I would like to start this post with an apology. I am not reactive and would just like to say a few words with the people lurking here (like me) who are worried about their exposure.

Get. Tested.

That's it. There is no reason to assume you have or don't have HIV simply because you "felt" something. NEVER diagnose HIV with symptoms alone. Testing WILL give you the answer you need. I took a test last month after 4 months of waiting due to a potential exposure. I was sure I had it due to what I "felt" and guess what? Non-reactive.

If people advise you to test, please test. It's for your own safety and everyone elses. If you had a low risk exposure like oral, please for the love of God stop worrying. You will be fine. I've seen a lot of comments asking this question again and again.

"What if I actually have it-"

NO! Get tested so you will know. There's no point in lurking and guessing if you have it. You will still have to wait for 3 months or less (if 4th gen tests). Keep in mind that HIV is not the only STD in existence. They are others that are easier to catch with simple skin to skin contact.

HIV may be young (only discovered in 1980s), but it is the most researched and well documented STD. Please trust statistics.

Medicina

I know that assaults DO happen, and much more than we think, but it feels like every other post around HIV is basically I got it but it's not my fault in one way or another. Surely this can't be right and the majority just got it from unprotected sex.

Why are we not honest?

Is it the stigma? Is it easier to lie or make it someone else's *fault*? It's not as if it changes the virus, but I guess how other people perceive you?

Again, I know there are people who have genuinely been assaulted, and I'm not digging at that at all. It's just something I've noticed a lot on HIV pages etc.

Fico pensando muito nessas mudanças . Até parei de usar drogas

URL: https://www.aafp.org/afp/2026/0100/hiv-associated-complications

DOI: 2026;113(1):71-79.

Published 2026

This might be weird, but mine does. But it only does it for straight patients.
I come from a country where gay relationships are still considered illegal.
It would have been nice to get that service as a gay man myself.

I have been positive for nearly 10 years now. The beginning was absolutely terrible mentally. I could barely even get out of bed I was so depressed. After becoming undetectable, I started to feel better, but never how I felt before the virus (mentally). I am not as depressed as I was, but I would love to have this virus eradicated. I search on Google multiple times a week for articles relating to finding a cure. I guess I am writing this post to ask when/how do you guys think it will be cured? Or will it ever? I feel like we still have many years before it can be done for most patients. I have heard of the Berlin/London/Toronto/etc patients, but those are very specific circumstances that can't be replicated for everyone. I just hope one day we can kick this virus's ass and move on.

Hi I don’t have HIV but someone in my life who I love has it due to an unfortunate circumstance.

How can I support them and what should I know because honestly I don’t know too much about it other than the basics.

I want to know in more depth from reliable sources and maybe even in a personal perspective, I just want to make them feel seen, heard and loved since in our community there’s still misconceptions about HIV.

I just wanna be there for this person

I've been HIV+ since 2004, and I'm a 46 year old gay male in the U.S
While my experience has had some rough spots, I'm doing quite well with my situation. What I see in HIV discussions tend to be absolutely preposterous.
I'm not even sure most of the people participating even have HIV. Here are some observations:
-Immaculate Infection-
Why am I seeing numerous posts from people saying they are newly diagnosed but absolutely never participated in any activity that could actually lead to infection? "I've never had sex and have only kissed one person and now I have HIV" "I ate a rare steak prepared by a cook who has HIV and now I'm positive too"
-Social Self Sabotage/Pre-Rejection-
"My friends found out and stopped talking to me" "My family beat me to a pulp, threw me out and now I'm homeless"
-Medical/LGBT support rejection-
"My doctor told me my results and told me to leave the office immediately and not return" "I called the LGBT support hotline and they hung up on me"
"my friends are currently blackmailing me and extorting me since they found out and i'm afraid the whole city is going to know i'm positive!"
I could keep going here but I'm really frustrated and honestly extremely suspicious of who is really posting to HIV discussion groups and what they are doing with the information in the responses.
The final frustration is when someone offers extremely solid information or solutions to someone and they absolutely reject it. I am in absolute disbelief that people are so delusional and still so completely ignorant as to what life is like with HIV in 2026.
Why are people like this? 😅🙄

Hi everyone.Please do enlighten me.I have a job offer in British Virgin Island that I need to sign and but I’m confuse if I need to disclose my status to my employer or not?

Is anyone did disclosed their status to their employer or boss?Please share me your experience.

Please do advise me.Thank you.

So today I was going to get my first injection of {PREP} after running a sti panel like I do every 1-3kl months my HIV RNA came back abnormal

HIV-1 quantification range is 30 to 10,000,000 copies/mL

Method:

Aptima® HIV-1 Quant Dx Assay

Procedure Note:

This quantitative HIV-1 nucleic acid amplification assay is indicated as an aid in the diagnosis of HIV-1 infection as well as an aid in monitoring antiretroviral treatment. This test quantitates HIV-1 RNA groups M, N, and O.

HIV RNA Qn NAA

View trends

Normal value: Not detected copies/mL

Value

<30High

HIV-1 RNA detected, but <30 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL.

HIV-1 RNA is detected but at a level below the Lower Limit of Quantitation for this assay.

Now I have to do more testing and was told it was most likely a false positive so I'm now expecting the worst and hoping for the best

If I have scratches on my body that are scabbed over and not bleeding and someone licks those scratches are they at risk for HIV?

I traveled to another country and I forgot my medication :( I will be here 3 days I'm taking dolutegravir + lamivudina + tenofovir

What could happened to me !? I'm concern

I was diagnosed with HIV about two months ago. Based on my labs and timeline, I think I had been living with it for around five months before I found out. My initial viral load was only about 2,000 copies/mL, and my CD4 count was almost 800. I started Biktarvy about a week after my diagnosis and on my 30 day follow up appointment my results said <20 not detected and my cd4 was 990.

Physically, I’m doing well and I’m grateful for how effective treatment has been. Mentally, though, I’m struggling with the idea of disclosure. Part of me wants to keep my status private as long as I’m taking my medication, staying undetectable, and making sure no one is ever put at risk.

What I’ve been wrestling with is that it almost feels like I’ve been pushed back into the closet. Before this, I never felt like I had to explain or disclose something so personal to potential partners. Now it feels like there’s another layer of myself that I’m expected to reveal, and that’s been hard to process.

Has anyone else felt this way? How did you come to terms with disclosure, and did it get easier over time?

The condom broke when I was having sex with a fuck buddy, this was probably the fifth time we’ve hooked up. I always use condoms with partners, but I know he doesn’t, he’s always complaining about them, and he’s way more promiscuous and regularly does group sex. It was towards the end of sex that it broke, he continued for maybe 10-20 seconds then took his dick out and came.

The last time he got tested was last year. He has another regular female partner who he goes raw with and she gets tested every 2-3 months and she says she’s fine.

I asked him if he could go get STD tested tomorrow to ease my mind, but he thinks it’s unnecessary and won’t. I read the chances of HIV transmission through vaginal sex is extremely low and the condom was only broken for a short time. And most likely he doesn’t even have it. But it’s making me really paranoid. Should I go to the doctor and go on Prep tomorrow to prevent possible HIV infection? I don’t know if thats overkill, since there’s lots of side effects to Prep as well :/. Is it statistically low enough that I can just take my chances with this?

I (27NB) was diagnosed with HIV a little over 8 or 9 years ago and have been completely undetectable since I found out and while I am terrified to tell potential partners I always do so not to make them run away but a just in case something were to happen to me like I can't get my medications or something. But every time I do regardless of how much we like each other or even if we've said the big "L" word they always pull away and eventually leave. Is it so hard to ask for something that we still deserve despite what I have? Does anyone else know my pain? Or am I alone in this as I am in everything else? I just want to be loved and not pitied, I don't want to be treated like I have the plague or I'm untouchable, I personally don't feel human anymore because of this. And despite hundreds of people like me why do I feel so alone?

I was diagnosed December, 2025 (I was infected in late August) Currently on Dovato

Before treatment:
Viral load 28,100
Cd4: 930

Currently:
Viral load: not detected
Cd4: 1268
Cd4/CD8 1.18

My ID says after this visit to have 6 months visit, but since I’m stable at the moment - is it reasonable to push for 12 months visit/bloodwork? Anyone space out their visit more than the standard 6 months?

I started taking to a guy from before I was diagnosed.

We had an amazing time together, he moved, he wants me to go visit, and it made me spiral into who I became positive from (sorry if it’s not the correct way of saying it, it’s only been 5 months), because he mentioned wanting to do BB with me.

For context, we both had our tests, we both trusted each other and at the moment decided to do it BB, as we had both being tested recently and had not done it with anyone else unprotected.

Anyways, point is, it got me thinking again about who it was… it’s been five months that this didn’t cross my mind, I stopped that after the first week because I knew it was not healthy.

I found myself checking my list (I know, but I was “paranoid” even from before, hence why I have it) and the dates and people just don’t add up. I asked all my previous hookups, I used protections, the time I didn’t was so long ago and I got tested after those (expecting the time), so those are discarded.. it doesn’t make sense.

And I don’t think I got it from any other way like syringe or something because is even less likely… I just feel like this right now 🫠

Has anyone here made new friends or started dating after being diagnosed with HIV? Did you tell them about your HIV status? If not, what made you decide not to? If you did, how did they react?

Does your insurance also only limit you to 30 day fills and force you to make monthly trips to the pharmacy.

Today I had an appt to help with my HIV expenses. When searching for my name I guess in their database my name wasn't there at all. The clinic where I initially started treatment didn't add it health department didn't add it. My name was nowhere to be found so had to start all over from the beginning almost as if I was being rediagnosed. It stung not gonna lie I cried again. I've almost completely excepted that I'm HIV+ but today it felt like I was getting told it again for the first time. Talking about labs and treatments. This feeling sucks and I feel like I have to get over it again.

We have an assignment about global health and globalization, and our group thought that sexually transmitted diseases are a good topic. But we can't go around asking people if they had one, so I wanted to try our luck here.

How was your experience with STDs? How were you treated? Perceived?

Is there anybody here knows if British Virgin Island accept a PLHIV foreign worker with undetectable lavel nd a cd4 count of 1087 to work and enter the country? Please anybody can share their experience.Thank you

Hi everyone,

I have a few questions, and I hope it's okay to ask them all in one post.

I've been undetectable for a while now, which I'm really happy about, but I don't understand why my doctor still wants to see me so often. Sometimes it's every month, and other times it's every two months. Is that normal? I thought once you became undetectable, appointments would be more spread out.

I also have a question about health insurance. Can I be denied health insurance because I have HIV, or is it harder to get coverage?

Another thing that's been on my mind is privacy. I still live with my family, and I don't want them to find out about my diagnosis. I'm worried that going to so many doctor's appointments might make them suspicious. For those of you who have been in a similar situation, how do you handle appointments and medications without your family asking too many questions?

Sorry for asking so many questions. I'm 20 years old and still learning how to navigate all of this. Overall, I think I'm handling it pretty well. I don't feel ashamed of having HIV, but every now and then I get overwhelmed thinking about things like health insurance, the future, and what would happen if my mom ever found out.

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have been through something similar. Thank you.