[Question #13456] HIV anxiety
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8 hours ago
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Hello Dr. I've been dealing with fear of Hiv for the last 2 years, with no new sexual encounters. while I was going through this anxiety a got a new Dr. To my surprise he ordered an hiv test with my regular blood work on my 1 year follow up which is coming up on the 28th this month Which triggered my fear again even after negative test. 6 months after that appointment I went to that place anylabtest now and got another test and it was negative. I recently got back with my wife and we are having sex but hiv is constantly on my mind. My fear now is my next test somehow will be positive. Another fear is false positive.
How often do these false positives happen?
I have had 3 negative test since my last encounter with a stranger 2.5 years ago all negative
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
8 hours ago
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I'm sorry to hear of your continued, hard to shake anxiety. With 3 negative tests since your last encounter, there is simply NO realistic chance that you have HIV. Falsely positive tests are very, very rare and when laboratories get a positive result they take additional steps to determine whether the test result is a true positive or falsely positive. While, given your history, there is no reason for further testing, if you do get tested, I am confident that the result will show, once again, that you are not infected.
Irrespective of whether you test again or not, it is clear that your anxiety over the non-existent possibility of having HIV is impacting you and your life. The way to address this is to seek professional (which by definition will b confidential) counseling, not further testing. I urge you to do that.
Please seek counseling. If you wish, feel free to share our prior interactions with your counselor. EWH
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7 hours ago
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Thank you for your response.
Since my Dr orderd this test should I go ahead and take it? When I asked why he ordered it he said I was due for screening and it's a quality measure that they have to get patients to meet. What does that mean?
What are the odds of false positive in numbers?
I've seen some people have false positive on older questions on this site
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
6 hours ago
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You'll have to decide about taking the test. I think that if you explain your situation (perhaps when you request a referral for counseling- having your doctor and counselor will be helpful for you!) he will not push you to get it.
What is met by "quality measures" is that medical practices are rated in terms of how often the do certain, recommended things such as HIV screening, PAP smears for women, recommending flu and COVID vaccines for appropriate persons, etc.
You are correct that there are occasional false positive HIV tests and simply based on statistics, the more tests that are orders, the more likely a false positive is to occur. Statistically however, the likelihood of a falsely positive screening test is far less than 1 in 1000, meaning that there is a more than 99.9% chance the you WILL NOT have a false positive test.
None of this information however reduces my urging you to seek professional counseling for your unwarranted anxiety regarding HIV. EWH
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4 hours ago
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Thank you.
This anxiety stems from having a false positive for syphilis at the beginning of all this. Over 2 years back
Last questions
1 how do syphilis and hiv differ in false positives ? Statistically numbers please
In your medical and professional opinion should I worry about hiv at all or passing it on to my wife which is my biggest fear? Or can I let this go and move on since my last test was negative 6 months back.
Should a person worry about false positives and will the doctor scare you at first and say you are positive without the confirmation test?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
2 hours ago
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Final response.
Please remember that both blood tests for HIV and syphilis are done in two steps to address the problem of false positive. If an initial screening test is positive to address potential falsely positive tests a 2nd, confirmatory test is done. Using the two step procedure virtually eliminates the overall risk of being mis-identified with either infection. While there is variability in rates, false positive screening tests are FAR more common with syphilis tests than with HIV tests - about 1% vs, less than 0.01%.
With your test results, as I've told you before there is NO reason whatsoever for you to worry that you might have and could pass it to your wife.
A knowledgeable doctor should b able to explain the issues of potential false positive screening tests.
End of thread. PLEASE SEEK COUNSELING!!!!!! EWH
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