Aa
Anxiety has taken over
Dear doctors- finnaly got the courage to ask so here goes....
3 months ago or so I donated blood in one of the blood mobiles. Had kind of a wierd experience. The nurse missed my vein, poked around for bit and then she took off her glove and finally go the needle in.
I actually didn't see the needle go in since I looked away, but saw her take off the glove. I do not know why she took off her glove.
Anyway, a month after that, I came down with the flu and felt horrible. Now fast forward to yesterday. I go to give blood again (kind of my way of giving back) and the tell me I cannot give since my hemoglobins were too low. I google hemoglobins and HIV keeps popping out. I start freakin gout. Then, this morning, I wake up with the worst scratch in my throat. What is going on??? THIS WOULD BE MY ONLY RISK.
Here are my questions:
1. Can someone get HIV from giving blood if something gets in from a dirty needle or nurse without gloves on?
2. Do the flu symptoms or scratchy throat 4 weeks and 3 months later sound correct?
3. Is there any connection between low hemoglobins and HIV?
4. Do you think I should test?
Thank you your time and anything for reassurance since everyone else tells me I am crazy would be a help!
3 months ago or so I donated blood in one of the blood mobiles. Had kind of a wierd experience. The nurse missed my vein, poked around for bit and then she took off her glove and finally go the needle in.
I actually didn't see the needle go in since I looked away, but saw her take off the glove. I do not know why she took off her glove.
Anyway, a month after that, I came down with the flu and felt horrible. Now fast forward to yesterday. I go to give blood again (kind of my way of giving back) and the tell me I cannot give since my hemoglobins were too low. I google hemoglobins and HIV keeps popping out. I start freakin gout. Then, this morning, I wake up with the worst scratch in my throat. What is going on??? THIS WOULD BE MY ONLY RISK.
Here are my questions:
1. Can someone get HIV from giving blood if something gets in from a dirty needle or nurse without gloves on?
2. Do the flu symptoms or scratchy throat 4 weeks and 3 months later sound correct?
3. Is there any connection between low hemoglobins and HIV?
4. Do you think I should test?
Thank you your time and anything for reassurance since everyone else tells me I am crazy would be a help!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Congratulations. As long as you got some blood onto the right spot, it was done right and the result is reliable. The instruction about "milking" and "tissue juices" might be an arcane regulatory requirement, perhaps based on how Home Access originally described the collection method when they applied to FDA for approval to market the test. It makes no difference in the test result.
Thanks for getting back. I feel confident it was done well, and I got blood in the right place.
Doc you rock! Thanks so much for your help!
Doc you rock! Thanks so much for your help!
HI Doctor- just a follow up. I did take your advise and took a Home Access HIV test to resolve my anxiety. I just got my results and they were negative like you said. Just a thought, the instructions on the test tell you not to "milk" the cut you make for the blood sample so you do not get tissue juices in the cut. I am pretty sure I did not milk it since I had a good cut and the blood was coming out pretty good. How would I know I did not get tissue juices in the sample?
Just making sure I did the test right.
Just making sure I did the test right.
Thank you very much for your comment. It for sure puts me at ease. I got the courage to ask you, the doctor, for final on this.
I am going to go see my GP to see what is going on with the hemoglobins, and if it comes up, I will ask to for the test.
Great work and thank you for the complete answer!
I am going to go see my GP to see what is going on with the hemoglobins, and if it comes up, I will ask to for the test.
Great work and thank you for the complete answer!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I'm glad you "finally got the courage to ask" -- but you already did that once, on the HIV community forum. You were given accurate replies there. As you were told, health care professionals are supposed to wear gloves to protect themselves from infected patients, not the other way around. Even if the nurse had HIV, there was no risk of HIV transmission. In the quarter century of the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic, I'll bet not one person has caught the virus through donating blood.
"What's going on" with your scratchy throat? Probably just the usual stuff, a garden variety cold or allergy, nothing more. Your symptoms don't really even hint at HIV. There is no connection between low hemoglobin and HIV.
That takes care of questions 1-3. As for no. 4, from a risk assessment or medical perspective, there definitely is no need for HIV testing. But most people who are nervous enough to ask questions on this forum don't find verbal advice sufficiently reassuring, and obviously the advice on the community forum didn't settle your fears. So you should be tested, not because you are at risk, but because you're obviously going to continue to worry about this until you know for sure you aren't infected. This is not "code" to mean I really think there was some risk. There was none and you can be sure of a negative test result.
Really, don't worry about this. It is not possible you caught HIV from donating blood.
Regards-- HHH, MD
"What's going on" with your scratchy throat? Probably just the usual stuff, a garden variety cold or allergy, nothing more. Your symptoms don't really even hint at HIV. There is no connection between low hemoglobin and HIV.
That takes care of questions 1-3. As for no. 4, from a risk assessment or medical perspective, there definitely is no need for HIV testing. But most people who are nervous enough to ask questions on this forum don't find verbal advice sufficiently reassuring, and obviously the advice on the community forum didn't settle your fears. So you should be tested, not because you are at risk, but because you're obviously going to continue to worry about this until you know for sure you aren't infected. This is not "code" to mean I really think there was some risk. There was none and you can be sure of a negative test result.
Really, don't worry about this. It is not possible you caught HIV from donating blood.
Regards-- HHH, MD
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