Protected sex, sore throat, fever, antibiotics, and anxiety. Need honest opinions while I wait for my HIV test.

I’m a 26-year-old male and I’ve been extremely anxious over the past few weeks, so I wanted to lay out my entire timeline as accurately as possible.
\*\*Exposure (2 July):\*\*
Had vaginal sex with a woman.
Used a condom from start to finish.
During sex we changed to a new condom once because the first one was replaced, but at no point did we have unprotected vaginal sex.
I don’t remember the condom breaking or slipping off.
She later told me she wasn’t sick and hasn’t had any symptoms either.
\*\*About 3 weeks later:\*\*
I had a very busy weekend:
Played futsal and got completely exhausted.
Drank a lot of ice-cold soft drinks afterward.
Ate instant noodles and Pepsi later that day.
The next day I smoked some weed.
Went to watch a movie that night.
I’ve also had a history of getting throat infections/tonsil problems whenever I have cold drinks or get exposed to cold weather.
A day or two later I developed:
Sore throat (mainly around my tonsils)
Pain while swallowing
Fever that reached around 101°F
Some sinus congestion/post-nasal drip
I did \*\*not\*\* have:
Persistent diarrhea
Weight loss
Night sweats
Ongoing fatigue
I went to a doctor who examined me and said my throat was inflamed and I had sinus congestion.
Within about \*\*3 days\*\*, my fever disappeared and my throat improved significantly. Right now I feel normal again with no fever or fatigue.
Despite recovering, I’ve been obsessing over HIV because I keep reading stories online. Every small symptom makes me panic. I’ve even been checking my skin for rashes and wondering if every spot is HIV-related.
I know the only way to know for sure is testing, and I’m planning to get a 4th-generation HIV test.
My questions are:
Given that the exposure was fully condom-protected, how much risk does this actually sound like?
Does this timeline sound more like a common throat/sinus infection than acute HIV?
Has anyone else experienced this level of anxiety after a protected encounter?

Posted Jul 27, 2026, 7:10 AM UTC

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