False Positive HIV Test!!!!

[rapunzel87]

Update:

Hi ladies! Thought I would give a quick update, in case if anyone is going through the same thing.

Met with my ob/gyn today. She spoke to me in some detail regarding my HIV test. She said she is almost certain it's a false positive. The second test tested me in 4 areas. I don't remember all of the names. However, the general screening test was reactive, p24 antigen: negative, Western blot: negative and one more test was negative. Because the first part was reactive she said they are referring me to an infectious disease specialist who can hopefully provide more insight.

I do feel a lot less anxious after talking to her today. Hopefully I can get a complete negative from the infectious disease specialist. Seeing him on the 31st of this month. Please pray (if you do) that I get a complete negative result and can put this scare behind me

 

[TaraMum]

Good luck xx

 

[laila 44]

You poor thing!! All this stress. Been thinking of you!! I'm sure it's a false positive and will be very happy when u get that official negative all around. Sending you good vibes! Update us when you go to ID xx

 

[PrincessMommy]

Wow! I'm so sorry this is happening to you

STDs are scary- especially HIV and HPV! I actually have hpv myself, but I can't imagine getting a positive for HIV. I think I would about die!!

Good thoughts to you! Be strong and keep us updated! I'm sure everything is just fine, but it's still awful you are put under so much stress during pregnancy <\3

 

[Lues]

Thanks for keeping us posted.

I can't imagine the anxiety dealing with this. I agree with that first comment that it sounds like your original doctor could have perhaps handled it better (even if they HAD to hand you to someone else).

Let us know how it goes.

 

[rapunzel87]

Thank you ladies!! My anxiety levels are off the roof right now. Even though my brain keeps telling me to be rational and collected. My appointment is this Thursday and I'm freaking out. I don't want to bother my husband or my family with these worries. Although my husband will be going to appointment with me.

My ob/gyn is convinced it's nothing. According to all of my research it's almost impossible to be infected. Everyone keeps telling me it's a false positive. Yet I can't get over it or keep calm

One scary thing I came across because of stupid googling is that sometimes a false positive HIV test can indicate an auto immune disorder or malignancy somewhere in the body. So here we ago, a new worry! Even though, my false positive is most likely from pregnancy, I keep jumping go the worst of conclusions. Such a wreck right now

 

[laila 44]

I can't even imagine the hell you are going through. However please try to understand that a negative western blot means u are hiv negative which is what your test says. Obviously there will always be concern until your test comes out 100% clean. I'm sure the infectious disease dr will run a viral load test to see if the virus is present at all anywhere and if that's negative then you can rest assured xx sending you good vibes!

 

[george83]

As all the pp have said I can't imagine what your going through at the minute but I'm glad your doctor has gone someway to helping reassure you. You'd think there would be some other way around all this, I'm sure the stress of it all has so far completely over shadowed your pregnancy

 

[ser523]

Hey girl! I happened to see your thread as the last commented post. I wanted to pop in and tell you that I've had a false positive on an HIV test as well. A few years ago, DH was my bf and he got HPV. I knew he must have gotten it from me, so I immediately had a full STD screen. And it turned out that my HIV test results came back abnormal. Which let me tell you, FREAKED me out! Logically, it wasn't possible but I was still a nervous wreck that whole week! At that point, I had been dating DH for almost a year and a half. They ran a Western Blot test as soon as my HIV test came back abnormal and the wb was negative. I was also referred to an Infectious Disease doctor (which the name alone, scared the crap out of me!). Research said that the only way the Western Blot could be a false negative would be if I had been newly exposed in the past 6 months. Which was impossible, since DH and I had been together longer than that. So in the end, everything turned out alright and I did not have HIV.

So, moral of the story, try and stay calm, mama. It's highly likely that everything is just fine. *hugs* I hope it helped to hear that you're not the only one who's been through it!

 

[rapunzel87]

Hey girl! I happened to see your thread as the last commented post. I wanted to pop in and tell you that I've had a false positive on an HIV test as well. A few years ago, DH was my bf and he got HPV. I knew he must have gotten it from me, so I immediately had a full STD screen. And it turned out that my HIV test results came back abnormal. Which let me tell you, FREAKED me out! Logically, it wasn't possible but I was still a nervous wreck that whole week! At that point, I had been dating DH for almost a year and a half. They ran a Western Blot test as soon as my HIV test came back abnormal and the wb was negative. I was also referred to an Infectious Disease doctor (which the name alone, scared the crap out of me!). Research said that the only way the Western Blot could be a false negative would be if I had been newly exposed in the past 6 months. Which was impossible, since DH and I had been together longer than that. So in the end, everything turned out alright and I did not have HIV.

So, moral of the story, try and stay calm, mama. It's highly likely that everything is just fine. *hugs* I hope it helped to hear that you're not the only one who's been through it!

This makes me feel so much better! I am guessing pregnancy screwed up your results as well? What exactly happens at the infectious disease appointment anyway? I am hoping no more blood tests Just hoping that he says since I got a negative WB I can just forget about this whole ordeal

 

[Lues]

Just a quick comment as I was checking back in here to see how it was going for you, you said you were concerned because you saw that a false positive can indicate a immune disorder.

But pregnancy DOES weaken your immune system.

So I don't think in your case it's indicative of anything.... accept a lot of stressing out!

I think by your description it's likely impossible that you're HIV positive. But I also am 100 percent sure it would be impossible not to stress out. I can't wait until Thursday for you!

 

[ser523]

This makes me feel so much better! I am guessing pregnancy screwed up your results as well? What exactly happens at the infectious disease appointment anyway? I am hoping no more blood tests Just hoping that he says since I got a negative WB I can just forget about this whole ordeal

Actually, I wasn't even pregnant then! At the appointment, I just sat and talked to this doctor. Who, I might add, had horrible bedside manner and did nothing to reassure me at all! I did have to go for additional blood tests, but my ob's office hadn't done them, so maybe you won't have to? But, it sounds like your follow up tests have all been negative so far and so I don't think you have anything to worry about. You can move on and this will just become a horrible but funny story! ^_^

 

[laila 44]

Just popping in to wish u luck tomorrow! Hope u get some definite answers so you can put this whole ordeal behind you! Update us when u can xx

 

[Lues]

Pretty sure you go in today to find stuff out. Be thinking of you!

 

[MindUtopia]

How very strange! Hopefully you get some answers. These things definitely do happen and it's really good she's not concerned. It seems most likely that pregnancy is triggering something weird and your body is producing antibodies to something that is causing the test to pick something up and/or your doctor isn't handling it properly or a combination of both. Hope you don't have to wait too long to see the specialist and figure out what's up.

Thank you! I have to wait til March 31st Since you do have some experience in this field, would you mind if I ask you a few q's? Without sex, drugs or blood transfusions, how else can HIV be passed on? I have googled this to death, and these three + mother to child seem to be the only way of transmitting HIV. The only encounter I can think of is giving blood for blood tests or when I was giving birth in the hospital last March. But everything here is pretty sterile so I can't imagine being infected that way!

Hi! Sorry, I only just saw your thread pop back up and realised I never responded to your question. The only ways you can get HIV is through blood to blood contact either through sex or a needle stick of some kind or through mother to child transmission during birth or breastfeeding (though that wouldn't apply because they you would have had it your whole life obviously and you would know). So a needle stick can be while using needles to inject drugs, a needle stick injury if you were, say, a nurse giving an injection to an HIV positive patient and you pulled the needle out of that patient and immediately stuck it into yourself, or some other kind of contaminated needle (dodgy tattoo shop, or contaminated needles in medical procedures). It is also technically possible via blood transfusions, but all blood in industrialised countries is now tested and safe, so no chance of that happening anymore though obviously it did in the 80s before we knew how to detect HIV virus in blood supplies. It is certainly possible to transmit HIV through contaminated needles, like you said, when you were giving blood or during a medical procedure, but so, so, so unlikely in a modern healthcare system as to be nearly impossible. HIV doesn't live outside the body very long, so it would literally need to be someone pulled a needle out of someone else and stuck it into you, which is incredibly unlikely except in maybe some really extreme situations (like there's been a few cases in developing countries where the same needle was used to administer a vaccination programme to like 200 kids, really crazy stuff like that, which wouldn't happen here). And there's never been a case of health care provider to patient transmission either through a needle stick or contaminated equipment, despite all the paranoia about dental work and sterilising dental instruments because of one suspected case of transmission back in the 80s (actually that was never really confirmed and I think there was some suspicion they were actually having a sexual relationship, so anyway, pretty near impossible). I think you can feel pretty safe that you weren't at risk in any way from a contaminated needle. Hopefully you get to the bottom of it all and feel much better and can put it behind you.

 

[rapunzel87]

Thank you all! I wish I had a more concrete update. Basically visited the infectious disease doc today. She reassured me and explained that I am very low risk. She reasoned that the screening must have been positive because of pregnancy. Since the confirmatory tests were negative, she leaned towards an HIV negative status. However, because I am pregnant, she wants to be 100% sure for myself and the baby. So she sent me for a viral load test and an HIV2 test.

Not feeling too much better about this. But trying to stay calm and optimistic. The viral load test according to the doc will come back in 1 to 2 weeks, however the lab tech said they do them the same day so my results should be ready in 2 to 3 hours. The doc did seem like she was super young and she was covering for the regular infectious disease doctor, so perhaps she didn't know! Anyway, the waiting game has began, yet again. Bleh

 

[laila 44]

That's good though! I would definately want to make sure 1000% that it's negative all around. I'm surprised you didn't get tested for hiv 2 in your prenatal screening. My hiv prenatal panel is the 4th generation immuno assay screening that covers hiv1,2 and group 0 inclusively ( all the subtypes possible of hiv). So it's weird that yours wasn't done already. The viral load will be conclusive and final. I'm sure all is well. Keep positive xx

 

[Lues]

I just checked back on this after a few bit of time myself fielding doctor's ineptitude at times.

I'm sure everything is fine, and of course I agree best to be TOTALLY sure. But... More waiting??? UGH!! Poor you.

Please keep us posted.

 

[Wombat]

This is awful to go through! Pregnant or not!

I am sure everything will be fine in the end, but the wait must be impossible for you.

Stay strong and positive

 

[rapunzel87]

Thank you so much ladies!

I get the results from the viral load tomorrow. Again, there are lots of false positives with this one (read online). So I am a little worried. I don't want more tests. I'm not too worried about the HIV 2 test. It's the viral load that's freaking me out. I gave it while having a sinus infection, and from what I have read any kind of stress on the body can create a false positive. Ahhh!

Today has been soooo emotional for me. I keep thinking about tomorrow's phone call from the doc and wondering what the result will be. Every time I think about it my heart starts racing and I feel like a nervous wreck. This is supposed to be a happy & beautiful time for me, instead these past two months have been some of the darkest and hardest months I have ever gone though. I know that I am a negative, but I am so scared of another false positive. Having SUCH a hard time controlling tears & frustration If any of you have faith or believe in God, please just pray I get a negative result tomorrow (as cheesy as that sounds). I can use all the prayers I can get.

Once again, thank you all for being so kind and checking up on me Wishing you all smooth, healthy & happy pregnancies!