Initial symptoms of HIV infection

[BrisFuck]

Am a bareback top. Met up with a bottom a week and a half ago. Fucked like rabbits for a week. Unusual for me, I did not bring up the status question.

After a week of fucking I got a wierd headache and felt like I had a temperature. Had been at a hospital a few days prior so didn't think much of it - still a bit of flu going around here in Australia. Took some headache medication and had a nap and all was well.

Have been feeling more fatigued the last few days and muscles have been a bit sore. Nothing too out of the ordinary with the fatigue as I am a shiftworker and rarely get 8 hours of sleep.

Have had diarrhoea for the past 3 days.

For those of you who are HIV+ or more informed about it...are these the signs ?

If I go and get tested this week, should the test be able to confirm my status accurately...or will I have to get another one done in 3 months anyway ?

Thanks for your help.

[HungLatinDom]

Too early to get tested, AFAIK, too early to get symptoms from conversion.

Get tested in a month or so.

[GermanFucker]

@BrisFuck:

Your symptoms could very well be from HIV, though usually they start a bit later than just one week after exposure, they could also be from a myriad of other diseases.

As HungLatinDom said, an ELISA antibody test should catch a large percentage of infections (~80%) after 4-6 weeks, but a repeat test approx. 3 months later is necessary to be "100%" sure. What you can do after 2 weeks is a PCR test, which searches directly for virus DNA in your blood. In Europe it's usually not covered by health insurance and costs around 100 € / 100 £ . Don't know about Australia, though.

[TigerMilner]

Not everyone gets the flu-like symptoms you mentioned. I did. It took two and one half weeks for it to make me sick and I test a week later, still negative. Another month later, positive. Remember the test is for the antibodies, not for the virus. They give you a confirmation test that is for the virus after a positive test for the antibodies. It cost more and takes a week to get the results. If you go get tested this early ask for the Western Blot test. The Rapid-test wont give you a reliable result this early. Good luck.

[HungLatinDom]

Western Blot test is also based on antibodies. PCR is the only test available at this point.

[BrisFuck]

Got tested on 27th November for HIV and other STDs - all tests came back negative. I assume I must have just gotten run down. Am a shift worker so can happen occasionally.

For anybody who is interested, the testing they do in Australia is an "EIA assay which detects HIV 1, HIV 2 antibodies and HIV P24 antigen".

For the record, I am not wishing to become HIV+.

[NiceHard1]

I just learned of the new fourth generation test which will detect HIV much sooner

www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ByAudience/ForPatientAdvocates/HIVandAIDSActivities/ucm216409.htm

[grep]

Always hard to tell - but sounds like you picked up something else somewhere along the line. HIV? Well hard to tell, but doesn't really follow what I'm used to hearing happens with most guys...

[hungry_hole]

Many times men who don't want to seroconvert, because of the condomless anal sex, paranoia creeps up and any cold or flu is percieved as symptoms of an HIV infection. It's happened to me a couple of times, cold sweats, etc. There are many other viruses apart from HIV, but the body will take core of them.

[BrisFuck]

There is good reasons for that paranoia ! While there are those that WANT to test positive, the rest of us do not. Have been having riskier sex since my test. Probably due to it being some time now since being in a serious relationship (over 2 years). Hard to say no to breeding a hot hole. If I'm not prepared to take the risk, then I just get sucked.

Have felt like crap the last few days so the old paranoia has returned. As I work rather terrible hours, it is hard to know if things are fatigue related or if I am coming down with something.

I guess the new saliva testing will benefit those people like myself who want a quick test without the hassles. They are trialling it in the (Australian) state of Victoria so hopefully it will be accepted soon.

Fucked an undetectable bottom the other night.

[BrisFuck]

Was feeling ok yesterday considering I had been awake from about midnight to the next night. Finished off the evening by going and breeding a cum slut. Had bred him once a couple of years ago, unfortunately his hole is not as tight as it used to be !

Over the course of a few weeks I was breeding a guy in his garage...while his partner slept upstairs. Was hot. Was always raw after the first few times when he just sucked me and swallowed my big loads. I was often breeding him nightly. Then he claimed to move away.

Last night after returning home, got a terrible headache, sweats and temperature. Would have been easily 6 weeks since I had started fucking the guy in his garage. Had trouble sleeping, have yet to take anything for the headache and temperature. Maybe I have crossed the line...

Feels like the flu...which it could possibly be due to the hours I do which can knock around one's immune system. I want to breed a few bottoms before I go get tested again in a couple of months.

[BrisFuck]

Been very fatigued lately with stomach cramps, particularly in the morning. Bit of diarrhoea last couple of days. Loss of appetite (just don't feel hungry).

Still some flu circulating at work so won't know till I get tested as to which bug it is.

[GermanFucker]

On their own - i.e. without fever, malaise etc. - diarrhoea, stomach cramps, loss of appetite and problems sleeping are terrible indicators of seroconversion sickness.

Why? Because these can also be psychosomatic and thus symptoms of great stress and anxiety. I know many neg guys that are afraid of HIV that got caught in that spiral of hornyness, barebacking and fear / regret afterwards. For them the diarrhoea isn't symptomatic of HIV, but rather their fear of HIV.

[neg4poztop]

I think sometimes men overthink what symptoms they get..if you get sick seasonally..then maybe its nothing..if u rarely get sick..then id be more cponcerned..depends if u care or not I guess..btw grep..love for you to poz my ass

[.dirtyfucker]

I think I'm in this situation at the moment- I'm not actively bug chasing but have been taking (mostly undetectable) loads for the last few months and thought I'd reached the point where if it happened, it happened, and I'd just live with it.

For the past 10 days, I've been totally and utterly exhausted- way beyond normal levels of fatigue, with a slight sore throat, but little else. I'm guessing it's just an unrelated virus considering most people seem to talk more about fever etc (none of which I have had) but it's becoming a vicious circle as I'm not sleeping, I think due to an underlying fear that it could be that I'm poz. I have the odd ache and pain too, more to do, I think, with the tiredness than any kind of "flu-like" aches, but does this sound to anyone else like it could be HIV or am I just entirely overreacting?