Body and Mind

HIV Testing– HOWTO and My Personal Experience

By Ellie ⋅ December 3, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Subscribe By Email ⋅ Post a comment

Thursday, I was going through my morning routine. I turned the Today show as usual and the segment was about World AIDS Day. Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie were the guests. He talked about his illness, the ability to stay healthy, how it has affected his life, and his fight to stop the disease from spreading world wide. He staring rattling off a few statistics, and I really started paying attention.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 33.2 million individuals are infected with HIV worldwide and 2.5 million of them are newly infected; of those one million reside in the United States. 2.1 million are believed to have died last year as a result of AIDS or AIDS related complications. There was one number that scared me the most: one-forth. Of the estimated one million infected with HIV in the United States, as many as one-forth are unaware of their HIV status. One-forth! Wow, that’s 250,000 people. Just think what if only half of them end up using protection in a sexual encounter?

As we walked to the subway station, my boyfriend and I talked about getting tested. I was tested six years prior, while in college. Yet, now I’ve had more sexual partners and unprotected sex (with my boyfriend, without a condom, but with birth control). Even though I considered myself low risk, it still scared me. My boyfriend on the other hand, had never been tested, had more partners than me, and was not worried. Wanting to get tested was first planted in my mind when my friend Ellen, who had participated in some risky behavior, got tested last year (she tested negative). Now the thought had grown into a nasty weed, cramping my good thoughts from growing. It was not that I felt I was participating in risky behavior or that I didn’t trust those who I had been with as much as a feeling of lack of control. Not knowing was killing me.

When I got to work I looked up Planned Parenthood. I called and found out I could make an appointment for that day, get the results 40 minutes after the test, but it was going to cost me $60 dollars and if both of us got tested, $120. Ugh. It’s the holiday season and I’m alright cutting it close. I figured there’s got to be a cheaper way. From the Planned Parenthood phone call I’d learned the test I wanted was called the Rapid HIV test, so I googled “Free rapid HIV test New York City”. To my surprise and delight several listings popped up. I called the first one that was close to my office and had hours on Friday.

As I was talking to the receptionist she mentioned that the test was confidential but not anonymous. So, what? Doesn’t confidential and anonymous both mean that no one finds out? Furthermore, regardless of which test you choose, your employer, insurance company or university will never know the results. So what’s the difference?

Confidential testing is treated the same as any other medical test, meaning that your identifying information is attached to it (i.e. name, birthday, etc), making it more legitimate. There is a record that you took the test, however the results of that test are confidential, unless you choose to share them. It becomes part of your medical record and can be used to help you gain treatment access. This is the test you want if you need proof of your HIV status, for instance to give to a future lover, or something you might do before consenting to unprotected sex with a current lover. Conversely, anonymous testing is given through number or code system. Your name is not given and there is no material proof so there is nothing that can link you to the test. Essentially, it is as though it never happened.

I decided I wanted anonymous. This time I googled, “Free, anonymous, rapid HIV testing New York City”. The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene popped up. They had several testing centers within the five boroughs, and the one closest to me had late night hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was Thursday. Yes, looks like we hit a winner. I called my boyfriend to tell him my plans and he said, “I don’t understand why you’re worried. With every other person I used protection and before me you never had unprotected sex. Plus, we only did it a few times.” I then asked if he was absolutely positive that he had never had unprotected sex with another person. He said, “Basically”, I said, “It’s a yes or no question, which is it?” He said, “Yes” and then I said, “But you said basically?”, then he said, “I’m at work, this is totally inappropriate, I can’t talk about this now.” I said, “Fine, I’m going to get tested, we’ll talk about this later.”

I arrived at the Department of Health a little after 5:20. There I was instructed to grab a number (it was the same machine as the one at grocery store deli counters), fill out a white card and take an information sheet. There was also a bin filled to the top with condoms, I grabbed some of those too. The white card had two sections to it, anonymous and confidential (it was also in English on one side and Spanish on the other). The anonymous section requested my birthday and my zip code-two identifiers not linked.

After about 10 minutes a counselor called me into her office. She asked what I was there for (I said rapid HIV test), whether I wanted it anonymous (I said yes), gave me an ID number (13N, uh, not my favorite) and sent me upstairs to the testing area. I dropped my envelope in the bin and sat down in a room with about 30 other people all in different stages of the testing process. There was a TV blasting no smoking information in front. I was relieved I had my book with me.

About 15 minutes later another counselor called my new number (13N). When I sat down he said, “Now I’m going to ask you a bunch of possibly uncomfortable questions to asses your risk.” I said bring it on. He asked about my previous sexual history within the last three months and my complete unprotected sex history. He told me he felt I was at low risk and then discussed the test. Here is where I found out the best news. No needles! Whoohoo!!!! This made my night. The test was going to be an oral swab. It would take about 20 minutes to get the results.

I went into the testing room next, where a tech took this plastic tongue depressor thing and quickly scraped my upper and lower gums (You are supposed to do it yourself, but I did it wrong, so the tech ended up helping).

30 minutes and 22 pages later counselor number two called 13N. I hadn’t even shut his office door before he told me, good news everything is ok. Whew. I asked about the reliability. If you test negative then it is negative (100% accuracy), however if you test positive there is only a 99.3% accuracy rate. Thus out of 1000 people who test positive, 7 of them will be false positive. Therefore everyone who tests positive will be followed up by a blood test to confirm there status. As I left the waiting room, one girl was coming out of a counselor session and said to her friend “it was a false positive.” Which just goes to show it does happen.

Walking out of the Department of Health, I felt relieved, but more I felt proud of myself. The first time I had an HIV test it really freaked me out, and I was a mess for a week (back then it took longer to get the results). This time I approached it with a calmer, more understanding attitude. That was in part due to the things I learned during the process. First, and most important, I learned about the Rapid HIV Test. Waiting is not my strong suit, especially in matters of health, and the fact that I could get my results that night immensely helped my pre-test mental state. Secondly, I found a center that fit within my schedule and location. Lastly, it was free. Taking the financial burden out made the decision to take the test so much easier for me, it was going to cost me nothing and the potential benefits…

My boyfriend called on my way home. I told him all about the test, and taught him what I learned. When asked about what he meant by “basically” he said once a condom fell off when he was with someone else. I told him I was glad he told me, and he agreed to get tested.