How to Decide if You Should Get Tested for HIV

Testing for human immunodeficiency virus should become part of a routine medical checkup after a person has become sexually active. Although you may always use a condom or be strictly monogamous, this disease enters the body most often through anal or vaginal sex. Condoms break, and partners cannot be counted upon to be strictly monogamous. The only way that you can be sure you are not at risk is to be sexually abstinent. If that is not the case, make HIV testing a routine. In the event that HIV is detected, treatments can begin and may delay further damage.

Things You'll Need

• Complete understanding of HIV/AIDS Regular testing

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Instructions

• 1

  Understand that teenagers as young as 13 should be tested. The Center for Disease Control states that young teens are more sexually active than their parents know. The CDC says there is not an upper age level past which people no longer need testing. People over 50 make up for 15 percent of new HIV cases annually, yet doctors hesitate to bring up testing with older patients.

• 2

  Consider your own sexual activity. If you have had three or more partners in the past year, test immediately. If you engage in sexual activity without a condom, test immediately. If you are a needle-drug user, test immediately. If you are a drinker and/or recreational drug user, test immediately because being high can block your better judgment when it comes to sex. If you have been in prison, test immediately. If you have had body piercing and/or tattoos in the past year, test immediately. This is a partial, but most likely, list of unsafe activities.

• 3

  Consider your knowledge of how HIV/AIDS is spread from human to human. Contact any of the educational facilities listed under resources, and read the many ways one can contract HIV and the ultimate consequences of AIDS. Understand that sexual intercourse is the most likely pathway for HIV to enter the body, but there are several other actions you must be aware of. Knowledge of how HIV is contracted and spread is the first and most powerful way to help yourself stay safe.

• 4

  Make HIV testing a part of your regular medical checkups. If it is included in the regular checkup, most insurance companies will pay for the test. There are also free clinics in most big cities.