Email 552: Symptoms and Treatment Period

Posted by Pozziepinoy on 9:15 AM

hi... i am able to get your email through your website. thank you for the very informative website you have. I have some questions to ask.

 1. a year ago i had some herpes but it was healed, i hope with some medication. these past days i saw some red spots and "white" colored parts on my tongue. i try to see in the internet, it looks like its thrush. Am i having the symptoms of HIV?

 2. i am going to manila this wednesday afternoon. i would be very happy if you can you recommend me a very discreet yet cheap HIV testing center with a doctor who can immediately prescribed medication. i only have the whole afternoon on wednesday. 

please do help me on this plight. i am really getting paranoid these days..

 thank you very much


POZZIEPINOY’S RESPONSE


Hi there.

Thank you for your email. Thank you for the kind words that you wrote about the blog.

Let me answer your questions in the order that you asked them.

First, the whitish film on your tongue maybe oral thush. However, like what I always tell my readers, we can't diagnosed HIV based on the symptoms as HIV have non specific symptoms and only the HIV test can diagnose it. I have talked to a lot of people who have "HIV symptoms" and yet they turned out to be negative in their HIV test.

Second, there is no facility that can give you HIV medicines as soon as you get your HIV test result. Usually, a new PLHIV will have to do all other tests before one can be prescribed with HIV medicines or ARV's. Below, I listed down the time frame of HIV Treatment for your information:

1. HIV Test
    a. The rapid test comes out in some facilities in a few hours or a few days. In the social 
        hygiene clinics and RITM Satellite Clinic, the test result comes out in a few hours.          
        Check out the HIV Testing facilities below:


    b. The HIV confirmatory test in most facilities comes out after a few weeks. In RITM
        Satellite Clinic, another test is being done to confirm the rapid test. The result
        comes out together with the rapid test.


2. Once the confirmatory test is out:
    a. Enroll in any HIV/AIDS Treatment Hub. Check out the list below:
   

    b. In the hubs, all baseline laboratory tests will be prescribed to check your current health
        status and for the presence of other infections. This will be a whole day in the hub but 
        waiting for the results to come out will be a few days to 2 weeks here in Manila.

3. Once all the lab results are out, you will be scheduled for consultation with the HIV doctor 
    in the hub. 

4. The doctor will prescribe HIV medicines or ARV's depending on the level of your
    immune system.

HIV treatment is not a rushed process. It is not a one stop, few hours stop. You will be needing to plan ahead for the treatment. If you decide to get both HIV test and HIV treatment in Manila. Be prepared to spend a week or two here. Best if your hub is near your place so you don't have to spend time here in Manila for treatment.

I hope I was able to answer your concerns. Feel free to email me again if you have other questions.

Stay healthy,
Pozziepinoy







"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
NO PLHIV is alone with his or her struggle with HIV!"

-Pozziepinoy-



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