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Is Swollen Neck And Painful Armpits A Symptom Of Acute Retro-viral Syndrome?

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Posted on Wed, 7 May 2014
Question: First time in my life that I had sex with a sex provider..... 3 weeks ago and unfortunately the condom broke (I never ever had an accident with my 10years exgirlfriend and I have it with a stranger... :-\). When I noticed it I remove my penis from her (but probably i was inside for 10-20 secs without noticing after the condom broke) I asked her her status and she said that she is ok and that she was in her 7th day doing this.... but she did not appeared to be worried at all. I went to the ER and they put me on PEP. I am taking 4 tablets of Kaletra 200/50mg and 1 of TRUVADA 200/300mg once a day. I would say that in general I am pretty good with the medication, only a little bit of diarrhea. My question is related with ARS... When I reached the 2 week approx (wednesday last week- day 13), I started with a strange sensation in my neck, like numbness and pain, after a couple of day my neck swollen and the node gland were obviously visible because of the size. Then, the burning sensation went worse and I started feeling the throat very swollen but no pain or fever ... but I started having a burning sensation under my armpits and in the arms. On saturday I felt a general malaise like when you are getting sick, a inflamation sensation in my ears, back, neck and nose. Monday (day 18) morning I woke up with a very sore throat and my neck very swollen, I couldn't sleep well at night... I woke up several times because of the discomfort of the sore throat, I might I have fever as well. My family doctor swab my throat and today results came negative for streps. Next day (day 19) I woke feeling much better. However next day (day 20) I started feeling sick again, throat is still red and sore but much less than before. My neck is back to normal again. But I felt very tired. Yesterday and today (day 21 and 22) I still feel my throat swollen but it does not hurt too much, but now I am having dry cough and the upper part of my right back leg, close to the gluteus is hurting and feel a bit swollen. No running nose at all but I have had like a burning sensation when I breath. All this time, since the first week I've been having lower back pain and my right elbow (tip of elbow) hurts a lot since my 3-4day with the medication. My doctor tested me for other STDs, everything negative. Do you think this could be that PEP failed? Do you think this could be ARS? ARS could last 5 - 7 days? Symptoms appear progressive and then everything disappear or everything comes at once and it goes at once? The only thing that I havent had is very high fever, chills or groin nodes swollen I am very concerned.
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Answered by Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia (10 hours later)
Brief Answer: Least possibility of HIV Detailed Answer: Hello, Welcome and thanks for posting your query to the forum. I can very well understand your concern for possibility of HIV in yourself after the incidence of condom break. It is really one of the biggest stress of life which keeps nagging our mind. After reading the complete query I can make a probability of negative status of yourself in regards to the possibility of HIV. Therefore accordingly your symptoms do not appear to be related to ARS (acute retro-viral syndrome) at this time. You have yourself noticed that the most important part of ARS - that is "fever" is typically not present in your case. Fever is one of the most important sign and symptom of ARS. I quite often see your kind of cases where accidentally there appears to be a possibility of HIV and most of the young people like you comes with same type of complaints as in your case. In all these cases the most important part of differentiation is fever and that too of high grade. In most of these patients, they read out one or the other thing on internet and start feeling exactly almost the same symptoms of ARS but in vague manner. In your case it is not a failure to PEP also. Many a times I see that due to anti-retroviral therapy also one can have all the symptoms which you are feeling. The best part of your case is that you started post exposure prophylaxis at the earliest which is in my clinical experience has never failed. So do not worry about the possibility of HIV. Relax yourself and take good diet. Do not sit alone and stop reading anything on HIV for next few weeks. I hope these information will relax your mind. I will be glad to answer any further of your queries. With good health wishes, Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia MD
Note: Consult a Sexual Diseases Specialist online for further follow up- Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Sanjay Kumar Kanodia

Dermatologist

Practicing since :2002

Answered : 4165 Questions

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Is Swollen Neck And Painful Armpits A Symptom Of Acute Retro-viral Syndrome?

Brief Answer: Least possibility of HIV Detailed Answer: Hello, Welcome and thanks for posting your query to the forum. I can very well understand your concern for possibility of HIV in yourself after the incidence of condom break. It is really one of the biggest stress of life which keeps nagging our mind. After reading the complete query I can make a probability of negative status of yourself in regards to the possibility of HIV. Therefore accordingly your symptoms do not appear to be related to ARS (acute retro-viral syndrome) at this time. You have yourself noticed that the most important part of ARS - that is "fever" is typically not present in your case. Fever is one of the most important sign and symptom of ARS. I quite often see your kind of cases where accidentally there appears to be a possibility of HIV and most of the young people like you comes with same type of complaints as in your case. In all these cases the most important part of differentiation is fever and that too of high grade. In most of these patients, they read out one or the other thing on internet and start feeling exactly almost the same symptoms of ARS but in vague manner. In your case it is not a failure to PEP also. Many a times I see that due to anti-retroviral therapy also one can have all the symptoms which you are feeling. The best part of your case is that you started post exposure prophylaxis at the earliest which is in my clinical experience has never failed. So do not worry about the possibility of HIV. Relax yourself and take good diet. Do not sit alone and stop reading anything on HIV for next few weeks. I hope these information will relax your mind. I will be glad to answer any further of your queries. With good health wishes, Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia MD