27
Mar 19
Needle-stick injury and HIV Testing
I really need your HELP!
I have put myself in the situation and I don’t know exactly what to do. Since I was a little girl, I have always had a major fear of getting some type of disease.
Here is my story/situation
October 16, 2017, I was in the hospital visiting my grandmother when a man walked passed me while I was standing at a vending machine and a very sharp pain went through my back. This was the type of pain that I have never felt before in my life. Upon looking at the location, I realized how red it was and I didn’t know if the man had stuck me with something or not. This created a great fear in me. Because, I’m not sexually active at all and I don’t use any type of drugs, I didn’t know exactly what to do. So, I took it upon myself to start testing. I tested wherever I could with my doctor, different clinics, and different health departments. I tested for a total of 8 months. All my results have came out negative.
However, at my 8th month test, I was stuck by a dirty needle that was placed down in the testing chair in the health department (crazy, right?).
I confronted the staff about the needle-stick but was sent away with the statement that it was superficial and wouldn’t cause me any issues (even though it was clearly something BLACK coming out of my finger) about two weeks later, I developed all sorts of symptoms which included, swollen glands (even in my chest/wrist), severe headaches, joint pain, dry mouth, coated tongue, night sweats, stomach pain, and rash.
Since the last exposure which occurred on July 23rd 2018, I have tested a total of 15 times ( various tests) for a total of six and a half months. I don’t want to count my 8th month test because I don’t believe the test was done properly (he dropped the test and used a lot of testing solution and enough time was not taken to wait for the results (I don’t believe we waited a total of 20 mins. The control line did come up bright and clear-4th generation test.
New Testing History
2wks – 4th generation lab test
1month – Hospital (1day) lab test
62days – 4th generation lab test
91days – 4th generation rapid test
4months – 2 home tests/ hospital (1day) lab test
5 months- home test / hospital (1day) lab test / 4th generation rapid
6months – 3rd generation insti rapid
6.5 months – 4th generation rapid
8months- 4th generation (I am not sure if the test produced a true negative result because the testing person seem to be having some difficulty. The control line did develop.
My question is: Should I keep testing due to all the symptoms?
I really need your help with this matter because it has truly destroyed my life. Thank you so much for your help and time!