My status so far...

I understand this may not be totally appropriate for this thread, but since I have taken some of the regulars' advice and I figure some are wondering what I'm doing, I wanted to share what's going on with me so far.

I have been meeting with a psychologist for each week for the past month now.  It's a start and I know I have a long way to go with my anxiety and overanlysis of things.  The psychologist is in agreement with me on my persception that it is a double edged sword.  However, it seems to the pscyholgist my stimulus for using my analytical for "good" may not be the best.  I won't get into details on this other than saying it appears fear may be the stimulus for both ends of the sword.  

I have seen some here suggest keeping busy as a way of confronting this stuff.  I asked my psycholgist about this one, and she says in *MY* situation that may not be a good thing if i were to take it up, as it may lead me into becoming a workaholic.  Again I stress this is based on purely my situation and no one else's.

I also made a call to the California AIDS/STD hotline, based in San Francisco.  Their advice falls in line with what Dr. H says as well as many of the regulars here.  While it may be a regurgitation of what I've already read, it's always nice to speak to someone verbally.  If you are in California, this may be an option for you.

I still plan to proceed for the 12 week test, which is a little over 4 weeks away.   However, I understand this is only for my peace of mind as my situation was isolated and extremely low risk.  

[OCguy]

From my situation, my insurance didn't require a referral.  Also my doctor doesn't keep a list of referrals and those referrals' covered providers.  I was able to find a large number of mental health specialists on my insurance's website, and saw their list of specialties.  After doing that, I called 10 of them telling them my general concerns.  Some said they don't focus on those areas, others said they were too full of patients.  Finally, I found one whose office is only 4 blocks away from me and said she has worked with other patients with similar situations.  Good luck to all who make this decision.