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Help me help my loved one overcome HIV anxiety
Hello, I am rather desperate. Someone I love every much has developed GIV Ohio is and obsessive hypochondria. He has been tested an ungodly amount of times and we are over 100% sure that he is totally healthy. He however, cannot believe this consistently. He accepts it for a short time and then become desperate to do another test. The doctors began recommending psychcological help. We tried and he says it was useless. He can’t get over these “symptoms” he’s developing like a slight rash and a mouth ulcer. He keeps going back to BUT WHY IS THIS HAPPENING. And can’t let go. Please please, help me help him. How do we start moving past this??
Hi there....Did he see a psychologist for therapy or a psychiatrist? Also, was medication mentioned to help him? Also, is this all obsessive thinking or did he actually have a REAL experience where he could have become infected?
In any case, I have had HIV anxiety before. It was part of my OCD thinking. It was a very long time ago, around when it was first on the scene. What helped me was to sit in an HIV clinic. I sat there for a few weeks on my lunch hour. It was part of my therapy to realize that you cannot get HIV from touching things, drinking from things that HIV+ people use, etc. In fact, if you look at the statistics it is pretty difficult to actually become HIV infected. There are certain pathways to infection and that is unprotected sex with an HIV positive person, needle stick with HIV infected blood (healthcare worker or drug user)...these are really the most common transmission methods right now. AND even if this were to occur, the chances of becoming infected are less than 1 percent.
Education is key along with therapy. Learning how to deal with the thoughts, how to self-coach yourself through them, how to breathe through the anxiety. I know it sounds like work but it is the best way to help him. OCD is about doubt which is why he takes the test and feels good for about 5 seconds and then starts back up with the thoughts of what-if.
In any case, I have had HIV anxiety before. It was part of my OCD thinking. It was a very long time ago, around when it was first on the scene. What helped me was to sit in an HIV clinic. I sat there for a few weeks on my lunch hour. It was part of my therapy to realize that you cannot get HIV from touching things, drinking from things that HIV+ people use, etc. In fact, if you look at the statistics it is pretty difficult to actually become HIV infected. There are certain pathways to infection and that is unprotected sex with an HIV positive person, needle stick with HIV infected blood (healthcare worker or drug user)...these are really the most common transmission methods right now. AND even if this were to occur, the chances of becoming infected are less than 1 percent.
Education is key along with therapy. Learning how to deal with the thoughts, how to self-coach yourself through them, how to breathe through the anxiety. I know it sounds like work but it is the best way to help him. OCD is about doubt which is why he takes the test and feels good for about 5 seconds and then starts back up with the thoughts of what-if.
1 Comments
You need to make your friend trust the test results. It's black and white, and doesn't lie removing all doubt your friend is HIV positive.
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