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Some quotes to help worry wells

Dr Joel Gallant, John Hopkins HIV:

About condom protection against HIV:

1. An intact condom, properly used, is virtually 100% effective at preventing HIV transmission.

2. You can't get infected through intact skin, so it is not necessary that the entire penis be covered. The skin at the base doesn't matter.

3. If you use condoms all the time, and stop intercourse if the condom ever breaks, then you should be fine

On HIV window:

1. As I said in another recent answer, it all depends on how much certainty you want. I would agree with the GMHC that about 99.7% of people will have converted by 3 months. Testing again at 6 months is going to get rid of that 0.3% uncertainty. Is that really important? Probably not, especially for people with the kind of non-exposures that I get asked about about here. But in the case of a legitimate, high-risk exposure, one might want to retest at 6 months, while acknowledging that the test will probably continue to be negative. Since I am a doctor and not a policy maker, I have the luxury of being able to answer the question this way, without having to decide what the "official policy" should be.

2. My advice is the same as it always is for people with confusing test resuilts: stop getting viral loads, PCRs, and CD4 counts. Just get a standard serology (ELISA). If it's negative, you're negative, and you're done

3. it's enough to say that if you're negative at 3 months, you're probably negative, but you're welcome to get a 6-month test at 6 months if you want to be absolutely certain.


Dr. Bob Frascino, Robert Frascino AIDS Foundation

On Condoms:

1. The facts are that latex or polyurethane condoms are very effective in reducing the risk of STDs, including HIV, if they are used properly and do not fail (break).

2. Use latex (or polyurethane) condoms with your wife until you get your definitive three-month test.

3. For protected sex of any type, the HIV-transmission/acquisition risk would be essentially nonexistent if the latex condom was properly used and did not fail (break).

On Window period:

1. The HIV seroconversion window is three months.

2. I would consider a negative HIV test at 3.5 months following a failed condom vaginal sex exposure with a partner of unknown HIV status to be definitive and conclusive. Certainly if you remain worried, the option to take another test at the six-month mark is always available to you. However, I do not feel it's medically warranted.

3. Yes, "most" folks will have detectable antibodies to HIV within 1 month. But, "most" really isn't good enough when you are talking about HIV. By waiting the full 3 months, the test can pick up late seroconverters. Consequently, a 2-month test can be encouraging, but only a 3-month test is considered definitive.

I just thought it would help other worried wells as it has helped me. Enjoy
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Avatar universal
Sorry to post again but I am just trying to calm your fears as much as I can. This is from planned parenthood

The Window Period

It can take up to three months after you are infected to develop antibodies. This is called the "window period." During the window period, HIV antibody tests may not show that a person has the virus. It is very important to remember that HIV can be passed to other people during the window period.
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Do you talk about it with your husband? What does he say to you about it? Talking about it really helps because people can calm your fears and assure you that you are negative and you have the test to prove it.
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http://www.childrenshospital.org/clinicalservices/Site1849/mainpageS1849P14sublevel20.html

I found this quote in my obsessive searching of the net to prove to myself I dont have hiv but then on the same site I saw under HIV AIDS they say it can take 3-6months   UGH!!!

Joggen I notice you have not commented at all and I'm sure you realize there is probably nothing more you can say which I totally understand

I am just so scared because I AM in therapy I AM on meds I AM a very intelligent person but I CAN"T shake this fear  I need help but don't know where to find it
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Avatar universal
thanks for your comments - I totally understand the anxiety and I am even treating my with meds under care of psychiatrist - yes I have come clean with my husband - I did that right away - he is an amazing man and the worst part for him is dealing with me and all the testing and worry  - He has completely forgiven me and our marriage honestly couldn't be better right now - I just need to get this fear out of my head - sometimes it helps to hear other people are going through same thing and other times it doesn't cause its hard to find someone who has TRULY gotten over the fears





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Avatar universal
I called my states hiv hotline this morning and they confirmed the 3 month 90 day window. That might help you
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Avatar universal
I understand. I wasn't trying to attack you, sorry. Yes people say my risk was no risk but it's scary as hell. We both know that. What has helped me is finally believing what people say. People that are way more educated on the subject than I am. Believe me I have/had real symptoms too. I'll admit my anxiety was pretty high at times. I probably called 30 different states HIV hotlines and multiple health departments. This may have helped me because every single one I called assured me it's 3 months and I am fine. You can try the Mass state hotline, they'll tell you six weeks or try the Virginia HIV/Viral hepatitis hotline. Great people at the Va one. One guy has been doing it for 24 years. It may help you and it may not. It's worth a shot. Have you leveled with your husband? So many different things can give the same symptoms of HIV though, things that are way more easily transmittable. Secondary syphilis is an example. I just hope that we can all get over this soon and move on with our lives. It's a whole lot easier said than done, we know that. But honestly when you look at the real picture and the facts, it helps. Just start trying to believe them. I'm here to talk if you need me, talking to people certainly has helped me. God bless!
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Thanks BigMistake but I can tell from all of your posts that you are extremely anxious too and you did not even have a risk - no risk = no possibility of acquiring HIV yet you tested out to 6 months and still questioning if you had cancer if that could have affected it.  

I had a risk - I have symptoms - real symptoms and yes I have had 4 tests all the way from 6+ weeks to 16+ weeks and am still dealing with it in the back of my head

Testing is very difficult to me and you are probably right a 6 month test probably wouldn't calm my fears for more than a day or so as has happened in the past

I have called my statehotline - it is the same as the CDC national one here in my state!!!

and its the part in the original posters first comments saying if you want to be completely sure test at 6 months!    I just want to know how people with a true risk have dealt with believing their 3 month + test result when they were EXTREMELY anxious
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You know the worst thing you can do is google stuff about hiv. Anything you google along with HIV is going to bring up something, true or not. A lot of the information is completely outdated. I highly doubt a test at 6 months would calm your fears. I had a negative at 6 months and it helped me but I still have symptoms and you are apparently way more scared than I am. I don't know what your exposure was. Why don't you call your states hiv hotline and talk to them and see what they state about the window period. It's actual people with real information who know what they're talking about, not people reading stuff off a computer screen like the CDC.
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I don't know how this would fuel your fear? They said 3 months is enough. For people who can't get over it, the OPTION to test at 6 months is always there. Basically to calm your fears. You say you have been in therapy for almost 6 months. Have you tested? The CDC will tell you that most people develop antibodies within 2-8 weeks and the average is 25 days. 6 months is outdated. People go with the cya approach, cover your a**.
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of course this post did not calm me but fueled more fear as for the 6 month quote so being the anxiety driven supposed worried well that I am I had to research and this is what I found regarding Dr. Joel Gallant and window period as recent as a 2010 posting
http://www.hopkins-aids.edu/management/laboratory_testing/full_hiv_diagnosis.html

This helps me to see the sensitiivity and specificity percentages being so high at 3 months - It is just so hard to "move along" when you have Dr confirmed swollen glands since 10 days after event and other supposed symptoms - I have been in therapy for almost 6 months and on heavy meds to control the anxiety and ocd I have over the HIV - that is I'm sure driven by guilt mainly but also constant reminder by "symptoms"

I know all of the answers - and only get really fearful when I go outside of this website and see something like the CDC site saying 3 months is only 97 percent accurate - why in the world don't they change that if they in fact say 3 months is conclusive

I would love advice from anyone else out there that has been able to completely move past this fear and were once in my shows with fear and worry

Thank you for taking time to read this
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Avatar universal
I just want to add the comment that Dr. Gallant appears to be overly conservative about the window period. What he is saying is basically consistent with the CDC's policy of recommending an additional test at 6 months if somebody had an exposure to a person confirmed to have HIV. None of the doctors on this website have ever recommended testing beyond three months, even for exposures of the highest possible risk.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for this.
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