Aa
A couple questions, please help
Hi, I was hoping to get better educated about ARS and it's symptoms. I know symptoms don't mean anything but i'm trying to find out all I can about ARS so I can be educated and not freak out everything I get a possible ARS symptom. I have phobia problems dealing with HIV, and yes I am seeing a councilor and getting help for my problems. I know ARS symptoms are "flu-like" symptoms. Yesterday I started with many flu-like symptoms that included fever of 101.8F, chills, nasal congestion, headache and some dry cough which all came on suddenly. Since I have a phobia about HIV I feared ARS. I went to the doctor today and got swabbed for strep and the flu and both came back negative and she said I probably have a upper respitory infection. Now for my question, if someone actually had ARS would they have to actually come back positive in a swab test for the flu to really have ARS or do the symptoms of ARS just mask those of the flu, meaning they would have all the symptoms of a flu but wouldn't come back positive in a test for the flu?
If I could get some comments and help from some people that know about ARS and HIV that would be great. Again I know you shouldn't worry about symptoms but if someone could educate me and answer my questions it would help me greatly! Thank you!
If I could get some comments and help from some people that know about ARS and HIV that would be great. Again I know you shouldn't worry about symptoms but if someone could educate me and answer my questions it would help me greatly! Thank you!
The only advice I have for you is to continue doing what you're doing. You've identified a big anxiety trigger...alcohol (which is the worst thing for anxious people). If you can completely eliminate it all together from your life...that would be optimal. Continue working with your therapist on the phobias, and on after-care for the alcohol use.
Best of luck to you.
Best of luck to you.
Thank you for your comment and help. I realize that trying to find out about HIV and ARS symptoms etc. without an actual risk might not make a lot of sense. I've been improving with my counseling but one of my problems also deals with alcohol. I've cut back on my drinking but after everytime I drink I automatically think I had a true risk with HIV, even if I remember the entire night and especially if I don't remember everything. I've been working on quitting drinking since it obviously isn't helping things. But this vicious cycle as you can see has not been an easy one. Anyway thank you for your comment and if you have anymore helpful advice I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks!
The BEST thing you can do for yourself is to continue with counselling to work on putting HIV/ARS OUT of your mind, rather than trying to focus on thinking MORE about it. It takes a RISK to have HIV to have ARS. What you are doing would be like worrying about getting rabies from a non-existant dog bite. Ya know? Does that even make sense?
Your ONLY problem is your phobia, which you are working on. You don't need to understand any more about HIV and ARS, other than it takes a RISK to get it. If you are irrationally thinking everything you do is a risk, then again....stick with your therapy.
Sometimes, knowledge ISN'T power...sometimes it just exacerbates an already bad situation, such as with chronic anxiety.
Your ONLY problem is your phobia, which you are working on. You don't need to understand any more about HIV and ARS, other than it takes a RISK to get it. If you are irrationally thinking everything you do is a risk, then again....stick with your therapy.
Sometimes, knowledge ISN'T power...sometimes it just exacerbates an already bad situation, such as with chronic anxiety.
I don't really have a recent realistic risk that I know of. I came here to get help understanding ARS so as to help me with my HIV phobia, so that everytime I get flu-like symptoms I don't go right to thinking ARS and HIV. So I decided to come here and find out all there is about ARS so I can think realistically about it. And when I came down with "flu-like" symptoms, many of which I usually never get like bad chills, overall weakness and high fever i decided to help myself and learn what I can so next time I get these symptoms I won't freak out. I don't know if you know much about phobia's and anxiety, but it can be very hard on someone, especially if you don't know a lot about everything that deals with your phobia, like for me HIV. I've been trying to educate myself about HIV so as I can think realistically about HIV risks, symptoms and so on.
I'm sorry if you think i'm wasting your time, but I'm getting counseling help and doing everything I can to overcome my problems. I came here hoping to get some help and answers to my questions. If you could please help me and answer my questions it would be very helpful, thank you!
I'm sorry if you think i'm wasting your time, but I'm getting counseling help and doing everything I can to overcome my problems. I came here hoping to get some help and answers to my questions. If you could please help me and answer my questions it would be very helpful, thank you!
and exactly "what" no risk exposure are you thinking you are going through ars from? this time?
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