Terrified of HIV, please help

Please get help for your health anxiety OP.

Edt: Yay! Don't ban yourself from sex, just use a condom 😅

The medicine available now can make the virus undetectable. It's not a health threat like it once was. I'm just old enough to remember the panic and fear surrounding HIV, but we're worlds away from that now. You're going to be okay! 💐💜

@Terrified12 How did it go?

I'm sure it's not hiv op. If I googled a lot of cancers/HIV when I'm unwell I would be able to fit the symptoms into a lot of those categories, I've done it before and wound myself up into thinking I've had all sorts. Your symptoms are vague and could literally be attributed to hundreds of other things, HIV not being a likely one. Best of luck today and hopefully you can put this worry to rest.

Weight loss and extreme anxiety do go hand in hand with hyperthyroidism OP. I do understand your reasons though, and am wishing you all the best today. Please let us know how you get on!

I live in London so maybe it’s different, but it’s so easy to order these tests to your door for free and get the results back in a couple weeks…

HIV is very treatable nowadays. Even if you got it, which is unlikely, it can be treated. I was just talking to a lovely nurse about it a few days ago. She worked in a very impacted community during the 90s. The world has changed since then.

Weight loss and more outbreaks could both be attributed to stress, which is what you're experiencing in spades. Get some help with the anxiety.

And if a man doesn't want to wear a condom and you do, and he 'insists' in any way, shape or form, don't sleep with him. He's not a good man. And unlikely to be any good in the sack since he doesn't listen or consider his partner.

All the best.

Post in here after you know the results. You have a lot of people now praying for wellbeing!!!

@Terrified12 - I think that, at this time of year, it is very easy to become run down - and if you are run down, that would explain why you are getting more bouts of genital herpes. I’d suggest you take a multivitamin and mineral supplement, and maybe a tonic too - and look at your diet, to make sure you are eating as healthily as possible.

Just wanted to offer some reassurance. I know someone who caught HIV about 15 years ago. It's not a death sentence. She lives a very normal and healthy life. All the best though OP, can imagine it's worrying as any diagnosis would be x

I had a HIV test done in the mid-2000s & got the results back in 2 hours!
I'd gone to a clinic that a HIV+ friend went to - he was having regular blood tests checking his viral load - but anyone could get tested privately so I did.

Terrified12. I catastrophise too. So what were going to do, is tackle this slightly differently.
What's the worst thing you can think of right now? Positive HIV test?
OK, let's think if it were positive.
You're imagining life changing, early death, people thinking of you like some kind of leper I imagine.
Except none of those things are true. Maybe in the 90s, maybe in the early 00s.
Treatments for HIV have advanced so much within the past even 20 years, treatment means people with HIV aren't having any shorter life spans than a negative person. Many who are dealing with HIV actually say, I'd prefer HIV than diabetes. Taking the required medication means you're sorted.

There's no need to worry about infecting people, because medication now means that most HIV patients become undetectable. Undetectable = untransmittable has been a massive campaign over the past few years to end a lot of stigma.

Everything you fear about HIV is literally in the past.

I used to worry about HIV massively, but then I was educated on how far treatments have come, even people who had AIDS are recovering and living good, healthy, happy lives, with new partners.

Whatever that result says, your life isn't going to change too much.

I have a health anxiety and have catastrophised about AIDS/HIV in the past so I totally understand how you feel. Chances are it'll be fine, it's not normally transmitted through ordinary PIV sex. You'll know soon. Stay calm, deep breaths.

Herpes can take 10 years to show up.

People are spouting all sorts of misinformation on this thread OP about genital herpes.

Condoms don’t help not catch genital herpes as it’s skin to skin contact.

Hi OP, this is your anxiety running wild. It’s is highly unlikely you have HIV- no reason to think this at all on the basis of the facts you have shared.

Also, in the exceptionally unlikely event you did happen to test positive, it’s worth remembering that HIV is not the terrifying disease it once was.

Treatments are excellent and, with treatment, people with HIV live full and perfectly healthy lives with undetectable amounts of virus in their blood.

I can completely understand that you're frightened. However, HIV isn't the life sentence it once was and with the correct drugs it can become non transmittable. Please try not to worry, there is so much support out there now x

From reading one of the OP's update. Why do you presume most people don't? Some statistical data I am not aware of or your personal experience?

@Skyecat it's nastier on the genitals because it recurs more frequently and studies have been done that show it is more severe (from the studies below)

Recurrence of genital herpes averages 0.33/month with HSV-2 disease, but only 0.02/month for HSV-1 genital disease

The findings suggest that the infection with genital HSV-1 is quite different than genital HSV-2, as it is substantially less severe both in terms of recurrences and shedding

I’m sorry people are sticking the knife in when you’re at a low point OP, yes you should’ve used protection but it’s done now but unfortunately you get the MN posters who seem to enjoy feeling superior to others in their replies. All you can do now is learn from your mistake and be more forceful with future partners about condom use.

Best of luck for your test - as others have pointed out it’s not likely to be HIV but it’s a completely different disease these days. Go to your doctor regardless about your symptoms. Hope it all goes well and you get some answers/treatment soon.