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Author Topic: Going mental. Please help  (Read 2834 times)

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Offline eddie30

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Going mental. Please help
« on: December 12, 2013, 05:22:07 pm »
Hello all. My last risky encounter was 10 years ago, since then I have only had one HIV test - NEGATIVE.

QUESTIONS:

1 - If I was HIV+ for 10 years, what would be the best HIV test?

2 - Would I have any symptoms after 10 years of being infected?

3 - Should I believe my results? I heard so many people get FALSE results. For the love of GOD - we're at the end of 2013, I would of thought HIV testing would be highly accurate at this day and age!!..

4 - 'HIV is no longer death sentence', can you please clarify what does it exactly mean??

Thank you very much

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Going mental. Please help
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2013, 05:26:29 pm »
Believe your test results. You don't have HIV.

Offline eddie30

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Re: Going mental. Please help -----ANN Please have your say
« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2013, 05:33:10 pm »
Can someone else please 'answer' my questions rather than just a line saying you don't have HIV. Its not very informative as I DID NOT ask if I was positive or negative.


Offline Ann

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Re: Going mental. Please help
« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2013, 05:44:22 pm »
Eddie, are you kidding? (sorry, if you're not a Zappa fan, you won't get the joke.)

1 - If I was HIV+ for 10 years, what would be the best HIV test?

Any standard antibody test - rapid or otherwise - would suffice. 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.

When testing following a recent risk, a six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month post-risk point.

Once a person seroconverts and tests hiv positive, they will always test hiv positive. In the early days they found a few, rare people whose tests reverted to hiv negative, but those people were on their deathbeds and had stopped producing antibodies for anything. If you were that ill, you would not be able to post questions on the internet.

2 - Would I have any symptoms after 10 years of being infected?

You might, and you might not. Some people can go for nearly 20 years with no obvious problems - but they WILL test positive on an hiv antibody test. There is no correlation between symptoms and hiv antibody status.

3 - Should I believe my results? I heard so many people get FALSE results. For the love of GOD - we're at the end of 2013, I would of thought HIV testing would be highly accurate at this day and age!!..

Hiv IS highly accurate in this day and age. False positives get weeded out through further diagnostic tests and false negatives only happen when a person has tested too early in the window period.

4 - 'HIV is no longer death sentence', can you please clarify what does it exactly mean??

Today's meds mean that a person can live a full and active life despite having hiv. Before there were effective treatments, the only eventual outcome was a grisly death. That is no longer true, provided a person gets tested and treated before the immune system is totally destroyed.

As Rodney succinctly told you, you do not have hiv.

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. 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
Condoms are a girl's best friend

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"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline eddie30

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Re: Going mental. Please help
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2013, 06:01:49 pm »
Thanks Ann, Sorry but I didn't get the joke.

But..

When you said person with HIV can live full lives, what age would that be? or how many more years after diagnosis can person with HIV live when on meds.

Thank you

Offline Ann

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Re: Going mental. Please help
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2013, 06:07:31 pm »

When you said person with HIV can live full lives, what age would that be? or how many more years after diagnosis can person with HIV live when on meds.


How long is a piece of string? A person of any age can live a full and active life despite hiv, provided they get treatment when their numbers indicate they need it.

As for life-span, a person diagnosed with hiv today can live out their normal expected life-span, again provided they get treatment when necessary and look both ways before crossing the street. Getting hit by a bus will kill you quicker than hiv these days. 

I fail to understand why you are obsessing over life-spans etc when you DO NOT HAVE HIV. You have been elsewhere on the internet asking these same questions and you're not going to be told anything different here.

If you cannot accept the fact that you DO NOT HAVE HIV, I suggest you seek the help of a mental health professional to get to the bottom of why you cannot accept your negative hiv status. We cannot help you with that here.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

 


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