I had a possible high-risk exposure to HIV 16 months ago, but couldn’t bring myself to get tested for all of that time. I finally tested myself earlier today, and thankfully got a negative result. I am going to try to write a message to myself of the last 16 months, as I know that some of you reading this will be in a similar situation.

Please, please go ahead and get tested (either with a self-test kit or at a clinic), because trust me, it will be one of the best things you will ever do. It is quite possible that you will have been googling symptoms furiously, and convincing yourself that you have them all. I had managed to convince myself that I had oral thrush at one point, even though my tongue was perfectly normal. I also had slightly swollen lymph nodes in my neck, probably from prodding around at my neck for pretty much 16 months straight! The only good thing to come out of this time is that my knowledge of the statistics is superb, what with the amount of risk calculations I have been doing (these are pretty useless anyway, as the probabilities of infection rely on so many factors)!

All you need to do to rid yourself of this horrible feeling of being in limbo is to test yourself, and 99% of you will probably get a negative result. I won’t lie, sat there waiting for 15 minutes to find out your result is horrible, but that is all it is, 15 minutes of nerves to end all of your anxiety (mine even became pretty clear after about 5-6 mins, but waited until the end of the 15 to be sure).

If you are unsure as to whether you want to go through with this or not, please just set a stopwatch now, time 15 minutes and imagine the feeling when the time reaches 0 and you realise that you do not have HIV. It is nigh on euphoria!

Finally can I say thank you so, so much to the staff at Biosure for this wonderful test. You have quite literally changed my life- all the anxiety of 16 months turned into joy in 15 short minutes! If there are any charities/support groups you work with I would love to make a donation to one of them as a thank you.

Cheers guys, this is genuinely one of the best days of my life!

Love from a very happy young man!