POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => I Just Tested Poz => Topic started by: zach on October 18, 2010, 05:25:25 am
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Is there a way of determining when I was infected. Diagnosed in July of this year, but thinking back I had been very sick a few times the previous couple years. My doctor has said, that judging by my cd4 count when I was diagnosed, I've probably been positive for a long time. I'm just curious. I'm not looking to track down who is "responsible" I found him in the mirror debating the merits of a handgun solution. I've disclosed to my previous partners, my exwife and girlfriends, they have all tested negative. I had my kids tested, just so I could sleep better, couldn't think of anytime over the years they could have been exposed. But, mea culpa, there was a time when I used heroin for a couple years. And there have been many partners, one night stands with males and females, with a less than stellar record of condom use. I've found myself thinking on the when lately. When was it, how was it? Has anyone I've lost track of over the years tested positive, and wondering the same thing I am? And was it me that infected them
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There's no way of knowing exactly by looking at blood tests. Different people progress at different rates. Some people will get to where you were relatively quickly (few years) while others may take 10+ years to reach the same point, if ever.
Normally the HIV progression charts you see around show it taking about 10 years but this is far from a precise number. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hiv-timecourse.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hiv-timecourse.png)
I had numbers similar to yours and my doctor could just say likely more than 5 years but possibly up to 10 years.
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Using data like cd4 and viral load is a lot like trying to determine how fast your car is going without acknowledging time or space. That doesn't seem to stop docs from doing it though. I have a neg result in 9/01/09, a weakly reactive ELISA in the beginning of June of 2010, an indeterminate western blot followed by a fully positive immunoflourescent a week later and a documented "mysterious flu like illness" that looks a lot like seroconversion in early may. Consequently, my window of infection can probably be pinned down into a relatively narrow timeframe. My doc took one look at my numbers and announced that I'd probably had it "for years". ::)
Moral of the story? Unless your doc was testing you beforehand, take their estimate with a grain of salt.
Edited for time frame accuracy.
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in my case more than 10 years................. a long time I had been feeling bad
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In march, the Nurse/Social Worker told me most likely I had been infected a few years before. I have had 2 tests done this year and my CD4 count has actually improved. I don't know what this means but the doc said I was not in a severe danger zone but he wanted me to start meds soon. :-\
Thank ya'll for being around for me so I can read all this information and feel a little better about it.
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I think Littleprince put it very well.
Sometimes you can do a little detective work if you look back over your medical records and have had regular physicals, other labs may help you push the date back (for instance a physical with abnormally high C-reactive protein levels, read with current knowledge of HIV, probably means you were already infected at the time)
But I wanted to react to one other thing you said.
And was it me that infected them
I'm hearing the edges of blaming yourself here and Zach, HIV is a VIRUS.
Your body, your sex, your drugs may have been the tool IT used to infect someone -- but you can't walk around blaming yourself for what might have happened without your knowledge and without your intent. The virus is the bad actor here; you did nothing to intentionally help it and now that you know you have it you are working to stamp it out. Be kind to that guy you see in the mirror -- hold him to high standards in the future, but the past is over.
A
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The past is the past let it be gone..
Look forward not backward's..That's how you lose your way.
And from what you said there is like NO WAY you could find out when you got infected...
Maybe it was the needles..maybe the unprotected hook up's with chic's and dude's..
And I am sure you have infected someone and that someone infected a countless amount of other's and those other's countless amount's of other's..HIV is a waterfall...