HIV – Clinic Visit – £79

Shared Stories

Testimonials of positive symptoms – My Story

The local check-up is how I found out I was positive: These were the symptoms of my illness.

I am 31 years old, my name is Matteo, and I discovered I was positive about two years ago. I contracted after an unprotected relationship I had with a girl I had met two months before I was diagnosed as positive.

My parents always warned me about having unprotected sex with strangers; however, unfortunately, I did not follow the advice of my dear parents. To this day, I curse my recklessness.

About two weeks after intercourse, I began to have severe muscle pain accompanied by swollen lymph nodes, a sign that my body was fighting something. I had no idea that it could be Human Immunodeficiency Virus. I wasn’t afraid of becoming positive.

It was then that I discovered the truth. I was shocked and scared. I didn’t believe I could contract it with just one intercourse, as I had been naive.

My doctors later explained to me that the infection can also occur only after sexual intercourse.

Now, thanks to antiretroviral therapies, I live with it, and I can say that although this condition sometimes causes me some discomfort, underneath, I live a happy and fulfilling life.

This is how I realized I had it: Read Maura’s testimony.

It’s now been about 5 years since I found out I was positive. Before this damn infection affected my life, I led a normal life. I worked as a sales assistant in a clothing store.

Severe weight loss, extreme muscle weakness and night sweats: This is how I found out I had the infection. After a sudden weight loss, my sister took me to my doctor to find out what I might have.

I had lost a whopping 6kg in just three weeks!

And I was already thin myself. My face was sunken. There, I discovered that I was Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive, and my world collapsed on me; I didn’t understand how I could have contracted that infection, given that I hadn’t had sexual relations with anyone else besides my husband.

It was there that I discovered that my husband had had an affair with a young girl from the neighbourhood. It was my husband who gave me that damn infection. I started following the pharmacological treatment too late at the local lab; otherwise, I would never have entered the state I am in now.

There was a time when I had completely lost all hope. Now, I’m ashamed of it, but there was a time when I thought about suicide.

My family and my four brothers had completely abandoned me following the diagnosis.

When I told my husband that I had become Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive because of him, he kicked me out of the house. Now he is well, and he has remarried. Incredible, he is perfectly fine while I am a living corpse, even though we are both positive.

Now, it’s been about 15 years since I found out I was positive. Through Buddhism, I have improved my mental health. After all, it could have been much worse!

Discovering positive after 10 years: Read Anna’s story

In those years, I had never experienced specific symptoms related to Human Immunodeficiency Virus. However, I remember some strange episodes that might have suggested that something was wrong with my body.

I remember being sick with the flu for several weeks, always having fever, night sweats and swollen lymph nodes. I thought it was just a bad flu season, yet my body told me something was wrong.

After that long illness, everything seemed to have returned to normal. I continued to work and have sex without worry, never suspecting that it might be infected. I had never had any tests, although I had many relationships with several partners.

Don’t be afraid to get tested; knowing the truth is the first step to facing the disease and living a happy life.

Simona and her story

Simona, pregnant, discovered she was positive. Her name is fictitious; in the video (soon online), she is played by a professional actress. Her story is true. She is a beautiful, sunny girl. In a particular moment, a bit magical but also full of worries, that of pregnancy. Of course, you don’t expect her to have a positive test from the usual kits. At first, she almost doesn’t accept it, “It’s not possible, you’re wrong, it can’t be me”.

After all, she only took the exam because she was among those done during pregnancy without thinking much about it. In her past, in her stories, she happened to have intercourse without a condom. But she was sure she wasn’t taking any risks, that she knew everything. Instead, she was infected. When she began to realize that she had it, she thought she couldn’t carry on with the pregnancy or that her baby would be born positive.

However, she was taken care of by a team of doctors, psychologists and midwives, who explained to her that it was possible to protect her and the baby by following antiretroviral therapy. Indeed, they also told her that many people get checked late when the situation has already worsened or there is already AIDS. She had some hesitations, a thousand thoughts and a thousand fears when starting the therapy.

Fear and Therapy

The first two days, she didn’t even feel like taking the drugs. Then she made up her mind; she entrusted herself to the team that followed her. I followed all her instructions confidently. In this way, by taking the drugs regularly, you know that your viral load is reduced and that the probability that the baby will be born without Human Immunodeficiency Virus is very high. She had another certainty: the baby would be called Lorenzo.