{"id":21105,"date":"2023-02-12T18:48:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T18:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=21105"},"modified":"2024-10-14T09:14:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T09:14:54","slug":"could-i-be-hiv-negative-and-do-i-need-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/21105","title":{"rendered":"Could I really be HIV negative and do I need ART?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi there<\/p>\n

Thank you for which raises important questions.<\/p>\n

Before I can give you any information though I need you to understand that I am NOT a doctor.\u00a0i-Base is just a treatment information service.<\/p>\n

Please also realise that I only know a little bit about you. HIV can be complicated and sometimes different tests are used in different countries, Sometimes the names of tests are also confusing,<\/p>\n

For example, one of the tests used in HIV care is called a viral load test. When you are on treatment, the viral load should hopefully become undetectable. Although this viral load test cannot find HIV, you will still be HIV positive and still need to take treatment,<\/p>\n

Please also take this website information with you when you next talk to your doctor.Then the doctor can check whether you are talking about a viral load test or an HIV antibody test.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. My first question is were any of these recent negative tests carried out by a doctor? If not, then please ask you doctor to do this now. Many instant HIV tests can give wrong results.<\/li>\n
  2. If the next test is HIV negative using any HIV antibody test, please ask your doctor to run a second test at a laboratory (lab test), Even though the second test should always be done, sometimes some people start HIV treatment without this second test being done.<\/li>\n
  3. Please then talk with your doctor about these results. If the lab test is positive, then you do have HIV and you need to still be taking HIV meds.<\/li>\n
  4. If the lab test is negative, your doctor should check your medical notes to see if your HIV test was confirmed when you first tested positive. If the lab test is confirmed negative, then you don’t need to be taking HIV meds – BUT THIS IS A VERY RARE SITUATION.<\/li>\n
  5. Please continue taking your current meds until your doctor has run these tests. Taking the meds is very safe until you find out the next test results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Please also email me, If you want to, to let me know what happens.\u00a0This will help me understand your situation better and it will help me with other questions that we get in the future.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    best wishes<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Simon<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Earlier I was wrongly diagnosed with HIV and I have been on ARV drugs.<\/p>\n

    I have tested numerous times since then but my results shows am negative.<\/p>\n

    In addition, I have not been taking my drugs on a regular basis but I still test negative.<\/p>\n

    Should I stop taking the drugs and will it have any dangerous side effects?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,22,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-cd4-and-viral-load","category-hiv-testing","category-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21105"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21110,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21105\/revisions\/21110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}