Aa
Coughing
Okay so I feel I'm suffering from HIV anxiety even though I had a protected exposure with little to no risk after reading symptoms I started feeling a tickle in my throat and was coughing.....seems now I am coughing for no reason throughout the day and ending up with a sore throat.
I wake up in the morning and my throat is fine....but soon after I think about coughing.....I do and continue to do so through the day and then AGAIN I have a sore throat at the end of the day.
Has a anyone else experienced this? How did you stop?
Constantly coughing for no reason can aggravate the throat and cause it to be sore right?
I am really feeling like I'm losing my mind!!!
I wake up in the morning and my throat is fine....but soon after I think about coughing.....I do and continue to do so through the day and then AGAIN I have a sore throat at the end of the day.
Has a anyone else experienced this? How did you stop?
Constantly coughing for no reason can aggravate the throat and cause it to be sore right?
I am really feeling like I'm losing my mind!!!
Trust me you're fine. I can relate to this to an extent. Once the mind goes into overdrive it's hard to let you're rational thoughts win through.
My advice would be avoid the HIV Forum as a certain member there is highly insensitive, quite rude it almost put me off this site completely. At times of high anxiety all we need is a certain amount of support and advice, rather than one liners.
It may be worth paying to post to a doctor, but if it was protected then they will confirm you have no worries at all and advise only to test for your own peace of mind, nothing else.
My advice would be avoid the HIV Forum as a certain member there is highly insensitive, quite rude it almost put me off this site completely. At times of high anxiety all we need is a certain amount of support and advice, rather than one liners.
It may be worth paying to post to a doctor, but if it was protected then they will confirm you have no worries at all and advise only to test for your own peace of mind, nothing else.
If you trust science then don't get tested. You can't be half pregnant so it is either one or the other, and if you go for a test then you don't trust science - I doubt a test result will make you any less edgy if you can't believe you don't have it when you used a condom.
Work on ending the anxiety now (if you can) by experiencing reality, rather than being unhappy and anxious for months while waiting to do some meaningless test. As I said before, you can have leprosy, (and other diseases may be lurking within) so if you start getting tested for every disease you can think of then there won't be any peace in your life.
Work on ending the anxiety now (if you can) by experiencing reality, rather than being unhappy and anxious for months while waiting to do some meaningless test. As I said before, you can have leprosy, (and other diseases may be lurking within) so if you start getting tested for every disease you can think of then there won't be any peace in your life.
I realize how you are feeling. I really do. I had the same worry.. Trust everybody and science that says you had NO RISK! you had PROTECTED sex.... If it will really make you feel better go ahead and get a test at the 3 month period. You're fine. try not to stress about it!
How long ago did this "exposure" happen? Keep reading this forum and the hiv forum for other people's threads where they thought they had it but didn't so you notice how impossible it was for them to get it, then think about yourself and realize you have the same experience. You couldn't get it. You can post in the hiv forum but the moderator gives you a nasty message so you might want to just look over there.
Thank you for the reply.
I completely understand what you are saying and logically I believe it.
I just have doubt in my mind due to the fact I was drunk at the time.
I have to get pass that and accept facts for what they are.
I've struggled with anxiety most of my life.
Once again I appreciate your help.
I completely understand what you are saying and logically I believe it.
I just have doubt in my mind due to the fact I was drunk at the time.
I have to get pass that and accept facts for what they are.
I've struggled with anxiety most of my life.
Once again I appreciate your help.
Sorry the first link was about oral sex transmission so is not applicable. The next one shows you how anxiety can affect your judgement though and might help you.
Read this health page nursegirl created for this exact topic:
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/HIV/HIV-AND-ORAL-SEX-THE-FACTS/show/1278?cid=68
Don't waste your time getting a test since you were protected and doc said it is a waste of time. If you get one test you will likely get dozens more because even one means you don't trust anything but your imagination. You call it low risk because you won't accept that nothing can happen with a condom - however it was ZERO risk. Your anxiety makes you over-analyse your body looking for clues that will confirm your worst fears that somehow your body has achieved the impossible and caught something that can't happen. Your worst fear is that you are different from everyone else who has walked on the planet and so you managed to get hiv through a condom. Likely the throat cough is something that happened before but you weren't anxious about it because you knew nothing was wrong.
It would make more sense to get a total body diagnostic done every day to make sure you didn't have leprosy because you can catch that from touching a leper. For some reason people post daily to this forum that they think they have hiv even though the circumstances they went through are impossible to support hiv transmission. Here is a similar story to yours although there are many more with the same idea - the patient is something special so gets hiv in a way that no one else can - reality is it is just your imagination playing tricks with your reasoning. http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Anxiety/Why-cant-I-let-go-Please-help/show/2073933?personal_page_id=308570
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/HIV/HIV-AND-ORAL-SEX-THE-FACTS/show/1278?cid=68
Don't waste your time getting a test since you were protected and doc said it is a waste of time. If you get one test you will likely get dozens more because even one means you don't trust anything but your imagination. You call it low risk because you won't accept that nothing can happen with a condom - however it was ZERO risk. Your anxiety makes you over-analyse your body looking for clues that will confirm your worst fears that somehow your body has achieved the impossible and caught something that can't happen. Your worst fear is that you are different from everyone else who has walked on the planet and so you managed to get hiv through a condom. Likely the throat cough is something that happened before but you weren't anxious about it because you knew nothing was wrong.
It would make more sense to get a total body diagnostic done every day to make sure you didn't have leprosy because you can catch that from touching a leper. For some reason people post daily to this forum that they think they have hiv even though the circumstances they went through are impossible to support hiv transmission. Here is a similar story to yours although there are many more with the same idea - the patient is something special so gets hiv in a way that no one else can - reality is it is just your imagination playing tricks with your reasoning. http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Anxiety/Why-cant-I-let-go-Please-help/show/2073933?personal_page_id=308570
Hello,
My risk was completely non existent....it was protected intercourse and logically I know this but I still stress about it.
I've seen many times on the HIV forum that protected exposure is no risk and no test needed.
Still cannot get away from the anxious thoughts.
My risk was completely non existent....it was protected intercourse and logically I know this but I still stress about it.
I've seen many times on the HIV forum that protected exposure is no risk and no test needed.
Still cannot get away from the anxious thoughts.
What was your "risk"? Over the summer my anxiety got horrible.. I developed a cough.. which then triggered more anxiety, because I was thinking.. Why do I have this cough??? I honestly think it was stress/anxiety related. Could be the same for you. You say when you are relaxed and not thinking about it you aren't coughing. You may be overthinking it. Are you on any meds or have you ever discussed them with your doctor? Or is this a one time anxiety thing due to some type of risk?
Thank you for the reply, just seems as though I'm just sinking deeper.
Logically I know I'm okay, my doctor has said I'm okay and testing isn't needed as I had little to no risk but will do so in March just to ease my mind.
It's just waiting and not knowing 100%
I also had the cough checked out and again, doctor has said it's nothing.
I just cannot stop thinking and worrying.
I'll try your methods.
Thank you so much.
Logically I know I'm okay, my doctor has said I'm okay and testing isn't needed as I had little to no risk but will do so in March just to ease my mind.
It's just waiting and not knowing 100%
I also had the cough checked out and again, doctor has said it's nothing.
I just cannot stop thinking and worrying.
I'll try your methods.
Thank you so much.
I'm sorry you're going through this.
Yes, coughing can lead to soreness. Could it be allergies?
Reading about symptoms can make us very vulnerable to connecting them to what we feel in our own bodies. I'd encourage you to stay off the internet.
If you're concerened about HIV, there's nothing wrong with following up with your doctor to get tested. A full check up wouldn't hurt either re: your cough.
To help with the anxiety, start with some good, slow, deep breathing-through your nose into your belly. Tell yourself, "I'm fine. It's just anxiety." Drink plenty of fluids - non-alcoholic fluids! :0) When the anxiety starts up, get up and go for a jog or walk. Turn on your favorite music. Call a friend & talk it out.
Hang in there - we know anxiety is tough!
Yes, coughing can lead to soreness. Could it be allergies?
Reading about symptoms can make us very vulnerable to connecting them to what we feel in our own bodies. I'd encourage you to stay off the internet.
If you're concerened about HIV, there's nothing wrong with following up with your doctor to get tested. A full check up wouldn't hurt either re: your cough.
To help with the anxiety, start with some good, slow, deep breathing-through your nose into your belly. Tell yourself, "I'm fine. It's just anxiety." Drink plenty of fluids - non-alcoholic fluids! :0) When the anxiety starts up, get up and go for a jog or walk. Turn on your favorite music. Call a friend & talk it out.
Hang in there - we know anxiety is tough!
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