A
female
age
41-50,
anonymous
writes:My husband and I have been married for 7 years, but we've been together for almost ten.When we started dating, we both did HIV tests. All of them came negative.In the past 4 years we've been living under extreme stress, mostly caused by financial insecurity. My husband is carrying a bigger load and can never, ever relax. He hates his job, but has to stay there at least for another two years. What's even worse he has no idea of what he'd like to do. He's under constant pressure, generated by his family. Apart from me, he has no one to turn to.He's in a good shape, exercises everyday and goes swimming at least 4 times a week.Recently, we had to deal with even more stress than usual. Suddenly he started feeling so exhausted and his herpes (mouth sore) broke out. He can't sleep, has heart palpitations etc. After two weeks the sore was all gone, but the fatigue stayed. And all this time, he has continued to eat healthy, exercise and swim (those are his ways to let the steam out).Anyway, he finally went to see a doctor today. She didn't send him to a cardiologist, but sent him to do some blood work instead, without explaining what it was she was looking for. When I saw his prescription, as I said, I freaked out!!! Among other tests (herpes, hepatitis...) HIV1 and HIV2. I'm keeping my calm and comforting him, but inside, I'm boiling. I'm not thinking about possible infidelity, at this point I just don't care (nothing is impossible, but I think I would have known, because I'm the person who likes to know and not pretend.)... there are so many ways he could have gotten something. He had a blood transfusion 5 years ago, he received infusion a couple of times... My brother got hepatitis C from a dentist for Chrissake!Has anyone had similar experience? I'm not looking to hear that everything is going to be all right. I would be grateful to hear how to deal with this. I don't even know how long it takes to get the results back...As I said, our doctor said nothing...Thank you all!!!
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male
reader, anonymous, writes (6 May 2011): There is a lot of more information a doctor can get from blood tests. Worry not, as surely HIV is the last thing he expects to find, but he can't disregard it because of protocol.
Stay calm, and God bless, everything will turn out fine, you'll see :)
A
female
reader, Miamine  +, writes (6 May 2011):
 Yep, standard tests. He is showing signs of a low immune system and HIV gives you a low immune system. They are just testing for everything to make sure he's ok. You're wasting energy worrying, wait until the tests come back, until then assume that everything is ok.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (6 May 2011): It is normal that you are worried about the test list as a non-medical person. But i hope you will understand that a doctor has to rule out all the possible causes, just in case. . . My mom suddenly had a swelling on her shoulder, and we all freaked out,but when the results came out we saw that it was a lipoma (harmless mass of fat). . . So don't worry too much. And about how long it will take, it depends on which test is being done. . . Is it ELISA or ICT or western blot. . . As far as i know, these should give you a result in not more than 2 days. . .
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A
female
reader, Shamandalie  +, writes (5 May 2011):
Doctors will try to get as much information as they can. A year ago I had an acne outburst and my dermatologist ordered some tests done. Hormonal mostly, but she even included syphilis tests! And it was just acne that came (and went) for no reason. Your husband is having some health issues, so it is normal for a doctor to get as much information as they can.
It will probably take a few weeks to get the results back, depending on the nature of the tests done. Try to comfort him and be there for him. I'm pretty sure it will be stress related. But it never hurts to make sure.
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A
female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (5 May 2011):
 Your doctor is just making sure she has checked for all the obvious causes of the symptoms you've mentioned. Don't freak out about it. Doctors have to do this all the time, they "rule out" things by testing for them.
Mysterious rash? Check all possible causes of the rash.
You should be thankful your doctor is being thorough.
He sounds like he's having a lot of stress which can create havoc in the body. Don't add to it by overthinking a simple blood test.
I remember reading about a famous female athlete freaking out at having her chromosome test at the Olympics. I mean, she knew she was a female, but what if.... her irrational worry about the test revealing that she was, in fact, a male, was of course just that, a worry.
Medical tests are scary. Not know what the hell is happening inside your body is scary.
Tell you what, why don't you come back AFTER the blood tests are done and let us know how it came out. I'll bet you have spent a great deal of time worrying for nothing.
Don't borrow worry. It just creates your own stress hormones and will set YOU up to become ill as well.
Maybe you could work on figuring out how to help get him out of the job that is so bad for him? Focus on the exit strategy for now. That might ultimately be of more help than freaking out at the little checked boxes on a blood panel.
Good luck!
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A
male
reader, CaringGuy +, writes (5 May 2011):
This sounds like a very standard test, given that he's pretty ill. When someone is ill and they're not sure what is is, they'll test for everything. They'll now test hos blood for HIV, Diabetes, Cancer etc etc. It's just a list they'll test for.
How do you handle it? Well, I don't know - I guess just focus on the fact that they're testing for everything. All I can say is that it's more likely to be stress related than anything else.
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