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From: skaron@eagle.wesleyan.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: Get tested
Message-ID: <28138@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 14 Oct 89 18:12:26 GMT
References: <27888@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <27972@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <28075@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <28083@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
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In article <28083@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>, skaron@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes:
 
>   There are many pros and cons to getting tested. Below are some reasons you
> may or may not want to get tested, the choice has to be an individual one
> depending on which reasons seem to describe you best.

I know I'm writing back about this really soon, but today I went through a
practice testing with a counselor in order to answer specific questions about
HIV antibody testing during peer education workshops.(and no that does NOT make
me an expert in anyway...just repeating what I've learned,which is not much in
the grand scheme of this syndrome.) 

Anyway,It brought out alot of interseting revelations. One thing I realized is
that even if you feel that you might test positive, your reaction if you heard
that you did test positve will be very different from what you thought it might
be. (I really can't describe that feeling on a computer screen.)  

But whether or not to get tested came out as a question to her (the counselor).
Her opinion was that if you have a nagging doubt about whether or not you might
be positive, then get a test to remove that doubt. See feels that no one should
live a life with that kind of doubt. I know some people might disagree with
that opinion, but as a note to posters, I'd like people to respond to the
original poster as a person who is thinking about taking the test,and your
feelings about your decision whether or not to do so(this includes reasons).

In this way the person who is making the ACTUAL decision will make his own mind
up and not be pressured by what was in the posts. In other words, let's be 
NONJUDGEMENTAL about the person asking,the people responding,or their
opinions.(and I know I did that in some postings,and to those people I'm
extremely sorry).

                                                  -Steve Karon
                                                   SKARON@eagle.wes.edu
                                                or SKARON@WESLEYAN.BITNET

-Remember that you are never truly alone.