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Generation 4th ag/ab test accuracy
Hello,
Appreciate all the fantastic work you all do here.
I took my 4th gen combo test on 27 days 18 hours and not exactly at/after 28 days due to lab schedule.
My (limited) understanding of how the test works suggests that 6 hours are statically insignificant and result is conclusive. Would love get a second opinion to make sure that I am not in the confirmation bias mode.
Thanks!
Appreciate all the fantastic work you all do here.
I took my 4th gen combo test on 27 days 18 hours and not exactly at/after 28 days due to lab schedule.
My (limited) understanding of how the test works suggests that 6 hours are statically insignificant and result is conclusive. Would love get a second opinion to make sure that I am not in the confirmation bias mode.
Thanks!
sb ....yet you don't fear plague or cats that can give you plague...
5 Comments
I totally agree and I am using rational thoughts to combat this everyday.
I mean when I look at the math - less than 1 in 1000 HIV positive in California and then less than 1 in 1000 chance for unprotected and then protection properly used is 99% as CSWs are cautious. Then the math is 1 in 100,000,000 chance and then if we add the (unneeded) almost 28 day test. Then we are at less than 1 in 1 billion. Chances of getting hit by a meteor are higher. Hence the question about accuracy to use it in the probability math but I totally get your feedback, feeding into my confirmation bias doesn’t help.
The underlying fear comes from fear instilled in school growing up in late 80s and early 90s as the HIV epidemic was big. It has been more than 40 years now and that is not the case anymore but when I did something uncharacteristic, this all surfaced and using CBT techniques to combat. Childhood are taking more time than I hoped for as well.
There are days when 2 steps forward and there is a day when there is a half steps behind.
Sorry if I am over sharing but hoping that it will help others peeps here who are in the same boat as I am.
I appreciate the tough love, safe and objective space all the moderators have created. I am grateful.
I mean when I look at the math - less than 1 in 1000 HIV positive in California and then less than 1 in 1000 chance for unprotected and then protection properly used is 99% as CSWs are cautious. Then the math is 1 in 100,000,000 chance and then if we add the (unneeded) almost 28 day test. Then we are at less than 1 in 1 billion. Chances of getting hit by a meteor are higher. Hence the question about accuracy to use it in the probability math but I totally get your feedback, feeding into my confirmation bias doesn’t help.
The underlying fear comes from fear instilled in school growing up in late 80s and early 90s as the HIV epidemic was big. It has been more than 40 years now and that is not the case anymore but when I did something uncharacteristic, this all surfaced and using CBT techniques to combat. Childhood are taking more time than I hoped for as well.
There are days when 2 steps forward and there is a day when there is a half steps behind.
Sorry if I am over sharing but hoping that it will help others peeps here who are in the same boat as I am.
I appreciate the tough love, safe and objective space all the moderators have created. I am grateful.
Whatever hiv fears you developed in 40 years ago have been proven irrational long ago, so it's weird that you would torture yourself by going ot a sw with those ideas in your mind.
It doesn't matter whether the sw was high end either, so you seem to cling to irrelevant details. I hope the cbt is done with a therapist and not a self help book because you might be missing the kind of therapy you need.
It doesn't matter whether the sw was high end either, so you seem to cling to irrelevant details. I hope the cbt is done with a therapist and not a self help book because you might be missing the kind of therapy you need.
Yup, agree with you.
I am week 8 post encounter and 4 weeks after 28 day test. So the situation is semi-recent.
Working with a therapist. Unfortunately, all therapists are super busy for new patients, so my first in person is 3 more weeks out but she has given me CBT worksheets to work on till then. So for now in a self working mode but the engagement will change very soon.
Honestly I did not know that this would surface after my encounter with a csw, I did my homework and waited for 6 months before going ahead. This emotional chaos came from left field. People sleep around all over the world and use protection and if protection didn’t work then we would still have hiv epidemic. Protection doesn’t discriminate between csw or others. I was so sure that I was ready but in the end I wasn’t.
I am sure there are deeper issues of misplaced anxiety due to shame/guilt. Intellectually speaking I shouldn’t feel shame/guilt as well as it was a transaction between consenting adults. So with multiples factors in play, the situation is not clear. Lesson learned that what I thought I was ready for is something I will never ready for and shouldn’t ever do.
I am week 8 post encounter and 4 weeks after 28 day test. So the situation is semi-recent.
Working with a therapist. Unfortunately, all therapists are super busy for new patients, so my first in person is 3 more weeks out but she has given me CBT worksheets to work on till then. So for now in a self working mode but the engagement will change very soon.
Honestly I did not know that this would surface after my encounter with a csw, I did my homework and waited for 6 months before going ahead. This emotional chaos came from left field. People sleep around all over the world and use protection and if protection didn’t work then we would still have hiv epidemic. Protection doesn’t discriminate between csw or others. I was so sure that I was ready but in the end I wasn’t.
I am sure there are deeper issues of misplaced anxiety due to shame/guilt. Intellectually speaking I shouldn’t feel shame/guilt as well as it was a transaction between consenting adults. So with multiples factors in play, the situation is not clear. Lesson learned that what I thought I was ready for is something I will never ready for and shouldn’t ever do.
Good luck. You seem open minded so perhaps you can quickly get rid of the problem. Last word from me is I can't imagine why this fear has been going on so long.
Thanks for sending good vibes and thanks for the kind words. I hope I will get over this soon as well.
My analytical side is as confused as you are on something this simple and obvious.
I don’t know yet why I am going through loops either. It is very unlike me, I am an engineer by profession and being analytical is my usual mode.
May be time is the solution or strict upbringing when growing up or societal outlook of csw or some underlying issues.
All I will say that I am determined to get over this situation. Considering there is no risk, all I have to do is drop the past and just move on. I keep telling myself this everyday in the morning and hope one day I won’t have to.
Appreciate listening to me and providing valuable advice. Sometimes metaphorical “kick in the pants” is what is exactly needed.
Same appreciation for GuitarRox.
My analytical side is as confused as you are on something this simple and obvious.
I don’t know yet why I am going through loops either. It is very unlike me, I am an engineer by profession and being analytical is my usual mode.
May be time is the solution or strict upbringing when growing up or societal outlook of csw or some underlying issues.
All I will say that I am determined to get over this situation. Considering there is no risk, all I have to do is drop the past and just move on. I keep telling myself this everyday in the morning and hope one day I won’t have to.
Appreciate listening to me and providing valuable advice. Sometimes metaphorical “kick in the pants” is what is exactly needed.
Same appreciation for GuitarRox.
What was your risk?
6 Comments
Very low.
Sex with a high end, expensive CSW, condom used for oral and vaginal sex. Very sure condom didn’t break.
No cunnilingus.
Sex with a high end, expensive CSW, condom used for oral and vaginal sex. Very sure condom didn’t break.
No cunnilingus.
That's not very low, that's no risk. Condom protected oral is ZERO risk. Oral sex is always no risk for HIV whether you use protection or not and you did. So, you are wasting your money and time with testing. You didn't need to test. Yes, it was negative as you didn't have a risk. And you don't need to ask if it is conclusive for the same reason.
Condom for oral was for mostly other STDs.
What about condom + vaginal sex part? Did the test to cover “what if” scenarios.
What about condom + vaginal sex part? Did the test to cover “what if” scenarios.
I'm coming to the conclusion you have an actual anxiety disorder. My answer was clear that you had no risk .
Risks and ONLY risks for HIV are unprotected vaginal, unprotected anal or sharing IV needles to inject drugs. Now did you do any of those three? No.
So you had no risks. Your what if's are your anxiety and are illogical to continue to entertain. A good therapist may help you with anxiety mind loops.
NO RISK
Risks and ONLY risks for HIV are unprotected vaginal, unprotected anal or sharing IV needles to inject drugs. Now did you do any of those three? No.
So you had no risks. Your what if's are your anxiety and are illogical to continue to entertain. A good therapist may help you with anxiety mind loops.
NO RISK
Thanks. Appreciate the straightforward response.
Yup, the anxiety is playing a big role in all this. Working on CBT techniques in parallels. It’s a process, sometimes logic wins and sometimes it regresses.
Yup, the anxiety is playing a big role in all this. Working on CBT techniques in parallels. It’s a process, sometimes logic wins and sometimes it regresses.
You had zero risk so you are fearing an imaginary disease infection. On the other hand, 7 people in the US get plague every year, sometimes from cats yet you don't fear plague which you can actually get.
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