Partner has just had blood tests for HIV and Hep

[aTKINSsICK]

Quick history - partner has been 'ill' for over a year, first contracted shingles during a time of intense stress and then after fighting that off has been plagued with various ailments such as sore muscles, itchy skin, eye deterioration and pins and needles/numbness in his hands. He's ultra paranoid and for a while convinced himself that he had cancer. He's had every test going from full blood counts, immunity tests, liver function tests, lumbar puncture, mri ... nobody can find anything wrong with him. But he pushed and pushed and eventually ended up with an appointment for infectious diseases.

I went with him - was supposed to be going into the consultation with him but we were late and I offered to park the car and let him run off ahead for the appointment which he did. When he came out, he had blood sample pockets for hep b, hep c and hiv as well as pockets for other types of blood tests. I asked why he had the STI tests and he said he'd been asked shit loads of questions such as do you have sex with men, do you take needle drugs etc etc and then at the end the nurse said that although he doesn't have any of the triggers for sti's, she wanted to test him for it just to rule it out.

Now I'm shitting myself because we don't use condoms (he's had snip). We've been together for about a year, before me he claims he had sex with one other woman (with condoms) twice and before that he was married for the previous 17 years. He claimed he wasn't worried about it coming back positive as he knows there is no chance he could have it yet yesterday he came back saying he was stressing out over the tests because "what if it DOES come back positive?"

Would they actually do these types of tests on someone that didn't 'trigger' during the questions?? should I be concerned?? if his sexual history he's telling me is true then surely we have no reason to be concerned?

He even tried to blame it on me last night asking what my previous partner was like despite the fact that he was having symptoms before we even met.

Also, wouldn't hiv and hep show up during liver function / immunity blood tests which he's already had?

It will be completely routine (and no they would not necessarily show up on other tests) so don't worry. I have had tests for work for HIV etc and even though there was no physical possible way I could have HIV I still had the panic about what happened if it was positive! I think it is a natural response even if he has been completely honest with you.

They do these tests for completeness if they don't know what is going on because they don't want to miss anything (and while you know and trust him he is just another member of the public to them and could have been up to anything!)

I agree, have also had HIV tests in work and also in 2 pregnancies.
You do panic and have that 'what if' thought about some random you shagged when you were 20 and drunk.

It is routine to test for these when trying to eliminate other causes for illness.
IME only a blood HIV test will identify HIV infection, not LFTs

Don't know about those specific tests, but when I had my bloods done (suspected ms) they tested for a million things, including syphilis. I spent quite a long time wondering which I would prefer - syphilis or ms! One's curable but toe-curlingly embarrassing, and the other is neither. i think came down in favour of syphilis, but it turned put I had ms

If your DH isn't in any of the high risk categories they're doing these tests now so that if, at some point in the future, he is referred elsewhere they won't be wasting time looking at these infections as possible causes of his symptoms.
The BASHH PEP guidelines (which are used when trying to decide whether to give prophlactic treatment following exposure to HIV) say that a man's risk of catching HIV after a single episode of unprotected vaginal sex with a woman from a low risk group is about 1/400,000 and that a woman's risk of the same is about 1/200,000, so the risk is really small.
As far as I understand Hep B and C are pretty uncommon amongst heterosexual people in the UK, unless you've had partners from countries where its endemic, which are places outside of areas like Europe, North America and Australasia.
If his sexual and drug taking history is true, and it doesn't look like you've got any reason to doubt him, I would say this is just a case of dotting the is and crossing the ts.
If this is still worrying you phone your local sexual health clinic. A lot of them will have some kind of information hotline and all of them will be really happy to help put your mind at rest.

I've just seen you question about the liver function tests and the immunity tests. Its likely that if a hepatitis or HIV had damaged your DH's body that it would show up on these tests so although, as someone else has said, the only way to know for certain if you are free of these infections is to test these results are quite reassuring, especially as you partner is unwell.
The other thing to bear in mind is that you can get results back from blood tests within about 3 or 4 days so if the stress is doing you head in just phone the clinic and see if you can get your results.

A low CD4 count might indicate aids, but HIV infection can be assymptomatic for over 10 years.

Has he never been tested?

Probably nothing to worry about, but imagine his wife had been unfaithful...

I had an STI check before having unprotected sex again after leaving ex.

They can do a finger prick test for the HIV that tells you straight away whether you're positive or not. He could to the GUM clinic tomorrow and have that test if he /you are worried about that.
Hepatitis is the more contagious of the two. If he gets diagnosed with HIV there's always a chance you DONT have the virus, it's a very fragile virus.

A low Cd4 on its own isn't known as AIDS, that's old Skool, Aids now is when you have an illness due to low CD4 i. E Pneumonia.

Lweji, that's not a very helpful post.
OP even if your DH's previous partners were unfaithful from what you've said here its far and away more likely that none of you are infected with either HIV or any of the heps. Please don't panic, the numbers are all on your side here.
Obviously no one who works in this type of environment is allowed to tell you that there is no risk of infection but if the nurse was happy he's not in a any high risks groups your risk is small.

Hi, no real advice other than try not to worry, sounds as though the docs are just trying to rule out as much as possible.
However, as there are hundreds of tests that can be done on a blood sample the lab will only test for what is actually requested on the form. So although your OH has had LFTS they won't have tested for HIV and Hep. Also, they are tests done by the chemistry lab, and the HIV/Hep are done in the virology lab. But if the LFTs had shown a decreased liver function, that would have highlighted a need for further investigations.

What I meant was that even if there is a low risk, it's possible, so the doctors will want to rule it out, particularly if they have done lots of other tests already.
It doesn't mean they think there's a real risk.

Also regarding CD4s, I mentioned it as one factor that could have come out from more standard blood tests and that might suggest aids.
It could also be due to other things, or not be present.

I hope it's all good news and that they can identify the source of symptoms and treat it.

I had all these tests last year when I developed tingling/numbness in my hands and feet (I've got a rare immunological problem). They tested me for everything from HIV to leprosy, ms to ovarian cancer!

It's for completeness. And while infection might affect LFTs, it wouldn't show why they're affected I'm pretty sure mine are slightly raised due to the wine :) even though I knew my HIV test would be negative (I have only ever had one sexual partner - dh- and so has he. Never had a blood transfusion or injected illegal drugs or engaged in any risky behaviour. But it was still a relief when it was neg!