some advice please

[LisaLisa]

can someone

help me to be calmer about the lymph nodes i can feel in my neck. Im really worrying because i really really really fear HIV although i have had four negative tests in the last two years and although i havent been at any risk, if ever, for ages and keep thinking that i have some weird strain that the nhs test dont pick up.

Well today the lymph nodes are freaking me out becasue accordning to google they are in the posterior cervical chain which is common with hiv!!! they have been there for at least two years and are very small but i can feel them and read that you should nt be able to .

Cananyone give me their opinion on my tests

sorry im a pain i keep bothering people with this but ao worried and scared


Lisa
xxxx

[panic2much]

Hello Lisa,

My health anxiety focused on lymph nodes last year. I can feel my glands in my neck all the time, especially one on the left. My doc said that when they come up when you have an infection, they don't always go back as small as they were before.

If you have been tested for hiv 4 times then you are ok! Especially if your not at high risk. I've never heard of it not being picked up in blood tests.

I also convinced myself I had hiv when I was 17. I was unlucky enough to catch 2 sti's from the same man (had uprotected sex just twice). So I thought if he had given me those then he could also be hiv. I put myself through hell even after the test came back negative. Its like once you convince yourself you have something, your brain won't let you think otherwise. I've had a test for it when I was pregnant which was negative and I believe it is.

Please believe you don't have hiv. I know its easier said than done and I'm a fine one to talk lol!
You are ok :hugs:

[panic2much]

Oh forgot to say... NO GOOGLING!!!

No good ever comes of it for people with health anxiety! xx

[countrygirl]

20 years ago I caught chicken pox from my son and as an adult it is very serious and I had lots of huge glands come up on my head and base of skull/neck.
Afterwards I was left with two big ones on my scalp and both glands either side of my neck at base of skull. Dr told me it could take years if ever for them to go down.
15 years later they did go down!

[Stressed32]

Lisa- I am so sorry to see you are not having a good day today. I was not in my room all day or I would have responded to you sooner. Glands can come up for many reasons other than HIV. When I had my allergy sinus thing last week, my left one was raised and not my right...go figure that! The thing is that they have probably been raised many many times before but you were never feeling them like you are now to know. Honey, you know you are not HIV so it is not that causing the glands to raise. Type in glads under search forums and read how many people here have raised glads b/c of stress! You are under a huge amount of stress. So let us think rationally about what is causing it...
1. HIV after 4 - tests and sex with a guy who really was not risky at all
or
2. stress which we know you have been under and we also know causes raised glands.
Which do you really think is more likely? Your stress of course. You are fine sweetie, relax, and please smile. Everytime you think the word HIV, imagine a stop sign, take a deep breath, and immediatly replace that thought with something positive. Train your brain that you are in control. Hugs honey!

[luchipoo]

Lisa - I have glands in my groin which I can feel (according to my doctor it's because I'm quite skinny and they are not swollen, just in a place where you can feel them - my boyfriend has the same too, I made him check when I was obsessing over mine). I also have one on the right hand side of my neck which I've had since I can remember - like since I was at school. So stop fretting - like Stressed said you've had 4 negative tests, you're fine!

[LisaLisa]

Thanks so much guys

It makes such a difference when someone else says they have something too. It stops it being just 'me' and for some reason that really helps. Stressed you really are a god send thank you honey!.


Really got to take control. Trying to think of ways that I can feel in control of situation - amazing how little i use what i know about myself to help myself if that makes any sense!

Thanks again everyone

Lisa
xxx