fighting a virus. She said that given the cold sore I might have contracted a "viral cold" of some kind and that I was probably just worrying myself sick. Now I cant tell you that my temp has gotten any higher then 99.5. I also have not had swollen lymph nodes on any part of my body other then a possible slight swell under my jaw where my tonsils are and they were completely normal when my doctor checked me. She did screen me for STD's and told me that even if I have HIV, it wasn’t going to come up so soon (I knew this already) so I should get retested after three months or so if I still have concerns. This happened on Thursday (Wednesday for all of you) and I wont get the test back for another 30 days or so. Of course they will call me sooner if something comes up.
I'm sorry that I’m all over the place here. I have some actual questions and here they are.
Are mouth ulcers and cold sores common with Acute HIV infection? I have read in some places that they are, other sources don’t even mention them.
Could anyone tell me the likelihood that that would be the first thing I would get? Before a sore throat and nausea?
Do symptoms come within 10 days of initial contact with HIV? Is that too soon?
Since HIV infects the entire body, does the fact that I don’t have swollen glands in the groin, armpit, and even neck area in itself a positive sign that I'm not infected?
I have had a mild case of the runs and slight nausea (I haven’t vomited) for the last two days. But everything else seems normal. Is it likely that symptoms like that would show up a full two weeks after I have been experiencing those other symptoms?
I understand that perhaps some of these questions cant be answered but I just want your honest opinions as to what might be wrong with me. Since I already have it in my mind that I'm infected, nothing any of you could say could throw me into a rampant state of paranoia, I'm already in one. Please feel free to ask me any questions since anything you can bring to my attention will help me understand this better.
Thank all of you who took the time to read my post and I wish good health to you and all of your families.
I live in Southeast Asia and I recently engaged in high risk sexual acts with a high-risk partner. I'm positive that the exposure to this person was long enough that if they had had HIV I would have gotten it. This happened early last month and I returned home around the 9th. I felt a little jaded. I thought that those feelings were more in line with the guilt I was feeling for fooling around on my spouse who I had never cheated on. Now when I came back I found that I had 3-5 mouth ulcers inside my cheeks and lips. I've had canker sores before, and maybe it was the paranoia/guilt, but something about this outbreak felt a little different.
On the 15th I felt a tingling feeling on my lip and slightly feverish. Two days later, a cold sore/fever blister formed on the border of my lip. Now I can't recall ever getting one of these things before. So that coupled with the canker sores. I figured that I had got my first oral herpes infection. I did some research, and the three main symptoms I was feeling (slight fever, Sore throat, tiredness) were consistent with a primary HSV infection. I had also been exposed to extreme sunlight and stress from what I did. But as I continued doing my research, I found something that made my heart completely drop. A lot of the symptoms I was feeling were completely consistent with initial exposure to HIV.
I found this out just when my blister was healing up. I went to my doctor and expressed my concerns. The doctor told me that even given the risk I took, it is highly unlikely (but not impossible) that I have HIV. She said that my slightly elevated temp (99.5) was normal and that nothing in my blood pressure indicated that my body was currently fighting a virus. She said that given the cold sore I might have contracted a "viral cold" of some kind and that I was probably just worrying myself sick. Now I cant tell you that my temp has gotten any higher then 99.5. I also have not had swollen lymph nodes on any part of my body other then a possible slight swell under my jaw where my tonsils are and they were completely normal when my doctor checked me. She did screen me for STD's and told me that even if I have HIV, it wasn’t going to come up so soon (I knew this already) so I should get retested after three months or so if I still have concerns. This happened on Thursday (Wednesday for all of you) and I wont get the test back for another 30 days or so. Of course they will call me sooner if something comes up.
I'm sorry that I’m all over the place here. I have some actual questions and here they are.
Are mouth ulcers and cold sores common with Acute HIV infection? I have read in some places that they are, other sources don’t even mention them.
Could anyone tell me the likelihood that that would be the first thing I would get? Before a sore throat and nausea?
Do symptoms come within 10 days of initial contact with HIV? Is that too soon?
Since HIV infects the entire body, does the fact that I don’t have swollen glands in the groin, armpit, and even neck area in itself a positive sign that I'm not infected?
I have had a mild case of the runs and slight nausea (I haven’t vomited) for the last two days. But everything else seems normal. Is it likely that symptoms like that would show up a full two weeks after I have been experiencing those other symptoms?
I understand that perhaps some of these questions cant be answered but I just want your honest opinions as to what might be wrong with me. Since I already have it in my mind that I'm infected, nothing any of you could say could throw me into a rampant state of paranoia, I'm already in one. Please feel free to ask me any questions since anything you can bring to my attention will help me understand this better.
Thank all of you who took the time to read my post and I wish good health to you and all of your families.