Welcome back to the Forum. The test results you got indicate that when your blood was tested as a result of your donation you have a falsely positive test. When a person has HIV both the first, or so-called screening test, test is positive, as is the second test (referred to as the confirmatory test). Tests are falsely positive when the screening test is positive (something that can happen for many, many reasons- no test is perfect but with HIV only a tiny proportion are false positive) but the confirmatory test is negative. You do not have HIV.
As for your symptoms, I suspect related to your test result, you have searched your memory for possible other signs of infection and remember coincidental events.
As I remember your original post, the exposure you mentioned happened last summer. If that is the case, you do not need to worry about "delayed seroconversion" (an internet myth). You just had the bad luck to have a false positive test.
Take care. EWH
Furthermore I have symptoms of thrush which could be caused by Hiv. I am also having brain fog and a number of other symptoms. I had the 24 hour flu a few months ago and a couple colds. I'm not sure what the symptoms would be if I had it.
I've been reading about people who have had two positives and two negatives and they end up having it. I go on Monday to be tested. It will be a rapid test. Will it be 100 percent definitive? There are a lot of conflicting stories and websites.
This depends in part on what your initial, screening test is when you are tested on Monday. It is possible that your rapid test (if this is the sort of test you were intially tested with by the blood bank) will again be false positive (sometimes false positive tests can be a chronic problem) but if it is, then confirmatory teting will either again be negative (as the blood bank indicated was the case) or would be positve (if you have HIV - unlikley). I anticipate that your test will be negative, again confiirming that you do not have HIV as the blood bank has alreeady indicated.
I advise you to get your repeat test at a location where you can discuss the testing process with a counselor. EWH
The test results on Monday were negative. I asked one nurse if that was 100 percent that I did not have it and she said if I had it it would not show up if my viral load was low. That was scary to me. She told me my husband also needed tested and we needed to use condoms at this time. The second nurse that was there said that a negative shows up if you don't have it. You cannot get a false negative if you are testing after the window period is over. She took my question to the director and he said when you get a negative no further testing needs done. No matter how low your viral load is it will always show up if you have it. Doctor, what do you think?
Am I safe to resume life as normal?
This is the result I expected. It shows that you do not have HIV. You do not need further testing. I suggest you move forward with your like without further concern. EWH