I'm 33. I was tested for HIV at 19 (after two partners) and was told the test was positive. I was beside myself (as were my parents); screaming and crying in the car down to the doctor. They said they test for five streams of HIV and one was positive due to a mutation or something. They retested, I was negative.

I wasn't tested again until I was 30. I spent my 20s in London partying and had a couple of instances of unprotected sex, but I fully believed I had AIDS. I believed I was a ticking time bomb. A decade of my life, with that anxiety, i don't wish it on anyone.

I finally psyched myself up to be tested again at 30 - for every STD under the sun including AIDS - and sat in my doctor's office hyperventilating while she reeled off the results to every test. Negative, negative, negative, negative... I didn't have evidence of one thing. I was recently tested again, and negative again. I now believe finally that i'm clear.

Reading a lot of stories on here, many people seem to live with the same anxiety I did. It's horrible. I think get a test and deal with the results. I am sure they're much closer to a cure, so you are going to be OK.

Sent via Email November 25, 2006 from Australia.