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Author Topic: Sero-conversion  (Read 20128 times)

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Offline unluckylovely

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  • I'm Still here......
Sero-conversion
« on: June 25, 2011, 10:37:14 pm »
I am now aware of what is likely to happen to the body when going from negative to positive (seroconversion)  my question is...How can a person NOT know that something is wrong, especially if all go through a seroconversion state?

The symptoms associated with seroconversion is far more intense that just an ordinary flu type symptoms, so how can one not know that something is happen to them.

If possible it would be nice to hear of other people's experiences that led them to figure out that  something was wrong why they got tested for HIV....I know some individuals may have been told by their potential partners and then may have experienced seroconversion.

Thanks for reading this post
Unlucklylovely
« Last Edit: June 25, 2011, 10:39:44 pm by unluckylovely »
Diagnosed June 9th 2011
Infected from March 11th 2011 onwards

13.6.11 - cd4 720 vl 180...17.8.11 - cd4 830 vl 2500...30.11.11 - cd4 1130 vl 3600...28.2.12 - cd4      vl     ...

Offline David Evans

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2011, 11:19:22 pm »
Unlucky. We reserve the "Am I Infected" forum only for people who do not know there status, but worry they might have become infected or are at risk. Only those individuals and a carefully selected handful of others are allowed to post there. I am moving this thread to "Just tested positive."

David
Moderator

Offline leatherman

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2011, 11:42:01 pm »
so how can one not know that something is happen to them.
HIV really does affect everyone differently and seroconversion does not always entail "intense" symptoms. For some people this event is next to nothing so that they might not even know it happened, other people experience mild flu-like symptoms which some shrug off and others are able to pinpoint as seroconversion and other people get quite sick and known exactly when they seroconverted.
 
Since about 1/3 of the people who are diagnosed HIV positive don't find out until they are sick and in a hospital, I would say that quite a bunch of people really never have symptoms or shrug off the mild symptoms that they experienced years before. When these people get sick enough to end up in a hospital they often find out for the first time that they are positive and already dealing with an AIDS situation.

I never noticed anything like seroconversion symptoms. It wasn't until nearly a decade after my infection when I began to be sick and found out that I was HIV positive and already in a condition classified as AIDS.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline lusopt

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2011, 02:49:44 am »
Not everyones body reacts the same way in a seroconversion, i didn´t had any seroconversion symptom. My ex partner didnt told me nothing about is + status during our 5 years of relationship, but for some reason i wanted to be tested, and it came pos.
15/11/06: HIV-
28/10/08: HIV +
- No Meds -
18/11/08: CD4 -650 (.......)  / -17.500 VL
01/03/09: CD4- 540 (19,6%) / - 2090 VL
17/07/09: CD4 -603 (20,1%) / - 5040 VL
27/10/09: CD4 -627 (21,5%) / - 10.896 VL
25/03/10: CD4 -609 (23,9%) / -11.602 VL
12/09/10: CD4 -555 (........) / - 55.500 VL
21/04/11: CD4 -466 (17%)   / - 50.339 VL
01/10/11: CD4 -375 (19%)   / - 73.058 VL

Started, Epzicom and Sustiva
01/02/12: CD4 -298 (23%)   / - undetectable

Offline unluckylovely

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2011, 05:45:17 am »
To DAvid

I apologise I was not sure where to post that question.  Thank you
Unluckylovely
Diagnosed June 9th 2011
Infected from March 11th 2011 onwards

13.6.11 - cd4 720 vl 180...17.8.11 - cd4 830 vl 2500...30.11.11 - cd4 1130 vl 3600...28.2.12 - cd4      vl     ...

Offline unluckylovely

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  • I'm Still here......
Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2011, 05:59:03 am »
To Leatherman and Lusopt

Thank you both for your comments, this has been very helpful...Thank you :)
Diagnosed June 9th 2011
Infected from March 11th 2011 onwards

13.6.11 - cd4 720 vl 180...17.8.11 - cd4 830 vl 2500...30.11.11 - cd4 1130 vl 3600...28.2.12 - cd4      vl     ...

Offline leatherman

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2011, 10:13:37 am »
and for you, lovely, how was it? I read where you said you were sick for about a week and half just this past April. Did you have flu-like symptoms? How "bad" was it? Having the HIV tests when you did, you really do know fairly well when you were infected and so probably can judge that this was your seroconversion.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline Ann

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  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2011, 10:28:39 am »
Unlucky, not everyone experiences any seroconversion symptoms. I know plenty of people who didn't, although I myself had a very severe illness. (Extremely high fever - over 104F - and every muscle and joint in my body felt like it was going through a crusher. I couldn't walk due to the pain and even lying down in bed hurt like hell.)

The symptoms of seroconversion are not actually due to the virus itself - it's a reaction to chemicals that the body creates during the process of creating antibodies. One of the notable chemicals the body produces during this time is called interferon and interferon is notorious for causing flu-like symptoms. Just ask anyone who has taken synthetic interferon as part of the treatment for hep C. It's nasty stuff.
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline karry

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2011, 11:13:18 am »
Hi Unluckylovely
I did have light flu-like symptoms, but as it was in the middle of winter, I just felt I had caught a cold and I paid no attention to it. It went away quickly without any medication. Its only when I got diagnosed that I had the "ah-ha" moment and linked it to the light flu I had experienced.
Karry

Take it a day at a time....and be positive about it too!

Offline mikeyb39

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2011, 10:29:21 pm »
hi unlucky,
I was in Denver on vacation when one night my body started hurting like someone beat me with a stick.  The next day on my flight home i got worse, after about 2 days i had a fever of 102 to 103, I kinda suspected it was sero-conversion for some reason, I hadn't felt that bad in a long time.  My doctor immediately ruled out strep, mono, flu, so at that point i kinda suspected what it was, and it was.

I was sick for about 3 to 4 weeks , it was not a fun time. i also lost about 25 pounds in those 3 weeks, but i've put some of it back on since all of that. 
11/02/2010  cd4-251, vl-591000
12/09/2010  started Atripla
02/18/2011  cd4-425, vl-800
06/10/2011  cd4-447, vl-70
10/10/2011  cd4-666, vl-80
01/05/2012  swiched med (prezista,norvir ,isentress, )
02/10/2012  cd4-733, vl-UD  Viread removed
06/10/2012  cd4-614, vl-UD
12/14/2012  cd4-764, vl-UD
09/01/2013  cd4-785, vl-UD
03/06/2014. cd4- 1078, VL-UD
09/05/2014  cd4-850 , VL-UD
09/05/2014 switched meds isentress, prezcobix -still only two antivirals
10/14/2015  cd4-600 , VL-UD

Offline jacken

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2011, 10:35:27 pm »
I did not have flu-like symptoms but only had unusual rash all over my body including my palms. It lasted about a week and I thought it was an allergy.

After my dx, now I know it was seroconversion.

Offline buginme2

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2011, 12:26:25 am »
Zero seroconversion.  No flu,no fever, nada.   I kinda wish I had.  Maybe it would have got me to test earlier.
Don't be fancy, just get dancey

Offline thelovedones

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  • Posts: 58
Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2011, 09:49:45 am »
I had no idea I had AIDS.

If it weren't for a sex-buddy of mine who contacted me to tell me he got tested poz recently, I wouldn't have gone to get tested. And judging by the numbers I was sick for a long time.

I had no long term illnesses. I had the occassional sinus infection and stuff like that but nothing that didn't go away rather quickly.
2/26/11 – Diagnosis at State Dept of Health (anonymous testing center)
2/28/11 – Oral Swab Positive diagnosis and confirmatory blood test taken
3/4/11 – Confirmed HIV Positive diagnosis; blood drawn for T-cell count, VL, and medical profile
3/11/11 – VL: 192765, T-cell: 195
3/16/11 – Prescribed Atripla and took Pill 1
4/29/11 - VL: 413, T-cell: 311
6/28/11 - VL: UNDETECTABLE, T-Cell: 437


"I've seen this happen in other people's lives and now it's happening in mine"

Offline unluckylovely

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  • Posts: 17
  • I'm Still here......
Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2011, 07:18:44 pm »
To all who shared their experience, I thank you.  Knowing that each persons have different experiences should help alot of people understand more about their bodies and know when something is wrong.

For me, I knew something was wrong when the lymph nodes in my groin became swollen and very painful.  I then began feeling a very high temperture 40 degrees with throbbing headache and flu like symptoms, the usual, stiff joints ect.  The thing that made me think that something was wrong was that I had never experienced anything like that before.  I then went to see my GP who said 'you are fighting a viral infection'  that also got me thinking so i decided the following week to take a blood test.  Bloods taken were inconclusive on three accounts but was poz after the fourth attempt.

The health advisor explained that what i described was indicitive of the process of converting to poz from negative.

Once again, thank you all for sharing.
unlucklylovely
Diagnosed June 9th 2011
Infected from March 11th 2011 onwards

13.6.11 - cd4 720 vl 180...17.8.11 - cd4 830 vl 2500...30.11.11 - cd4 1130 vl 3600...28.2.12 - cd4      vl     ...

Offline drewm

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2011, 07:55:49 pm »
Actually, I had HIV for years and symptoms never rang an 'alarm bell' per se. I was dxd in a hospital emergency room after falling unconscious twice, thinking I had a upper respiratory infection (turned out to be pneumonia), and the dx was for AIDS, CD-4 was 8 and VL was 500,000.

I did not have night sweats until, perhaps, a week or so before the AIDS dx. I did have flu-like symptoms but again, nothing, health-wise, was serious enough in my ignorant state to warrant concern for HIV. Knowing what I know now, you can sero-convert and blame it on something else unknowingly. Lesson learned.  ;)
Diagnosed in  May of 2010 with teh AIDS.

PCP Pneumonia . CD4 8 . VL 500,000

TRIUMEQ - VALTREX -  FLUOXETINE - FENOFIBRATE - PRAVASTATIN - CIALIS


Numbers consistent since 12/2010 - VL has remained undetectable and CD4 is anywhere from 275-325

Offline New Poz Guy

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #15 on: August 19, 2011, 08:33:42 pm »
I did not have flu-like symptoms but only had unusual rash all over my body including my palms. It lasted about a week and I thought it was an allergy.

After my dx, now I know it was seroconversion.

I'm learning here.... :-\
So the entire body rash I had for about 2 weeks in early April and that faded slowly, was probably my sero-conversion?
I knew it was serious because I had never had anything like it before, ever.
The Drs. I saw were clueless and blood was never drawn for HIV at that time. They thought it might be shingles but there was no itching. Sometimes it's tough hanging in these forums, but I always come away with more information - and I need that as much as anything else right now.
Diagnosed 7/27/11
Labs taken 8/2/11
Results 8/12/11 - CD4 428 18.6% VL - 96,939
Began Atripla 8/13/11
Labs taken 9/8/11
Results 9/13/11 - CD4 629 24.2% VL - 930 !!

Offline catboy

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Re: Sero-conversion
« Reply #16 on: September 21, 2011, 04:49:01 pm »
Hi Unlucklylovely, I hope you are doing ok.  I went through a horrible seroconversion this past April.  My whole body felt like I was beat up with a baseball bat, I had night-sweats to where water was just running down my arms and chest and my hair was wet.  I felt very sick in my stomach, severe headache, it took everything I had to just get off the couch and take a shower.  This lasted for 3 weeks straight.  I missed a lot of work, which I never do, I went to my doctor 3 times before I had to ask him to test me for HIV.  The result was no surprise to me because I have always heard of people getting very ill when becoming infected. 
My first complete blood test came in as VL - 451,000 and CD-4 - 371.  My HIV specialist put me on Atripla June 2, 2011.  My blood test results on Aug, 30 were VL - 299 and CD-4 - 631.  I was very happy to see that.  Atripla so far has given me no negative side effects at all except for a little loopiness, or feeling a little clumsy if I take it when staying awake.
I do not write much on here, but I do read very often.  It does help me cope better reading everybodys stories.  It kinda takes away that feeling of being alone with this virus.  I hope things go well for you and all others on here............Catboy. ;)

 


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