Souledout:
Well if it turns out you can't do that you'll have to find something else to do for a living... And I'm sure that brilliant mind, skill set and desire to help people could be put to fantastic, very fulfilling, use.
Whymeh:
Its been nearly 4 weeks since i tested positive and since then my life has felt like a nightmare. As a health professional i feel so irresponsible and stupid for having contracted this. I feel like All my goals and dreams have been pulled out from under me and cannot fathom why. I live in a small town in Ireland and the stigma is another issue that worries me. I am trying to move on with my life as much as i can although the first week i just wanted to die...every time i went for a drive i hoped i would die in some accident. Right now i am trying to be as positive as possible and knowing that this MUST have happened for a reason...that reason i dont know right now but it keeps me going...talking to docs infact anyone who i can confide in really helps
Hope you can learn to deal with this....you can still live a normal life....just find a way to try and cope with this massive blow. Peace out
pittman:
--- Quote from: Whymeh on March 03, 2013, 05:28:24 pm ---Its been nearly 4 weeks since i tested positive and since then my life has felt like a nightmare. As a health professional i feel so irresponsible and stupid for having contracted this. I feel like All my goals and dreams have been pulled out from under me and cannot fathom why. I live in a small town in Ireland and the stigma is another issue that worries me.
--- End quote ---
I certainly can relate as many do to the feelings. But I also try to keep it in perspective. I think that at the heart of the matter is sex, and our feelings around it. The majority of people with HIV get it through sex, and sex is still more taboo than we often admit.
So try a thought experiment, and imagine that instead of HIV you were diagnosed with some other condition with some other cause-- diabetes linked to your weight, skin cancer due to over tanning, lung cancer due to smoking. Know any doctors that smoke, or who fail to eat healthy and exercise? Would you have the same emotional reaction, or to the same degree, if they had a sexually transmitted disease?
While this is all pretty obvious, I think it is worth reminding ourselves. Many, many people do things that are not good for them, and that includes doctors. It is the sexual aspect (and the gay association) that brings the stigma. I just don't think it is logical to think people are more at fault for sexual diseases than they are for other conditions that can be linked to behaviors.
You can't count on others to always be rational, so you might as well start playing that role yourself and stop beating up yourself over it. I wish you the best in your care and hope that you find your way through this and that you allow yourself some compassion.
mecch:
--- Quote from: pittman on March 04, 2013, 11:11:12 pm ---I certainly can relate as many do to the feelings. But I also try to keep it in perspective. I think that at the heart of the matter is sex, and our feelings around it. The majority of people with HIV get it through sex, and sex is still more taboo than we often admit.
So try a thought experiment, and imagine that instead of HIV you were diagnosed with some other condition with some other cause-- diabetes linked to your weight, skin cancer due to over tanning, lung cancer due to smoking. Know any doctors that smoke, or who fail to eat healthy and exercise? Would you have the same emotional reaction, or to the same degree, if they had a sexually transmitted disease?
While this is all pretty obvious, I think it is worth reminding ourselves. Many, many people do things that are not good for them, and that includes doctors. It is the sexual aspect (and the gay association) that brings the stigma. I just don't think it is logical to think people are more at fault for sexual diseases than they are for other conditions that can be linked to behaviors.
You can't count on others to always be rational, so you might as well start playing that role yourself and stop beating up yourself over it. I wish you the best in your care and hope that you find your way through this and that you allow yourself some compassion.
--- End quote ---
Wow that is so true, and so well said.
I think what Ann said is quite constructive - we all have to inform ourselves of any possible restrictions to our rights, be they rights at work, socially, sexually... Its so common to have many fears about this aspect of living with HIV --- discrimination and legality, etc. etc., --- so its important to find out exactly WHICH things apply to one's own situation, and which do not.
actonye:
I just had to tell my bosses at work that I'm positive. Seeing as I perform chest drains as part of my job in the Ed. I am now not allowed to perform any more exposure prone procedures. I don't know what to do now. I can't even go back into work. The shame is killing me. I'm so ashamed of myself. I don't want to go on living. Now every new job as part of my training I need to let a senior doctor know so I can be excluded from that one function. My life has just become a whole lot more difficult. I'm not sure where to go from here.