Freaking out about screening results

[gingesuze]

Hi All,

This feels like some sort of confessional!
I am in the 3rd month of my second pregancy and awaiting my screening results.
This time around I opted for HIV as opted out, selfishly, for the first time.
Now my worry is this what if I do have HIV and I have given it to my beautiful 20 month old girl.
I feel terrified.
My past is not so terrible but I did have a period of seeing a guy about 12 years ago who had been a right one in his time - he was 10 years older than me and now it has got me really panicked about my daughter and how selfish I have been in not getting tested in the first place.
Can I get my results earlier to ease my worrying or face the truth one way or the other.
Or am I being hugely paranoid and did other people worry about their results?
Thanks in advance.

yes, i worried about my results all 3 pregnancies, despite having no reason to think that I would have contracted HIV in between having children!

it IS something you worry about, but I am sure your tests will come back fine

i think if you had contracted HIV 10 years ago, there would have been some sign of it by now

i think it is normal to worry about the screening results, but based on what you say, tehre is no need at all to worry

perhaps call your MW or gp for a wee chat and explain your fears so they can put your mind properly at reast

that's a good point by lulumama too!!

Thanks guys.
Good advice all round I think I will call my MW to have a chat.
I think/hope I am over paranoid as I have recently become a single parent and have no-one to argue with on an evening just me and my thoughts whirling round my head!

Lulumama is correct if it was 10 years ago you would probably know by now- in an HIV+ person the time between infection with virus and developing full blown AIDS is around 10 years (and thats without treatment otherwise can be much longer) so it does have a long "incubation" but you probably would have been susceptible to all sorts of infections for a while and have an idea something was up.

Can I also just add though that even if you did have HIV (and chances are you don't) then you wouldn't necessarily pass it on to the fetus- you can be given special drugs to reduce the risk of transmission and they would advise you to have a cesarian (sp?) and you shouldn't breastfeed. Rereading your post I see you are worried about your daughter- well if she is healthy then it is very very unlikely she is HIV+ as children who are HIV+ would be quite sickly and unlikely to live past their 5th birthday without treatment.

Sorry, my post has probably freaked you out more than reassured. Ooops. I do understand your fears around the HIV test - I have had loads of HIV tests and every time there is the "But what if I have it" wobble even if in between tests you "know" you haven't been at risk. Probably should explain I worked in Africa on an AIDS prevention project for a while and in an AIDS orphanage and because part of my role was to encourage people to get tested I thought it important to know what the process was like. Oh and because of that I now work as an HIV/AIDS education Teacher adviser amongst other things so I am kind of a dork about such things.

Anyhow best of luck with the results- chances are you will be fine.
xxx

Thanks I do feel a little better. Still nervous though!
How ling do results take to come back to GP/Midwife.
I had them done on Wed 10th.