Medical advances have transformed the prognosis for HIV.
Being treated by an experienced HIV specialist is the vital first step.
As both of you will be seeing a lot of each other over the years it is essential the two of you are able to discuss everything easily.
What the doctor will do.
Initially your physician will take a history asking about your overall health and habits, examine you and take some blood for a battery of tests.
This is the first of many opportunities you will have to ask relevant questions.
Females will probably have a cervical smear and pregnancy test as well.
Questions you might want to ask There will probably be many questions buzzing around your head.
Some points to raise might include the risks and benefits of HIV treatment, how your chances of developing other conditions may be affected, lifestyle alterations, changes you could make to keep yourself healthy and avoid passing on the virus.
The blood test you will have.
When you are first diagnosed and regularly afterwards you will have a series of blood tests to establish a starting point and enable the effectiveness of your treatment to be measured.
Your CD4 count measures how many CD4 cells you have.
They are an important part of your immune system and help your body to fight disease.
HIV infection damages your CD4 cells, so leaving your immune system compromised.
The number of CD4 cells you have is a direct indication of your immune system function and has a bearing on your HIV symptoms.
The viral load test simply looks at how much of the HIV virus is present in your blood.
It is another measure of the efficiency of your body in fighting the virus.
You will have HIV RNA amplification or a branched chain DNA test.
It doesn't really matter which you have as long as you always have the same one done for consistency.
Like many bacteria and viruses HIV can change as it spreads so before any treatment decisions are made you will have drug resistance testing carried out.
This helps to suggest which combination of drugs is most likely to be effective.
In addition you will probably also have a number of routine blood test done, the same that are carried out in most diseases.
These include s full blood count, liver function tests, urea & electrolytes and urine analysis.
With all these test results to hand it enables you and your doctor to discuss your treatment options and plan accordingly for a long life.
The research being done around the world means advances are being reported daily so treatment is always evolving.