Hi, my name is Holly. I'm 20 years old and in my junior year of college, going to school for social work. For my topic about HIV that I'm interested in I picked oral thrush. The reason I'm interested in this topic is because I found out about it when a doctor told me that she thought I had it. She had kind of a worried tone to her voice when she told me and said that it was no big deal but they needed to take some blood and test me for diabetes. She said that there was no real reason why a healthy, young person who wasn't on antibiotics should have thrush. I wasn't too worried about anything but when I got home I looked up oral thrush on the internet just to see what it was all about. Pretty much every website I went to said something about HIV and AIDS so I got really worried. The doctor had referred me to the throat specialist so I went there and it turned out that I did not have oral thrush but the scare of thinking that I could have HIV definitely made me decide to be more careful and not take any more chances of getting HIV. This experience was really my first introduction into sicknesses that might indicate HIV or go along with it. It was also the thing that really caused me to think more about HIV and fueled my interest in it.
So when I did my first assignment on oral thrush I already knew a lot about it. Thankfully, since I did not have oral thrush, I had never experienced the dryness and difficulty of eating the crackers and drinking the water with cotton in my mouth. I thought it was a good activity that helped us understand oral thrush and how it would feel to have it.
I cant even imagine who scared you were after finding out that thrush is associated with HIV. I know I would be so scared and nervous until I got test results from the doctors. I think it's really cool that you took an interest in HIV after going through this. I think most people would just disregard the situation but you actually took something from it and because it happened to you, you are going to learn so much because you ended up signing up this class.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I would be sick to my stomach if I had gone through what you did. Do you plan on educating with your knowledge about HIV now? I hated the simulation, only for the fact that I hate the feel of cotton balls! but it was a good learning experience!
ReplyDeleteWow, I would be very scared too!!!
ReplyDeleteI never had doctors suspect that I have HIV, but I remember about five months ago I went to the doctor because I kept on having constant headaches and I wanted to know why, so he asked me to have a blood test "just incase", and can you imagine what kind of worries went on in my head? But it was anemia due to dieting and stuff... So I know what it's like to get really worried..:)
I agree with you; I liked the assignment and I thought it was fun to do and to get a feeling for what others go through...
Holly, I can see why thrush would be of interest to you. I would have been shaking in my boots with what I know now if someone told me to come see the doctor right away.
ReplyDeleteNow I want you to choose another topic, like AIDS in prison, or HIV and women, or alternative therapies, to research. I wanted students to choose a topic that they could present over the semester to other students. Things that we will not have time to do in the course. I've left a message on the discussion blog topic to address this.
Nice introduction blog.
Wow, that was a close one... Doctors can really give you a scare sometimes. You were probably on the edge of your seat the whole time while skimming the websites for thrush. Luckily, I have never had thrush either, but that simulation we did really put into perspective how bad and annoying it can be. I guess this the reason they always encourage people to "get a second opinion" after seeing a doctor!
ReplyDeleteHolly, I think Thrush is a very interesting topic as well. I actually knew an individual with Trush, so when I did the first assignment, I too was able to see what the individual is going through as well. It was a very scary situation for that individual, so I do understand why this was scare you a bit. I look forward to reading your future blogs and life experiences.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThere is many symptoms about the HIV positiveness.Don't afraid if you get the positive.Hope for best that you don't get positive.
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