Hello to the good doc! (got to say I love your work) I was wondering if you could share your vast expertise with me.

Here is my situation:

-March 20 had protected vaginal sex and performed unprotected oral sex on her -2-3 days later I see white ulers/pustules on my tonsils (cant scrap them off). Over the course of the week my neck glands swelled . I went to a doc and he confirmed this and said there was also fluid behind my ears. Had post nasal drip for a week+ as a result of this. Tested for mono (negative), tested for strep 2 times (negative), tested for throat gonorrhea (negative). The tonsil event would have been too early for ARS I think but the swelling of the glands stretched out 1.5 weeks so could be within ARS timeframe.

-Within a week (so in ARS time frame) I had a killer sore throat that lasted 3 weeks. The white stuff on my tonsils left April 1st/08 (forgot to mention)

-April 9th I become severely constipated, noticed a bad case of acid reflect (GERD) (I still have it and this is 7 weeks post sexual event) and I could feel a deep muscle pain in my left thigh. The pain expanded to both legs and could be felt in the thigh, calf, joint area and the angle. -Around the same time I started feeling tingling/muscle spasms in the feel/hands/face (now virtually all over). -Also feel warm/cold sensations on the skin at random locations.

Now through this time period I have been extremely stressed. Thinking first that the tonsil thing was HSV2 (havent tested for it yet) and then HIV. I tested negative for HIV at 6 weeks (today is 7 weeks post incident).

I went to my doctor and she thinks its all stress related. But I cant get HIV out of my head and cant get the possibility that what I might be experiencing is guillain barre due to acute HIV. If that were the case would GBS delay the body's immune system to produce antibodies for HIV. I am really concerned about all this and I think my doctor is oversimplifying things. I will test HIV out to 3 months but I was wondering what effect GBS (if one were to get it due to primary HIV) would delay seroconverion since it is a autoimmune attack on ones body. I am still having the neuro symptoms, muscle spams/aches, GERD, and constipation (7 weeks since event). Thank you doc and I will be donating $50 to your cause.

Hi,

I absolutely agree with your doctor. The odds you did not contract HIV are astronomically in your favor. I'm quite confident your definitive three-month HIV test will be negative.

You diagnosed your real problem accurately when you wrote: ". . . I can't get HIV out of my head . . . ." BINGO! That's what you need to work on getting HIV out of your head! Psychological counseling might help confronting your HIV fears and also coping with your anxiety during the window period.

Thanks for your donation to the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation (www.concertedeffort.org).

Be well.

Dr. Bob