How reliable??

Well, my 4 week HIV antibody test come back nagative. Well, it was actaully 26.5 days between the potential exposure and the time my blood was taken. I know i'm not in the clear yet, but it's give me abit of relief. My exposure was unprotected vaginal sex with a female stranger.

I had my test done a week after what I thought were ARS symptoms. From what i've heard, if you test after ARS symptoms, it should come back postive if infact you have contracted HIV. I mean whats the longest it can take to make antibodies after potential ARS symptoms?? Isn't this the period that the body is seroconverting and should be producing antibodies at this time?

My doctor told me to restest in 8 weeks. But, I may try again in a few weeks, just to put my mind at rest.

[LIZZIE LOU]

i understand that you are afraid because of having unprotected sex...but you have got to try and get a grip on things.  the odds that this person has hiv are low.  in the grand scheme of things...the number of hiv infected ppl compared to the general population is low.  i can only imagine how you spend your days.  i would guess that it is spent sitting in front of your computer screen searching hiv sites and forums.  you are only adding fuel to the fire of your anxiety.

the deed is done and there is not much you can do at this point except wait it out.  get off the computer and fill your time with something...anything, that is NOT hiv related.  the more you read about hiv...the worse you are going to feel...the more symptoms you will get.  it is the nature of the beast...your brain feeding your anxiety.

you've been here long enough to know that testing at 4 weeks is too early.  wait another 4 weeks and test.  an 8 week test is pretty indicative of the final result and it is highly unlikely that an 8 week test will change.  follow that up with a 3 month conclusive test.

[Phatfarm1980]

Thank you so much for your reply. I greatly appricate it.

I just wondered, does a 4 week test mean very little? I know it's hard for you to say but on average would infected people test positive by 4 weeks? I have read on a few websites that on 'avergae' people seroconvert by 22 days. Does that mean if they tested at this time there results would be positive?

Thanks again for your time!