Home HIV tests are becoming more common as new technologies allow people to be their most confidential and private. These home HIV tests typically utilize a similar method to a blood test, except it is your house instead of a lab.
Home HIV tests are becoming more prevalent as people realize the higher privacy they have with this method. Additionally, many individuals are choosing these over regular HIV tests due to less-known symptoms and lifestyle changes that may not be recognized by the mainstream test.
Contents:
Prepare the test site
When handling an infected person, you should wash your hands with soap and water as soon as possible. This means using a clean hand or taking a paper towel or washcloth and washing your hands on it.
After doing either of these, you should allow yourself a few minutes to process the information before continuing. Using alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wiping the fingertips with a tissue will help this process happen more quickly.
When sharing needles or other medical devices with someone who has HIV, you should avoid getting blood transfusions until proven safe and effective.
Wash your hands
When testing for HIV, you should always get into reliable and safe mode by getting into water as soon as possible. This is the best way to protect your skin from HIV and other viruses.
It is also the best way to engage in sexual activity after using a Latex Condom. Additionally, being in water after using the condom prevents any virus or bacteria from entering the body.
There are several things you can do to get yourself ready for a test: Brush your teeth, shower, get dressed, and go out for coffee or lunch!
When you come back, take a test whether yourself or not it was positive.
Remove the test from the package
Once you have the test, the best thing to do is to take it out of the package. You can do this either by putting them in a freezer or by taking them out of the box, putting them on a table, and picking them up then.
If you put them in the package, then you can either store it in the fridge or put it in a warm place to heat up. If you take it out, then you can either discard it or give it a place to be stored.
This is because many times home tests are less accurate if they are kept in their packaging. If they are taken out, they can be used again!
To be most accurate, each brand of test should be used twice. The first time should be for new rooms or areas where people may share housing with so that there is an indication of previous exposure.
Hold the test firmly against your skin
When your HIV test is done, it needs to be held against a screen or countertop for a few seconds to register. This is due to the testing device having to wait for the result to reach your nerves before doing its job.
This is different from a regular blood test, where the results are stored in the blood and processed at another time.
The manufacturer does not process the blood during processing of the HIV test, so there are no waiting periods. However, with an infection-based test, there may be more times than just two weeks between tests due to how long it takes for an infection to clears and/or how long it takes for your immune systemto recognize it.
Do not move the test once placed on your skin
When your HIV test is placed on your skin, it must be handled with care. You can make two mistakes when placing your HIV test on:
first, touching the back of the test with the letter H on it; and second, pulling the test away from the wall of the vial when taking itprprprpr
up. Both of these actions can cause the test to not work or be read.
To read the test, you must pull it away from the wall of the vial and then take a Kinetex patch off of one side and then push down on a new side. To make sure that you are reading the correct results, have another person stand behind you and read them as soon as you take them up.
Wait for your result
If you have a home HIV test, you should take a few minutes to read your results. The test can be either qualitative or quantitative.
Most home tests are qualitative, which means they look for certain molecules in your body that indicate HIV. For example, a molecule called CD4 is found in the blood and indicates HIV.
But not all home tests are quantitative, which means it does not look for any signs of HIV. A quantitative test can be very accurate, depending on your personal condition.
Many people find that their condition is not represented on the test, so they do not use it.
Follow instructions for reading the result
When a home HIV test comes back positive, the correct step is to read the result carefully. After the device processes the sample, it gives you a set of numbers and letters that represent your health condition.
If you have HIV, your number will be higher than if you did not. If you have no other conditions, your number will be higher than if you had no health condition.
The majority of people with HIV who are tested does not have any other conditions that are out-of-balance with their test results. However, some do which is why it is important to read the result and ask for help if you feel like it is not working.
Some people with no other conditions may still get an affirmative response to their home HIV test because they look sickly or cause noticeable redness or soreness when they take the test. Instances like this are what help determine whether or not a Home HIV Test is accurate.
Call your doctor for a confirmation test
If you are admitted to the hospital for any reason, your doctor may order a confirmation test to rule out the virus.
A confirmation test can be performed at home using a non-standardized sample from your cough or sputum. This helps determine if the virus is present in your blood or breast milk, providing additional support during treatment.
This method is not recommended for treatment due to potential flaws in detection. Non-invasive tests such as viral load are more accurate in their diagnosis and more likely to indicate success than a patient self-tookation test.
Home testing is not reliable enough to rely on during treatment as there is a 5–10% false positive rate. Therefore, if you have been diagnosed with HIV, you should get a non-contrasting chest x-ray to ensure pulmonary contusion does not occur.