The end of two relationships
Waaaay back in the 1980s, at the height of the initial AIDS panic, I made the rather distressing discovery that a woman I'd been Dancing the Futon Fandango with was an intravenous drug user. Ok, I was young and naive, and should have noticed the warning signs before then, but in fact I found out too late. Naturally, that was the end of the relationship, and thankfully nothing bad came of it.

I also discovered that she was pregnant - thankfully not by me, but it compounded the sense of finality!

But that wasn't the lucky escape I'm writing about. The lucky escape was moving house a few weeks later, as it meant I would change doctors. I went to the previous doctor for advice, particularly about whether I should get tested for HIV... His sage advice was, "I wouldn't bother if I were you - if it's positive, you'll only worry."

I still wonder how he managed to qualify.
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 11:32, 7 replies)

Well.
At that point, there was fuck-all treatment, so you can see his point of view.
But, still not a good plan from the translatability point of view.
(speedevil, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 11:59, closed)

I assume you mean transmissibility
...since I didn't start my habit of knocking off foreign women until some years later
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 13:17, closed)

I went to the doctor with water on the elbow a year or so ago.
As she approached me with a needle and syringe, she said cheerfully, "Gosh! I haven't done one of these since college ten years ago!"

She then prescribed me antibionics for afters. It coming up to Easter and my having plans for it, I asked "I don't want to be an idiot, but can I drink on these? I'd just like to know either way."

She said, "Ooo ... I dunno - hang on ... " flipped through a book for a bit, and then said, "Well - there's nothing in here about alcohol, so ... fingers crossed, eh?"
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 12:06, closed)

It's always important to remember that GPs are the same prick medical students everybody pitied at university.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 12:40, closed)

She wasn't sure, so she looked it up in the BNF to check?
Madness!
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 12:51, closed)

I knew a doctor once who believed that straight people didn't get AIDS. Being a doctor evidently doesn't stop you being a prick
( cs1ca, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 18:21, closed)

He probably knew that even at the height of a massive media driven panic that the chances of having Aids then was minute.

(Woodlouse say it with flowers. Send her a Triffid, Fri 5 Jul 2013, 20:20, closed)