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Scared I've infected my child
I am terrified beyond belief. I am scared I have hiv and passed it to my son 5 years ago during childbirth. Back in 2007 my ex husband showed me a reactive Elisa. Days later he had a negative Westerb Blot. take two... Another Reactive Elisa awhile later followed by another Western Blot which was again negative. No bands present at all. He then took multiple Ora quick swabs all negative as did I , all negative. He says his doctor does not have an answer for why the Elisa's reacted but assured us it was cross contamination of some kind. Since then I have met someone else and became pregnant in 2010. My new husband tested for life insurance negative and I negative again in 2010 via oraquick swab a month before I delivered, it was negative.. The scary part... When I went to the doctor, he gave me all the results of the prenatal testing he did but not the HIV test. He didn't have it. He called the lab and they said they never ran one for me. I know I signed the release tho. Is it possible it was positive and they lost it? At the time I just did another oral swab but never requested the blood test be redone as I was rather confident with the oraquick advance. My son has been healthy as have I but now he has been diagnosed with molluscum contagiousness which I read can be HIV related. He also has bad eczema and dry skin/ dermatitis. I tested again since his birth in the last 5 years about 8 times all via oraquick advance swab the most recent was in April of this year. All negative. Is it possible the strand or version of hiv I have will simply not show up via swab? I'm terrified to take a blood test. I've had no other exposures other than my ex back in 2007 and my current husband from 2008-current. Please help. I'm so worried I've infected my sweet boy. The molluscum makes me worry he's infected and his immune system is compromised. Please, please help.
honestly your child being infected from hiv is not quite as easy as you think.the placenta protects the baby .certain things would have to take place like malnutrition ,or uti's.the child would have to come in contact with your blood during childbirth for a long period of time to increase any risk of becoming infected. 25% of babies who are born to parents with hiv become infected and you sound as though you were in good health when your child was born.
another factor is if he contracted it in the womb generally it would have caused significant abnormalities.one more thought is that if you were at a point where you were contagious then you would have had symptroms of your own.you said your ex never tested positive . so lets say testing wasn't really all that accurate( wich we know that it is) ,and your husband somehow was undetectable then that would also be in your favor .there are people who have hiv and are undetectable that are not on meds that have sex and do not transmit the virus. im not saying that this is a good idea in any way shape or form . nor do i condone this type of activity myself.
just trying to point out the facts .one person i really admire is a man by the name of lynn lingenfelter .he has hiv from a blood transfusion .he does not take meds for 25 years . he controls his disease through diet and exercise .his drs still moniter his disease closely.he managed to have 2 children through natural childbirth .so as you can see yes passing a disease to your child is a scary thought ,but my point is it's not as easy as you might think.if you want to get tested agin it will hopefully be all that you need to put your mind at rest .your sons pediatrician should also be able to give you some insight to wether or not his immune system is functioning normally.
from one nervous parent to another i hope you find this helpful.
another factor is if he contracted it in the womb generally it would have caused significant abnormalities.one more thought is that if you were at a point where you were contagious then you would have had symptroms of your own.you said your ex never tested positive . so lets say testing wasn't really all that accurate( wich we know that it is) ,and your husband somehow was undetectable then that would also be in your favor .there are people who have hiv and are undetectable that are not on meds that have sex and do not transmit the virus. im not saying that this is a good idea in any way shape or form . nor do i condone this type of activity myself.
just trying to point out the facts .one person i really admire is a man by the name of lynn lingenfelter .he has hiv from a blood transfusion .he does not take meds for 25 years . he controls his disease through diet and exercise .his drs still moniter his disease closely.he managed to have 2 children through natural childbirth .so as you can see yes passing a disease to your child is a scary thought ,but my point is it's not as easy as you might think.if you want to get tested agin it will hopefully be all that you need to put your mind at rest .your sons pediatrician should also be able to give you some insight to wether or not his immune system is functioning normally.
from one nervous parent to another i hope you find this helpful.
All hiv strands would have been detected by your oralquick test.
Your test were done well beyond the conclusive time period.
"If" you can't find peace in that then overcome your fear and take the blood test.
You need to face this so you can move on and stop letting this rob you of peace.
Based on all your oralquick test you should expect a negative result.
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