I was tested for HIV 3 years ago (test came back negative)?

While in high school I slept with someone who I should not have slept with. I knew little about him, and later found out that he used needles and did drugs.

Several months after it occured, I went and got tested for HIV and other STD. I was really freaked out.

They did not draw blood, they swabbed my mouth. After about two weeks of waiting I finally got the call that said that I did not have HIV.


I dont know why, but lately I've been questioning how accurate the test is.
I've been with my current boyfriend for 3 years (we began dating several months after I was tested), and I have not had any other sexual partners in the past 3 years.

I'm not deathly ill, or losing weight (nor is my boyfriend), I dont get sick any more or less than before, I see my "lady doctor" frequently and go for yearly paps.

do you think that I should re-test? Or does it sound like the first test was correct?

DON'T WORRY!!!!

If the first test was "several months" after the incident and came back negative, then you're fine. The mouth swab is accurate and "false negatives" are pretty rare.

To put your mind at ease, though, go for another test. It will come out negative again, though!

EDIT: I'm editing this because you ARE getting really bad information above. Check out the link below, it's written by a doctor who specializes in HIV.

HIV CANNOT lie dormant for years. When HIV infects your body, like any other disease, your body produces antibodies to try to fight it (it is not successful fighting the HIV, though). As the HIV stays in your system forever, so do the antibodies. Therefore, HIV tests measure the *antibodies* in your blood stream, they don't generally look for the virus itself.

So if you WERE infected by HIV, your body would DEFINITELY produce antibodies which would DEFINITELY appear on a test designed to look for those antibodies! No way around that!!

If you were infected, antibodies would start being produced in massive numbers within weeks of your infection, meaning that the HIV test would pick up HIV antibodies (meaning you were positive) at 4-6 weeks. Docs say 3 months just to be extra cautious. 6 months - 1 year is a really outdated time frame.

With that said, get re-tested, if for nothing else but to put your mind at ease, but as someone who frequently gets tested and has spoken to docs and nurses whose work focuses on HIV, if you got tested several months after a possible exposure and it came back negative, then you are fine!

Every single year when you go to your "lady doctor" get a full STD screening at the same time. It's the best way.

I'm married, but every single year I go to the gyno and get the pap, plus a full STD screen. I mean, why not? I pay a zillion dollars a year for insurance, best get the most out of it. Plus, I got into the habit when I was 18 to get STD screened every year. It's the responsible thing to do.

There's a window before HIV can be noticed. If you're freakin' a little, it wouldn't hust just to have it tested again.
Not only that, but have you ever heard, when you sleep with your partner...you're actually sleeping with your partners partners etc.

For peice of mind when being sexually active.....getting tested. Every 6 months or until six month after marriage.

you should always get tested ever few years or so..
1) it takes about 6mos for t-antibodies(which are caused by hiv and aids) to show up..
2)you never know... partner..may cheat and not tell you(nothing against you---just an idea--not all guys cheat--mine doesnt either)
3)it'll give you a definite answer since neither of you have strayed...

If it was at least 4 months after you had sex with him, then the test was probably accurate. Although there have been cases where it took 6 months to show up. If you're worried about it, you should just go get tested again so you'll know for sure.

If you're in doubt I would retest :-) I was sick a couple years ago and needed blood and I was worried about it too. I got tested twice just to make sure. :-)

Get retested just so you can relax!
There is nothing better than being 100% sure!

retest......didnt they tell you that you had to retest every six months for a few years because as someone else said ..it can lie dormant......

good luck

for your peace of mind yes...but is sounds like beside that one tryst you have not been leading any kind of at risk lifestyle....but like i said for your own peace of mind sure...

id to a retest just to be sure (HIV doesnt show up on blood tests until 6-12 months after being exposed to it).

i would get retested. sometimes HIV/AIDS can lay dormant for years before showing up on a test.

I would get re-tested.
And this time i would get my blood drawn.
Just to be relieved!!
Better safe than sorry right?

yeah