How did you stay calm during the 3 month waiting period for an HIV test?

I recently asked a question regarding chances of getting HIV from heavy kissing and receiving oral sex from a + individual and I thank you for your answers. I also spoke with some clinics to get more information.

The question I ask now is more of a personal nature. I have the agonizing 3 month wait before I can get accurate results from a test. If you have been through this you can imagine my nerves, how did you cope? How did you keep your mind occupied with other things? Thanking everyone in advance for the mature answers.

Thank you everyone so far for the great answers. To be clear though, I am not waiting 3 months for the results of a test. I just recently had the encounter with the individual. I have to wait the proper 3 months for results that have no chance of being false.

Hi there,

Yes it isn't easy to wait out the period of time it takes before test results are in. But remember, a watched pot never boils. One of the easiest ways to take you mind off it is to keep busy and active. If a person starts to feel antsy then go for a walk, a run, hit the gym, meditate, go to the movies, ANYTHING. It's not what you do that is important rather than simply doing something you enjoy taht will get your mind off waiting. For me, it was going for a walk, meditating, or playing pool. All these activities allow me to get out of me head. Also, try to remember that even though time may be crawling, and it might seem that the test results are taking forever, that does not mean that you are by default going to be diagnosed as HIV+; the testing process is an involved process.

If the ELISA test is negative ? meaning that antibodies are not found ? the testing is complete. If the ELISA test is positive, the laboratory will want to make sure that it is not a "false positive" result (some molecules in the bloodstream can sometimes cause a false-positive result). First, they may repeat the ELISA test. If it's positive, they will conduct a test called Western blot. If both the ELISA and the Western blot test yield a positive result, a diagnosis of HIV infection is confirmed and the results are sent back to the healthcare professional who ordered the test.

If you have blood drawn for an HIV test, it can take between one and two weeks to learn the results (with me I had to wait 3 weeks) a long time to learn the results, this in no way means that the result is "positive" and that the laboratory needs more time to conduct additional tests.

Take a deep breath, relax, keep busy, and the time will fly by.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

My pleasure. Being HIV+ for the past 10 years I NEED to know. I'm no expert but I need to keep informed. Also, having been in your shoes I know all too well the roller coaster ride!

Cheers. Report It

I'm not sure why you are waiting 3 months. Unless you are getting tested once a month for 3 months. But anyway, It is agonizing. Just try to stay busy. Walk, go out with friends, join a club, work, ... keep your mind and body occupied. That's the best advice I can offer. Do not isolate yourself. Do not sit and agonize over it. There is nothing you can accomplish by brooding over it except make yourself crazy. Good luck. And then be careful in the future so you don't have to go thru this again. It's brutal.

You cope by saying once only though "if it's good news then I will be very careful in the future, and if it's bad news then I will deal with that, because you can't change the outcome of the test". I'm sure you have alot of great things in your life that you can focus on and realize that tragedy can happen any time and anywhere, we are not immuned to it and we can't live in fear of "what if's" and "what have I possibly done" if we did that we would all be walking around miserable. I hope you get a clean bill of health, and try to focus on all the positives in your life. Good luck 2 u

well honestly its better to get the 20 minute test so u can get it over with as soon as possible 3 months is a long time to wait and what if u have it and still having sex ur infecting someone else but the 20 min is better u get the emotion roller coaster over quick in that 20 min i smoked and 10 cigs just to be calm 4 the results good luck to u

just pray u dont have it okay

Cronic; it worked for me

Why don't you just get the rapid test..it's an oral test and you get the results back in 20 mins