To still be worried about this?

[Wildberryplatt]

hello I need some words of wisdom - I discovered my partner was cheating on me about a year ago for 3 years with other women and immediately ended it. I got quite ill with the flu afterwards. I then went on Google and thought god , it could be hiv.

I went to the nurse at the sexual health clinic and she was LOVELY she talked me through everything took swabs and did a rapid test to detect hiv on me with a finger prick blood syringe thing. Even though the test results came back negative for hiv I immediately asked her to do it again to which she responded ‘ this test is 99.9% accurate’ especially after the months and months I waited to get tested. She told me I really don’t need to worry as I had a negative result.

I guess this post is really about how to stop worrying and stop health anxiety. I did the test saw the results but the little part of my silly brain is thinking , what If it was a false negative, what if I am positive what if what if what if. Im 30 next year and feel I haven’t got a grasp on health anxiety at all it makes me feel immature.

Is it a common mental illness to have?
do you think I should be worried about the test ?

arghh I hate myself sometimes. thank you

I suffer with health anxiety too and I recently turned 30!

Do you have any symptoms of HIV?

I can be exactly the same 'what if they read my result wrong, or looked at the wrong test'.
Of course mistakes can happen but a lot of it is our anxiety because it's a little dickhead voice in our heads.

And that is all it is, it's trying to control your whole being. It makes your tired, it makes you fret.
You can have moments of being okay and then a dark cloud comes over you to rain on your parade.

The important thing is, you got tested. Nothing can be 100% can it? It said negative so that's what it is. This is your anxiety x

Hi, I have HIV - have had if for just over 5 years now. I also volunteer in the sector so have a reasonable amount of knowledge.

I can confirm what the nurse said (they are lovely, aren’t they?) in that the test is really accurate, it’s extremely sensitive and there’s more of a possibly or getting a false positive than a false negative. Even if it had been proven positive HIV is no longer a death sentence, rather a chronic manageable condition where, other than taking daily meds with check ups 1-2 times a year someone can continue their life just as before.

HIV is actually really difficult to contract and those who do might experience no symptoms at all. I never had flu symptoms rather it was more like a sick bug over several days.