i am a male in my mid 20s. i hadn't seen a doctor at all in several years, and deciding to finally get on top of my health i went in for a normal physical. the blood test came back indicating a wbc level of 370, and now i am worried to death. how likely is this an indicator of hiv infection?

and, it follows, how likely is this caused by something other than hiv? i've done some reading and it doesn't seem like i exhibit signs for anything else that might cause this.

i also don't seem to exhibit any of the symptoms for hiv, other than the low wbc. i actually don't recall the last time i was ill so i've always thought of myself as healthy. i suppose this means if i am in fact hiv+ my exposure could've been years ago, and i know i've had fevers sometime in the last six or seven years. in the last seven years i've had unprotected vaginal and oral intercourse with six females. these were all in the context of monogamous relationships, though of course there is all of their past histories to consider. i am in contact with almost all of them and none have complained of sickness or hiv-like symptoms -- not that i've asked specifically.

i have been absolutely terrified since my blood test results, and i find myself wishing that i actually have leukemia or hepatitis or anything else really so i wouldn't have to subject my family to the stigma of hiv. this would destroy my life as well as the lives of my parents, who not only love me very much, but for whom i'm providing financially. my being hiv+ would put them in a very difficult financial and emotional position, and i feel that i would rather die suddenly in a car accident or some such thing rather than watch their first-born son deteriorate before their eyes. i am much more afraid of my family having to deal with my dying rather than dying itself.

i usually try to make rational decisions so i know i am being completely irrational about this, but i feel like if i get tested and it comes back hiv+, then i will have signed a death sentence for myself, as, knowing myself, i will surely lose all will to fight and live.

i don't want to talk to anyone in my family about this because i don't want to subject them to the same worry and fear that i am feeling. please help me.

Are you sure those are your actual results? The decimal could have been placed wrong. As you've probably read, the normal values of a WBC are between
4.8-10.8(4,800-10,800) so with a 370, are you saying yours is nearly 360 points too high? OR are you saying yours is 3,700 and mistyped? OR are you saying yours is 370 out of a possible 10,800?

[This message has been edited by Carreen (edited 01-01-2002).]

I'm sorry. What I meant was 3.7/3700 -- well below the range of normal but perhaps not quite on my deathbed yet. Somehow I got the impression the range could be expressed as 450-1100.

Please excuse the ambiguity of my original post. Do you have any additional thoughts?

Thank you.

Originally posted by Carreen:
Are you sure those are your actual results? The decimal could have been placed wrong. As you've probably read, the normal values of a WBC are between
4.8-10.8(4,800-10,800) so with a 370, are you saying yours is nearly 360 points too high? OR are you saying yours is 3,700 and mistyped? OR are you saying yours is 370 out of a possible 10,800?

[This message has been edited by Carreen (edited 01-01-2002).]

That's ok. Just wanted to understand you http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I wouldn't rush to my deathbed yet if I were you. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif A count of 3.0–5.0 would be considered mild leukopenia.
This one lone test being low could be many things, even an ill performed test. What did your doctor suggest?

Based on the laws of probability, 1 out of 20 (or 5%) determinations will fall outside the established reference range, thus a single test value may mean nothing significant. Generally, the test value is only slightly higher or lower than the reference range. To put this in more perspective: If a doctor runs 20 different tests on you, there’s a good chance that one result will fall out of a reference range despite the fact that you are in good health.

Of course, the result may indicate a problem. The first thing your doctor is likely to do is to re-run the test. This accomplishes two things--1) to make sure the test was done right 2) if it was done right, to see if it's changed since the last test which would indicate a worsening or bettering of your situation.

A test result outside the reference range may or may not indicate a problem—the only sure signal it sends is that your doctor should investigate it further. You can have an abnormal value and have nothing wrong—but your doctor should try to determine the cause. It’s possible that your result falls in that 5% of healthy people who fall outside the statistical reference range.

Irregardless of the WBC, you still need an HIV test since you've had a few unprotected sexual encounters. Even if you don't do it for yourself, do it for anyone in the future that you have sex with because really, would you want to give anyone else HIV? There is an FDA approved test kit that you can do at home.
http://www.homeaccess.com/

Good luck to ya and get another WBC http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hi and sorry to hear that you are going through a hard time right now. Well here are a couple of things to try to help you out a little bit and maube help you to take the test in the near future.

First consider this, you are lucky that you are male, and if you are cicumsized you are double lucky. As you might know HIV is a disease that is transmitted through blood, vaginal secretions, semen....you know. Now being male it is more difficult for men than female to get HIV. You would have to have a cut or sore on your penis that would be able to transmit the vaginal secretion into your blood stream.It is much easier for men to pass it on to women since the vaginal area is pretty much all mucous membranes. NOw of course there is always the chance that you may have had a cut and not noticed it, but the fact of the matter is, 6 women is not a lot. Of course it only takes one to transmit it, but I am trying to be optimistic so that you can follow through with getting the test. I now you are worried about the stigma if worst case scenerio arises, but the truth is you could probably be around longer than your parents if (god forbid) you were +. There are so many medications that help people stay healthy now, that a diagnosis of Luekemia might not necessarily be better than HIV. I am a hyperchondirac and am always studying medical stuff, and I always thought that a low or high WBC could also indicate any type of infection even one so mild that you might feel fine.

I just typed up "low white blood cells" and came up with a couple of different things that might cause it. What did the doctor say? Was he/she concerned? Maybe instead of jumping into the HIV test when you don't seem emotionally ready to handle the results, you could get another routine blood test to see if there were any changes in your count. Well just trying to help out. I hope you are doing okay.

thank you, careen and onlooker, for your feedback.

i feel incredibly alone and heartbroken right now, and i am terrified. i have a wonderful girlfriend who's away and will be for some time, with whom i speak on the phone daily, but it's been a terrible weight on my chest that i haven't been able to share my anxiety and fears with her. it devastates me to know that i could have exposed her to this dreadful disease, and she cannot possibly react well.

i've always thought that ignorance was not bliss, but now i'm fully in the other camp. i was happy, content, self-assured (perhaps even a bit too much so), sociable, and it's all gone now. my main concerns used to revolve around whether i should stay in the working world and try to climb the corporate ladder as a young professional or to return to academia and apply to graduate school, but it all seems so trivial now.

i'm at my folk's right now spending the holidays with my family, and it breaks my heart everytime my mom (and even my dad, historically uncommunicative) tells me how happy she is that i'm home, and how proud she is of me. we just bought a new house for them this year on which i'm splitting the mortgage payments. my family is so happy, and i'm about to destroy all of that. i'm about to destroy it all ...

i think it's true, that i'm not emotionally ready to handle this. however, i have to act rationally, i have to know, i can't live like this ... my buddy is taking me to get tested on sunday, and then we're drinking ourselves silly. the week after that we're getting me damn drunk before the results. i know it's sad as hell but i think it's my most effective coping mechanism at this point. i am so young and my life had such promise, now it's like a bad after-school tv special.

sorry for my verbosity everyone ... i think i just need to get it off my chest somehow, even if in an anonymous, impersonal forum. thank you, all.

You've pretty much written yourself off huh? Don't you think you might be jumping to conclusions? You have no idea what is causing the low WBC. I mean you should get testing to either find out your negative and get back on with your life and to protect your girlfriend, and get treatment if you were +. But I am soo curious, what did your doctor say about this? Did he offer any explanation? Were any of the girls that you were "exposed to" in the high risk category for HIV?

First of all, calm down. I know that it is hard to think anything other than HIV but it may not be that at all. I thought that I had HIV for sure. I had all of the symptoms: low grade fever, swollen lymphnodes...etc.....so after two years of this suffering I said "well, I better get tested so I can start meds." Well, I was negative (YEAH)!!!!!! I was 100% sure that I had it and I was 100% wrong!!! I think you should get tested for sure and it is great that you are going. You know, I finally told my husband that I had one encounter with unprotected sex and that I probably had HIV from it. He said "well, I love you and our vows were better for worse in sickness and health." You know, I was scared to tell him but his support helped me out so much. Tell your girlfriend-if she loves you she will understand.

hey, I to worry about HIV despite knowing everything about it (my dad died of AIDS in 93) I have persistant swollen glands, some soar throats and neck and shoulder muscle aches, all of my blood work is always normal and I never get horribly sick, I have had one male sex partner in my life (im 21 and have been with him since i was 14) and we together had one threesoms with another girl about 2 years ago. (she is also very healthy and not in a high risk catagory) I am just terrified despite all this and the idea of being tested scares the hell out of me. I am only 21 and my fiance and I have a four yearold baby that I love dearly and want to live for. I know my risk is fairly small but despite this I need some support to go and take the test and then close the book! Please help, my mom thinx im being a major hypochondriac, she actualyl thinks my risk was even more miminal then her exposures to my dad (she never even had intercourse with him for ten years after i was born until the day he was diagnosed and then till he died so petty much not after i was born)as fro my b/f he nwever got sick period and so he also thinx i may be being a lil crazy about it, however he has agreed to be tested just to put my mind at ease. (i am also a diagnosed case of OCD, rituals, constant cleaning and list making etc....) could this play a part in my worrys, every symptom i read i think is a sign!

hey, I to worry about HIV despite knowing everything about it (my dad died of AIDS in 93) I have persistant swollen glands, some soar throats and neck and shoulder muscle aches, all of my blood work is always normal and I never get horribly sick, I have had one male sex partner in my life (im 21 and have been with him since i was 14) and we together had one threesoms with another girl about 2 years ago. (she is also very healthy and not in a high risk catagory) I am just terrified despite all this and the idea of being tested scares the hell out of me. I am only 21 and my fiance and I have a four yearold baby that I love dearly and want to live for. I know my risk is fairly small but despite this I need some support to go and take the test and then close the book! Please help, my mom thinx im being a major hypochondriac, she actualyl thinks my risk was even more miminal then her exposures to my dad (she never even had intercourse with him for ten years after i was born until the day he was diagnosed and then till he died so petty much not after i was born)as fro my b/f he nwever got sick period and so he also thinx i may be being a lil crazy about it, however he has agreed to be tested just to put my mind at ease. (i am also a diagnosed case of OCD, rituals, constant cleaning and list making etc....) could this play a part in my worrys, every symptom i read i think is a sign!

Someone please help me! My penis head is sore. I am uncircumsized and the foreskin is tightening around my penis head. Very painfully I pull the foreskin back and wash underneath. There is a white substance everyday under the foreskin I wash off. Painfull to have sex. A slight itching during the day. What is wrong with me?

i am a male in my mid 20s. i hadn't seen a doctor at all in several years, and deciding to finally get on top of my health i went in for a normal physical. the blood test came back indicating a wbc level of 370, and now i am worried to death. how likely is this an indicator of hiv infection?

and, it follows, how likely is this caused by something other than hiv? i've done some reading and it doesn't seem like i exhibit signs for anything else that might cause this.

i also don't seem to exhibit any of the symptoms for hiv, other than the low wbc. i actually don't recall the last time i was ill so i've always thought of myself as healthy. i suppose this means if i am in fact hiv+ my exposure could've been years ago, and i know i've had fevers sometime in the last six or seven years. in the last seven years i've had unprotected vaginal and oral intercourse with six females. these were all in the context of monogamous relationships, though of course there is all of their past histories to consider. i am in contact with almost all of them and none have complained of sickness or hiv-like symptoms -- not that i've asked specifically.

i have been absolutely terrified since my blood test results, and i find myself wishing that i actually have leukemia or hepatitis or anything else really so i wouldn't have to subject my family to the stigma of hiv. this would destroy my life as well as the lives of my parents, who not only love me very much, but for whom i'm providing financially. my being hiv+ would put them in a very difficult financial and emotional position, and i feel that i would rather die suddenly in a car accident or some such thing rather than watch their first-born son deteriorate before their eyes. i am much more afraid of my family having to deal with my dying rather than dying itself.

i usually try to make rational decisions so i know i am being completely irrational about this, but i feel like if i get tested and it comes back hiv+, then i will have signed a death sentence for myself, as, knowing myself, i will surely lose all will to fight and live.

i don't want to talk to anyone in my family about this because i don't want to subject them to the same worry and fear that i am feeling. please help me.
Your WBC level is not indicative of HIV/AIDS. The T-Cell Count is what is important as well as CD4 count. Although your WBC count is low, if all the cells are fully functioning and are being replaced at a normal rate of speed, then you are ok. It does not take many White Blood Cells if all of them are working right. Whereas you could have 25,000 white blood cells that were deformed and taking up space from your red blood cells. That would be Leukemia.