POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: dmav23 on June 19, 2006, 03:06:42 am
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Hey guys,
Been doing alot of reading on here and have learned alot. All of these HIV awarness commercials that are on MTV these days have really gotten to me, so here is my question. I recently had a physical done and WBC was 3.9 and everything else was normal, I just recently recovered from strep throat a few days ago and was on antibiotics for it. Anyways I searched possible causes for low white blood count and HIV popped up. So my question is should this wbc of 3.9 be a concern for me to get tested? Ive been doing alot of research and it says that 4-10 is the healthy range, and on this site it says 3.9-11. something, so i dont see my wbc as being "very low." I am sexually active, and have had a girlfriend for the past 2 years, but before that made a bad decision and had unprotected sex with a girl for literraly less than 30 seconds (realized what I was doing) after, i confronted about her HIV status and said she gives blood monthly and is very aware of that stuff. Coincidently my friend hooked up the same girl multiple unprotected times and got tested 4 months later and was negative. should i have any cause for concern just because my wbc is 3.9, which I know can be caused by many other things.
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Hey guys,
Been doing alot of reading on here and have learned alot. All of these HIV awarness commercials that are on MTV these days have really gotten to me, so here is my question. I recently had a physical done and WBC was 3.9 and everything else was normal, I just recently recovered from strep throat a few days ago and was on antibiotics for it. Anyways I searched possible causes for low white blood count and HIV popped up. So my question is should this wbc of 3.9 be a concern for me to get tested? Ive been doing alot of research and it says that 4-10 is the healthy range, and on this site it says 3.9-11. something, so i dont see my wbc as being "very low." I am sexually active, and have had a girlfriend for the past 2 years, but before that made a bad decision and had unprotected sex with a girl for literraly less than 30 seconds (realized what I was doing) after, i confronted about her HIV status and said she gives blood monthly and is very aware of that stuff. Coincidently my friend hooked up the same girl multiple unprotected times and got tested 4 months later and was negative. should i have any cause for concern just because my wbc is 3.9, which I know can be caused by many other things.
Ok DMAV,
Your WBC is no indicator of HIV status. Many things can cause those test to fluctuate. You report having had unprotected sex with a woman some time back (around 2 years), right? Have you had an HIV antibody test since then?
If not you should. Not because I think you have HIV, it's quite unlikely, but it can't be ruled out. Get tested now since you're well beyond the window period of 12-13 weeks and a test now for that incident would be accurate. Also you should read our utterly amazing Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0). It contains links to the relevant sections of our venerable Lessons.
Don't focus on things like WBC. Focus on any risks you may have had ie unprotected anal or vaginal sex.
MtD
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thanks for the help, if my buddy though had been with the same girl as i multiple times, and got tested 4 months after and came up negative, shouldnt i be just fine? I havent had any "risky" experiences other than that, and like I said i was in her for litterally less than 30 seconds and pulled out. Jw so I don't have to go through the anxiety of a test for nothing.
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thanks for the help, if my buddy though had been with the same girl as i multiple times, and got tested 4 months after and came up negative, shouldnt i be just fine? I havent had any "risky" experiences other than that, and like I said i was in her for litterally less than 30 seconds and pulled out. Jw so I don't have to go through the anxiety of a test for nothing.
DMAV,
The chances of you having contracted HIV from this incident are very remote. HIV is a difficult virus to transmit, particularly from female to male. Nevertheless we can't rule it out and the only way to be sure is to have an antibody test.
Don't go on what your buddy said, test for yourself. You're well outside the window period so you can test immediately and get the results without any delay. I expect you to test negative. Whilst your about it you may like to ask your doctor to test you for other STD's too.
MtD
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dm,
You absolutely cannot go by anyone elses hiv test results, nor how good someone looks or what you think you know about their health or sexual history, the ONLY way to know YOUR OWN hiv status is through taking an hiv antibody yourself.
Do you and your current girlfriend use condoms? You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL STIs together. Once again, you cannot tell someone's hiv status going by what you think you know about them - or even what they think they know about themselves. Testing is the only definitive answer.
Sexual health is nothing to guess about. Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs. If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.
As Matty says, the odds of testing negative are in your favour, but testing is the only way to know for sure. Why don't you use one of those MTV ads to start up a conversation with your girlfriend so you can discuss getting tested (for all STIs, not just hiv) together. Explain to her how it's the adult, sensible thing to do.
Good luck with the conversation and testing together, and let us know when the two of you get your negative results. ;)
Ann
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Ann & MtD,
K so basically what you guys are saying is that I shouldn't use my friend's test as an indicator for my hiv status with this person, and I should get tested because of the fact that I was in her (regardless how short it was) even though the chances of me contracting hiv are remote and i will probably test negative, right?Well I'm gonna call today and see if I can get this out of the way, but I do have one more question, why is HIV harder for males to get? What makes the female to male contraction so much harder? Just tryin to get educated!Thanks for your help. I appreciate your wealth of knowledge and honesty.
DMAV
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The nature of female anatomy offers a much larger expanse of mucosal tissue through which HIV can pass. Along with that the environment in the vagina is one in which HIV can survive.
By contrast, the receptive area for a male is through the urethra and the chance of transmission much less. Additionally if he is uncircumcised the mucosal area under the foreskin also is a receptive area, although again much smaller than the area within the vagina.
In both male and female anal sex the anal area is receptive to transmission because of the mucosal cells as well as a tendency to bleed during intercourse.
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Got my test done earlier today and I am trying not to think about it! It's so hard though, all of these what if's keep crossing my mind! I'll know by tomorrow afternoon what the results are, any positive reinforcement would be great to get me through this night! I know that the odds are greatly in my favor, but I guess its just the test jitters!
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dm,
If whatiffs in this forum were pennies, I'd be rich. But, if people who actually tested positive after all those whatiffs where thousand dollar bills, I'd still be poor.
And I doubt that your case would be a thousand dollar bill. You'll be hiv negative and I'll still be skint. (skint is British for broke)
Ann
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ok now im really worried guys! I got my test done at 1:30 yesterday, and its 5:00 with still no results, it was suppose to be a 24 hour test and i spoke to the worker and he said that sometimes it just takes longer than others to get results back. Should i be worried that I might test positive because it is taking longer then it was suppose to? He said that positive tests come in just as fast as negative tests and that I shouldnt worry about it, what do you guys think? I might have to go through a whole nother night of anxiety and I'm very nervous. Any positive reinforcement would still help me. thanks.
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You're busily misintepreting the slowness for a lab result to mean dire things for you. In actuality there are all sorts of operational reasons as to why there maybe a delay in getting your result. Unfortunately this kind of delay happens all too often.
Just keep breathing and your result will come along and after reading over the various exchanges I do expect it will be negative.
Now, breathe and go on about your business.
Cheers,
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Thank you so much andy, you guys have helped so much in getting through this first day, and I really appreciate you all helping me again to get through one more night of this. I too expect to test negative, but after a while my mind is starting to just to run away with ideas, but I talked to the health worker and described to him my situation and he too said that the chances me being + are very very very small (not that I doubted you guys ever!) it's just nice to hear a voice tell you that i guess sometimes. Well thanks again, and just gotta wait one more day!
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K just to give you guys an update..I had called the lab at 8:30 this morning for my results and they still didnt have it, so they callled the actual place where my blood was getting worked on to find out what the deal was and they said that they just started it this morning...so they tell me to call back at around 12, i call and still no results, so they say call back at 3 or 4, i call back then and still no results, so the very nice gentleman who has been helping me this whole time said he would call the lab again and see what was going on and to call him back in 15 minutes. So i call him back and he tells me that the ELISA test came baclk HIV+ and my test was going to the WB test....and so at this point i'm going crazy and i talk to him for a good 45 minutes telling him my scenario and what not and he keeps telling me stay up and he expects this to come back as a false positive...well he was right, he called me back 30 mintues later to tell me that the results came back and that I am 100% hiv negative. He said the reason why i came back was my antibody density (or something) was 1.21 in the ELISA test and anything over 1 gives a positive result, and my WB came back comepletely negative with no HIV protein bands or something...I dunno, but he said that this only happens at .1% of the time and i have just experienced the biggest roller coaster ride ever.Anyway he said that I am 100% HIV- and that I can go on about my life! Thank you guys so much for helping get through these long two days. You guys are the reason why I have kept it together with your positive remarks and attitude. Thank you so much.
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dm,
Well that is certainly good, if not unexpected, news.
Please use condoms outside a mutually monogamous relationship where you have tested negative together and you will avoid hiv infection. You are hiv negative, now it's up to you to stay that way.
Ann
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Thanks for all your help Ann, youve been great, everyone has been great.
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Hey, I realize I am at no HIV risk with this situation. This is just to ease my mind. I recently traveled to the Philippines, and to this joint called Air Force 1, a real upscale whore house is how I would best classify it. We had sex briefly with a condom that jacked me off while still wearing the condom. I asked her numerous times what their testing policy was. She informed me that she is clean and all of the girls get tested three times a week, MWF. I know plenty of friends who have gone their, in fact my uncles wanted to take me out there, which is why I went. I guess my question is would you rather sleep with a sex worker who gets tested frequently or random girl in a bar who has no clue what her STD status is? I am slightly worried about herpes and that is it. What do you guys think?
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D,
I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread. I realise you haven't posted in your original thread in over three years, but we still want you to use this thread so we have easy access to your history. Thanks.
If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines. Thank you for your cooperation.
It really doesn't matter who you have anal or vaginal intercourse with, as long as you are using condoms. Condoms have been proven to prevent hiv infection, as well as many other STIs.
Herpes is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact and so condoms aren't always effective, but you'll just have to decide where your own comfort level lies in regards to herpes. I really rather doubt that sex workers are routinely tested for herpes - certainly not three times a week. Hiv three times a week, maybe, but herpes, no.
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through all three condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST SPECIFICALLY OVER YOUR ACTIVITIES AT "AIR FORCE 1", anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.
If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse with ANYONE, even if she's "the girl next-door", correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
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Thanks Ann. You always know how to put things in perspective!