POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: aconcerned1 on June 27, 2013, 10:06:45 pm
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Hi everyone, I'm new here, so here is my concern in short.
To start out, I'm a 32 yr old white heterosexual male living in the southern U.S.. Due to a family member recently dying of cancer at a young age I decided to get checked for everything I could think of to include std's. everything came back fine in September so I went back for the same labs to be done in march. This time my hiv result came back indeterminate. Tested again April 1st and it was still indeterminate... Now, I was tested again in the middle of may and the results came back as indeterminate yet again. The nurse explained that only p24 showed up present on the western blot. I didn't have unprotected sex with anyone other than my spouse since September of 2012. Also, I did inject some testosterone that was acquired from a foreign country starting in January and ending in march. Could that have an effect on the results? I'm just freaking out an am very anxious about it all. Sorry for the long version of my story and thanks for all you guys do, I've read some really helpful responses on here.
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Concerned,
Sometimes an underlying, as-of-yet diagnosed autoimmune condition can cause false indeterminates or false negatives.
The fact that your Western Blot test only had one band shows that yours were false indeterminates. Also, if your indeterminate result in March was a sign of incomplete seroconversion, you would have tested a firm positive by April.
The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days. A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point - when there has been a risk. You didn't have a risk.
Get checked out for autoimmune conditions and keep in mind that sometimes false results just happen. That's why any indeterminate or positive antibody test results are always checked with a WB test.
You are hiv negative.
Ann
PS - to be clear, seroconversion is the name for that point in time when there are enough antibodies present for an antibody test to return a positive result.
Seroconversion is when the blood (serum, or sero) converts from hiv negative to hiv positive through the presence of antibodies.
Sometimes when the amount of antibodies present is almost, but not quite, at the tipping point, the antibody test will be indeterminate. Sometimes other agents in the blood (such as autoimmune antibodies) can trigger this result.
An indeterminate result that is pointing to a positive result will normally be a positive result within a week at the longest.
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Thank you for your response! I'll have them check for autoimmune disorders when I go back next week.
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Just wanted to let everyone know, I received my results today and there were no bands present on the western blot!! Thank GOD! Thanks or all you guys and the information y'all are so willing to share. God bless
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Concerned,
You're welcome. Always remember to use condoms in future and you will remain hiv negative.
Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
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 the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED FURTHER HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME, 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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann