Night sweats

[layedback]

Any of you poz guys have night sweats before you were diagnosed? I've been feeling like shit the last few days. Achey, feverish, sore balls. I woke up the last two nights dripping wet. I've never had night sweats before. Last time I tested I was neg, but that's been over a year ago, and I've hooked up recently with a guy who later told me he's poz. I've been barebacking well over a decade, dodging bullets. I'm wondering if my wet clothes are a symptom of luck running out?

[GreenChaser]

only one way to know: get tested

[PissPigBrooklyn]

Well yeah night sweats are not at all uncommon before a guy is diagnosed. They are frequently the first noticible sign of HIV infection. You are due for another test. You say you feel that after over ten years your luck has run out. There are many on this iste who would definitely disagree with that point of view. All I will say really is that if you have sero converted try instead to look at it as a new beginning, no matter how you choose to handle it. Since you are in the "Deep South" please take care in choosing your physician. Best of luck and keep checking in here. You will get a lot of support! (Loads of support in fact! ~ sorry couldn't resist that)

[cam1972]

I most definitely had night sweats before I was diagnosed. I would definitely get checked out.

As far as your luck running out. Yes, there are a lot of guys on here who think it's great they are poz. But there are some of us that didn't want it. That said, if you are poz and didn't want it, surround yourself with people who love you and will help build you up. They'll help you navigate the transition. But above all else, know it's not the end. Life can still be an incredible experience after diagnosis... Even if you don't want it.

[HungLatinDom]

Night sweats were how I realized I was infected. I had a nasty cold, feeling terrible, achy body, but I thought it was a cold. When I started having extremely wet night sweats, then I just knew I was poz. I had to change the sheets a couple of nights. I was with who eventually became my partner, a wonderful man, poz himself. When I told him what I thought, he said he thought the same, but had not wanted to distress me (and no, he did not poz me, he has been on meds for 15 years or so). We went to get me a test. I was poz. So, it was not a shock for me, even if it was hard.

[HungLatinDom]

Agree with cam1972. I was lucky that I had a great man to help me, and all these years and kilometers later, we are still attached. This is more than love, the way he took care of me and helped me when I was down, how he understood that I was in automatic pilot and set me again on my path, that connects me to him in a way that another man can't match. One day he'll meet somebody else there where he is, or I'll do the same here. It is not likely I'll ever move with him, I have a weird life. But, even with others, he is special for me in that way, and that won't change, even if the love I feel finally fades away. He made the transition easier, he was my guide.

[layedback]

Yeah, well that was a figure of speech so to speak. I mean, I've known all along that one day I'll convert. And I made peace with that a long time ago. I just took it as an inevitability, because I wasn't gonna stop going raw. Once I went raw, I never looked back and never played safe again. So if I am poz, I won't really be surprised. But I admit that there's some ambivalence. I see good points and bad with both. One good thing is that once I seroconvert, I can only do it once, right. I mean there'll never be any more doubt like there is now. It's a pattern I've fallen into of having unsafe sex with multiple people and strangers and then freaking out eventually because I might've converted. Every time I didn't I decided that I'd NEVER do it again, lol. And every time I was right back in the saddle with some stranger inside me. At least if I'm poz now, I'll never go through that pattern again, and I'll be truly free to do the things I want to do. The only thing that scares me is getting sick. I don't handle that well. If I thought I could go on another 25 years or whatever and be relatively ok, then I'd be fine. It's just the unknown, the fact that I could get sick -really sick- now. I don't want that. I've never been a chaser in that respect. It's not that I want a virus that can hurt me; it's just that I want to party like it's still 1976, and there's no tomorrow. No matter what happens, there'll be no whining. It's all my own doing; I take full responsibility for myself and my actions. But, even if I test poz, I wouldn't go back and change anything.

Thanks for all your responses. All of you. You pretty much said what I thought you would. Now it's just a matter of me taking the test.

[HungLatinDom]

If you get treatment before the virus hurts you a lot, you most likely will have a normal lifespan. Maybe some side effects, maybe just one pill every night.

Getting infected is a powerful motivation to take charge of your life. For a while, I got in the best shape in my life, did awesome stuff and had the best sex ever. Now, I am back to couch potato, but wanna get in shape again for my health, to counter possible side effects when I go on meds. I am now in a quiet period, but having HIV really shuts down some options for my future. The sex, however, is still awesome, incredible

[CumDepo]

My night sweats where intense... Then the other symptoms followed!

[lovetobottom2000]

In February this year I was somewhat of a piggy and indulged myself in three consecutive weeks (once a week) of bathhouse sex where I took many raw annonymous loads (maybe about 6 per visit). Two weeks after my 2nd romp I developed a fever that lasted two weeks and I had night sweats for several nights. I thought I finally got converted as I've never had night sweats in my entire life. I had to wait three months to get an accurate test so the wait was eternal and heart-pumping. A week ago I finally got tested but to my surprise I still tested NEG. So what I thought were HIV symptoms were probably a result of some cold/flu that I caught, but the night sweats were unusual and scary.

There's a chance that you still might be NEG based on my experience, so wishing you the bests of luck.

[Bttm2go]

About five years ago I went through the same thing. Had really bad night sweats for about a month. Thought for sure I pozzed. Several months later I got tested and it came back neg. i'm still neg as of my last test. You just never know. I think for us barebackers every time we get sick, we think this is it. Most time it's just the flu.

[HardhatBB]

have the night sweats bad too at times.( i hate that)..but tests came back neg, well 9-2011 anyways. im not sure if we are all just too uptight about every little cough or flu?

[thick]

I never had any night sweats before I got full blown AIDS. My only symptom for years was swollen lymph nodes. Then maybe 7 years after I was infected (I know who gave me the gift and when) I got shingles. Another 2 years went by before I finally made myself go to the doctor. By then my Tcell count was 0 and my viral load was 6 million. I went to the doc because I had a urinary infection and it was burning when I pissed. I was so thin. I weighed like 150lbs on my 6 foot frame. I knew I had AIDS. I didnt need a test. The internist who saw me was visibly horrified at my appearance. I sat in a chair in the examnining room and said "I either have cancer, diabetes, or AIDS. check for the HIV first"

He called me that afternoon very worried. said I was also extremely anemic and he wanted to put me in hospital ASAP. I said Im not going to any damn hospital. After I got on the meds.......thats when I started getting nightsweats. It wasnt the meds. I think it was my immune system coming back online and fighting the virus. The more my tcells grew, the more I had fevers.

I am very lucky to be alive. I waited years to go to the doc because they didnt have meds yet. when I finally crawled into the office the retro-viral pills had only been out about a year! I made it. I waited the fucking virus out. If I had been infected a year earlier I would be dead now.

[MountainBound]

Layedback - love the fur. I never wanted to be HIV poz - I was Poz'ed by a guy that told me he was neg and knew he was poz for a couple of years. My fault, but I loved BB and took his word on it. For years I did not have sex. I am now coming to grips with it. The way I see it, I have it, might as well go out and have amazing sex until something changes. And become as piggy as possible. Back in the late 70's, early 80's, HIV and Aids was a death sentence, today, med will give you close to a normal life if you can handle the drugs, which most can. But my mind set took a long time to figure that out. Been on meds now for 18 years and still going strong. In the begining though, everytime I had a cold, I knew something was wrong. Today, I know a cold for a cold. The big question is do you want BB sex or do you want to be Neg. Once you make that choice, dont look back, roll with it, lose the worry and make it fun! Easier said than done, I know, but in the long run it reduces stress. Stress is really hard on the T-Cells, so guys really try to reduce the stress!!! You mentioned dodging bullets, well with the new drugs, many guys can become undectable. A small few dont, and now, docs are recommending taking a year or two off meds until the T-Cells drop to a certain point. If you get fucked by someone off meds, you will get poz'ed. One guys opinion anyway. And I can tell you for me it was a rough road, but maybe you guys can learn from me, let it go, have fun and lose the stress and worry. again, easier said than done.