POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: scaredshitles on May 14, 2012, 09:22:50 am
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So,last week i developed oral thrush..i went to the doctor and she advised i have an HIV test..which has now got me pretty worried..i have no other symptoms of HIV.The doctor failed to tell me that Oral thrush can be caused from Bad oral hygiene,smoking and bad diet..I have a bad diet,i smoke and i have pretty bad oral hygiene..This is the first time i have had any sort of thrush infection..i want to know if i should worry or not because right now,my head is going crazy..Any help would be appreciated.
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Scared,
You should only be worried if you have been having unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse with persons of positive or UNKNOWN hiv status. If you've been engaging in unprotected intercourse, then you should be worried regardless of the presence or absence of oral thrush.
As you yourself noted, oral thrush can be caused by a variety of reasons and most of them have nothing to do with hiv. Hiv often has NO noticeable symptoms.
The ONLY way to accurately know your hiv status is through testing. A test at three months or more after your last incident of unprotected intercourse will be conclusive.
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.
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, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann
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Thank,I have my blood test tomorrow.i have been tested for other Sti's which were negative..but being tested for HIV tomorrow.
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You haven't commented on Ann's remarks about unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse. Those are the only confirmed risks for the sexual transmission of HIV. As long as you haven't been involved in either of those activities or in sharing needles intravenously then you should be ok as far as your HIV test is concerned.
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i have had unprotected sex but no sharing needles.test is tomorrow..fingers crossed all is well and the thrush is down to bad oral hygiene and smoking.
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OK. You haven't mentioned when you had unprotected intercourse. In order to get a conclusively negative test result you need to test at 3 months past the most recent risky incident.
Good luck with your test.
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it would of been with my ex,we were together since august last year and we broke up in january this year but have been with 2 girls since then...one with condom and the other was negative,she is a nurse so gets tested often.
Thanks
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We don't believe in using someone else's negative test result to decide that you're HIV negative.
You need to get tested at 3 months after the most recent risk if you have had unprotected intercourse outside of a securely monogamous relationship in which both partners reliably tested negative together.