First Dr.'s appt. after diagnosis

[chm02]

Hey gang-
I was diagnosed last Saturday, with vl of 29,000 and cd-4 of 514.
I have my first doctor's appt. since the tomorrow a.m.

Are there any pertinent, important questions i should ask? Any tests i should ask for, etc?
I am going in blank, and want to make the most of the appointment time.
I'm wondering if he will want to start treatment.

cheers-
cm

[yowsaa]

Hi cm,

Your numbers are o.k. Prob go back in 6-12 weeks for another blood check.

Not sure where you are, i'm in canada, but if you need drug assistance in future maybe ask if you should get the paperwork started.

They put me on meds ~6 mths after and I have excellent coverage. They tried to push me into a drug study, thankfully I said "NO, GIVE ME WHAT WE KNOW WORKS" kind of thing.

Start taking a multi-vitamin and treat your body right.
Ask if he should do all the other vaccine shots now.

[Regretsafew]

Hey there   
Ask them if there is any other doctors that you need or should be following up with.   Sometimes  your HIV doc. will also be your primary doc. 


Joey

[Teresa]

Hey there,

You might ask about whether you need Hepatitis vaccines, flu shot, pneumonia shot and tetanus. I know hubby had to get all those when he was first diagnosed.

Make sure you take a notebook so you can write all your questions down and the answers. It was recommend to me to ask for a copy of all of hubby's labs and I keep them in a notebook. If you haven't checked out the Lessons here I highly suggest that you do. Helped me alot.

Hang in there, your going to be fine.

Hugs
Teresa

[pozniceguy]

First apptmt is a critical step to longer term situation ..do you know your Dr??  Is he/she someone you can tell anything??   do you believe you will get good answers and not brush off??   and probably more important ..If you are on Insurance of some kind you probably need to designate the ID  Dr as your Primary....other wise you will continuously fight the "referral" issue........Be more open than you think  you can right now...this person will chart the course of your treatment..tell this person what you have concerns about..don't limit the discussion to just treatment issues..all the surrounding things can be as   difficult to deal with as the HIV..personal issues , family issues , work issues,  even relationships..this person will be the one to help you get through these things or at least get you referred to someone who can....

Take all the advice above ..bring written questions and write down answers..in a few months you will be very glad you did the up front effort.....It also sets the expectations of the DR..he/she will get to know you and your situation...

[chm02]

Thanks for your replies and advice, all!
It went well. The Dr. set me up with vaccinations, talked to me for quite a while , had me take my clothes off (the best part!)  And I told him he was cute. Really. I mean, he is REALLY cute. We talked about my various health isssues, and he was interested and pro-active. Wants to check me out thoroughly. 
I feel I was lucky because i just chose this guy at random from a list of providers, and it turns out he is an HIV specialist.
He said my numbers didn't warrant treatment at this point, and set up an appt. for Dec.
He introduced me to his (my) HIV case manager, a great guy with a wealth of information. I was there for 2 hours! I felt very well cared for. So far, so good!
I almost hate to sound so happy about it all- but hey- take my strokes where I can get them....

cheers-
cm

[Longislander]

LUCKY YOU! All my docs are women! And getting naked in front of my HIV doc does absolutely nothing for me!

Glad it went so well.

Paul