Hello doctor,
I am a 29-year-old married male. I have a baby who feeds on breast milk. I had a sexual encounter eight months ago with a professional with a condom. I am 95 percent sure that my protection was intact. Then I started reading about the symptoms of HIV. Five days later, I went to a dermatology and venereology specialist and described the incident. He was confident enough that he advised me not to go for any testing. However, I am still fearful.
Around two months post-exposure, I felt tenderness in some parts like the back of my head, and arms, and one lymph node in my underarm was swollen. I also developed a cold and cough. I started sweating during that time as well. I appeared a bit thinner. I got panicked and went to the doctor again. He checked me and was still confident that I was not infected. But for my mental satisfaction, he prescribed me thorough testing which includes HIV1/2, VDRL, HBsAg, and HCV along with urine R/E, M/E, and C/S analysis.
On the 74th day post-exposure, I took all those tests, and were negative. After a lapse of a few days, I felt some skin irritation on my back and a burning sensation on my forearms. There were no skin changes. Again I got panicked thinking that I may be in the window period for HIV. But the doctor remained confident, and he advised me not to go for any repeat testing. But my sense of fear, anxiety, panic, guilt, and impurity continues.
On the 110th day post-exposure, again I repeated the tests, but I excluded the urine analysis this time. All the tests came back negative again. The HIV tests were fourth-generation combo tests both times. I am in the eighth month post-exposure. Still, I feel tenderness here and there. Recently, I developed small red blood vessel-like dots just underneath the skin on my hand and feet, which remains for five to seven days, and goes away leaving faint black spots. I again showed it to the same doctor. He is confident and repeatedly asked me to stop worrying. He also gave me anti-anxiety, anti-OCD, and anti-depressant drugs.
I am also taking sessions with a psychologist. But still, my mind is not free from the fear of HIV. I also fear that my wife and child might get infected by me. My questions are:
1. Do I need to repeat any test to outrule the probability of HIV?
2. Are there any probability of error from laboratory tests, given the fact that I took the tests twice?
3. Do I need to worry about the window period as there is conflicting information available on the internet?
4. Do I need to worry about the phenomenon of delayed seroconversion?
5. Do I need to opt for the tests from a different lab?
6. Do I need to worry about HIV anymore?
7. How to unroot the fear from deep inside my mind? Any other opinion on my history?
Please help.
Thank you.