Hiv/sti Screening Reccomendations?

[thaidyed]

I have been searching online and found suprisingly few listings for STI/HIV testing clinics. I know all the big hospitals would do it, but I also know they may not be the ideal place (sensitivity, speed, price). Does anyone have a reccomendation?

I've heard of a free clinic for all comers, Silom Community Clinic, at Bangkok Christian Hospital but they are geared toward MSM and are likely to refer straight men and women to other services. I'd prefer to skip the extra step!

[Prakanong2005]

I am going for one soon as well and was just going to go to Bumrungrad.

I have to have one for an Employment Pass in Singapore but I want my own first.

You are correct about sensitivity though.

I have knowledge of two girls testing positive

The first was at the Police General Hospital .The Dr's assistant handed the results to the husband and not the girl.

The second is a friend of my wifes cousin (this was in Pattaya apparently). The cousin and friend went for a test. The Nurse came out and in front of everybody said to the Cousin you are OK but you are HIV+

No counselling and no follow up - the amount of info I have had to put right is amazing (I work in the healthcare industry but am not a clinician)

Edited May 16, 2006 by Prakanong2005

[thaidyed]

It is amazing how bad services can still be! I work on HIV projects (not in Thailand though) and the horror stories like you describe never end.

Do you have any idea how much it will be at Bumrungrad? I want a screen for STIs as well as HIV. Will you make an appointment or just do walk-in?

[Prakanong2005]

Hi

I will do a walk in but I expect it will be less than a couple of thousand THB

Here is the male pre-nuptual package at 2400THB and I suppose you can add on other tests or just get individual ones and not the packages.

http://www.bumrungrad.com/htm/eng/main.asp...t_id=CKUP%207.1

[Digger]

I did the package thing a few years ago which was actually a general well-being set of tests to which I added a HIV test. You have to go at about 8am and then they do lots of tests like heart, ultrasound on your liver and abdomen as well as blood tests. From memory the results come back in 48 hours and you go and see the doctor two days later in the afternoon where he goes through the little booklet of your test results and points out the areas of concern. Ironically, I did this mainly for the HIV test and luckily it was negative but I found out my cholesteral was borderline high

Personally I would not recomend it that much if you just want to do STI/STD testing - they gave me the booklet to read while I was waiting for the doctor, and had that result page have shown HIV positive, I think I would have been a mess. The doctor they use for these tests are not exactly STI specialists and all that would happen is that they would refer you to another doctor within the hospital.

If it was me doing it again, I would just make an appointment with one of the infectious diseases doctors, go and see them, they will chat through what tests you want and they may well suggest one's you have never heard of. You then go of with the nurse do the various blood tests and make another appointment to get the results, most likely the next day or two days later. At least, if its bad news, its a specialist who is telling you and they now what they are doing in terms of treatment options, follow up etc.

[Khutan]

I am going for one soon as well and was just going to go to Bumrungrad.<snip>

I saw an advertisement at Bumrungrad the last time I was there offering some Pre-Marraige package for less than 2,000 Baht. It seemed to cover the lot.

I would advise people to go there.

[jdinasia]

Fast cheap HIV testing (ANONYMOUS) at the Thai redcross HIV/std center .... CHEAP for the rapid testing ... in the odd lighthouse shaped buildings across from Lumpinipark as heading from Silom towards Central World (Ratchatewi?) HIV and Syphhilis for 260 baht results one hour... think they run Chlamydia and Ghonnorrea as well

Scroll to the bottom of the page

http://www.redcross.or.th/english/service/...clinicaids.php4

Red Cross Agency The Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre

Telephone Number 0-2252-2568-9 , 0-2256-3407-9

Fax Number 0-2254-7577

Email [email protected]

Address 104 Ratchadumri Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10330

Edited May 17, 2006 by jdinasia

[Sheryl]

For those who live in the provinces, any government Health Center or hospital (district or provincial) does HIV testing and counseling. However, language may be a barrier so if you don't speak Thai well, bring someone you are comfortable having translate for you. This will be the cheapest route. However anyone who thinks there is a strong chance of being positive would probably do well to spend the small amount needed to get tested by an English speaking provider capable of explaining and initiating treatment options and giving psychological support, i.e. go ahead and pay for Bummers, Samitivej, BNH or BH. Viral loads can be pricey but simple HIV test is not costly even at those places.

I would be surprised if the kind of bad experiences related above took place at any of these places. They also shouldn't (shouldn't, not can't) happen at government hospitals as there has been an extensive investment in training government staff in voluntary and confidential testing and counselling. The worst are likely to be small private facilities.

For STI -- blood test for syphilis can be done at any hospital. If you are synptomatic (i.e. discharge), see either and infectious disease person or urologist. For women, symptomatic or toehrwise, a gynecologist - can combine with a routine check and thin prep (pap).

[kyb789]

Do you have any idea how much it will be at Bumrungrad? I want a screen for STIs as well as HIV. Will you make an appointment or just do walk-in?

I just had the HIV test at Bumrungrad. Simple. It was about 1200baht. I walked in no appointment, paid cash, went to lunch, came back and the results were ready. I was negative, but I was going crazy as the doctor sat and stared at his computer screen for 3 minutes without saying anything. Then he asked...."Why are you here"? Duh!

[oopapasan]

It is amazing how bad services can still be! I work on HIV projects (not in Thailand though) and the horror stories like you describe never end.

Do you have any idea how much it will be at Bumrungrad? I want a screen for STIs as well as HIV. Will you make an appointment or just do walk-in?

I have one with my yearly at Bumrungrad.(NEGATIVE).You can get it alone results in 1 hr.,doesn't cost much and you know they tested .Someplaces take blood tell you negative and never test.

[Johnson994]

I have been searching online and found suprisingly few listings for STI/HIV testing clinics. I know all the big hospitals would do it, but I also know they may not be the ideal place (sensitivity, speed, price). Does anyone have a reccomendation?

I've heard of a free clinic for all comers, Silom Community Clinic, at Bangkok Christian Hospital but they are geared toward MSM and are likely to refer straight men and women to other services. I'd prefer to skip the extra step!

This is one of the reasons I won't get tested. One girl some time ago told me what she had Gonorrhea after she get tested. I had sex with her before she get tested so I know I have Gonorrhea.

[Sheryl]

name='Johnson994' post='765778' date='2006-06-02 04:59:28']

name='thaidyed' post='747809' date='2006-05-16 15:27:01']

I have been searching online and found suprisingly few listings for STI/HIV testing clinics. I know all the big hospitals would do it, but I also know they may not be the ideal place (sensitivity, speed, price). Does anyone have a reccomendation?

I've heard of a free clinic for all comers, Silom Community Clinic, at Bangkok Christian Hospital but they are geared toward MSM and are likely to refer straight men and women to other services. I'd prefer to skip the extra step!

This is one of the reasons I won't get tested. One girl some time ago told me what she had Gonorrhea after she get tested. I had sex with her before she get tested so I know I have Gonorrhea.

And you have done what about it?........ Hopefully gotten it treated and informed any other women you've been with recently. Women especially can have gonorrhea with no symptom at all until it has spread into a very serious infection, which can make them sterile and even kill, so please do think about the welfare of any women you may have given the infection to (or gotten it from).

As for your fears about HIV testing, none of these should be a problem at a good quality hospital. As you'll see above, other posters report favorably on Bumrungrad...quick, confidential, accurate. The same would hold at any of the better hospitals. If you have gonorrhea then it is especially important to get an HIV test because any sexually transmitted disease increases the risk of HIV infection. All of the places that do HIV testing can also treat gonorrhea.

Besides hospitals like Bumrungrad, Samitivej, BNH and Bangkok Hospital, the following was recommened by another poster:

Fast cheap HIV testing (ANONYMOUS) at the Thai redcross HIV/std center .... CHEAP for the rapid testing ... in the odd lighthouse shaped buildings across from Lumpinipark as heading from Silom towards Central World (Ratchatewi?) HIV and Syphhilis for 260 baht results one hour... think they run Chlamydia and Ghonnorrea as well

Scroll to the bottom of the page

http://www.redcross.or.th/english/service/...clinicaids.php4

Red Cross Agency The Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre

Telephone Number 0-2252-2568-9 , 0-2256-3407-9

Fax Number 0-2254-7577

Email [email protected]

Address 104 Ratchadumri Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10330

[Johnson994]

Sheryl, "And you have done what about it?........ Hopefully gotten it treated and informed any other women you've been with recently. Women especially can have gonorrhea with no symptom at all until it has spread into a very serious infection, which can make them sterile and even kill, so please do think about the welfare of any women you may have given the infection to (or gotten it from)." I have done nothing about it. I have not been treated. I never thought of what could happen to the other women. It would be really hard now to find all of them and tell them since there have been so many and it has been so long since I get it.

Edited June 2, 2006 by Johnson994

[Sheryl]

I have done nothing about it. I have not been treated. I never thought of what could happen to the other women. It would be really hard now to find all of them and tell them since there have been so many and it has been so long since I get it.

Well, get treated! And tested for HIV, and for chlamydia (another sexualy transmitted disease which can be asymptomatic). If you just go to any of the places mentioned above and tell them you know you have been exposed to gonorrhea and want to be screened for it and HIV and other diseases, they'll know what to do.

Actually gonorrhea is usually -- usually, not always -- symptomatic in men, so if you don't have any burning or doscharge it's possible you don't have it...but only way to be sure is to check.

Once you know what disease you do and don't have, and have been treated, notify as many women as you can remember and find. Some is better than none.

For the future -- using condoms will avoid this dilemma....

[Johnson994]

I have done nothing about it. I have not been treated. I never thought of what could happen to the other women. It would be really hard now to find all of them and tell them since there have been so many and it has been so long since I get it.

Well, get treated! And tested for HIV, and for chlamydia (another sexualy transmitted disease which can be asymptomatic). If you just go to any of the places mentioned above and tell them you know you have been exposed to gonorrhea and want to be screened for it and HIV and other diseases, they'll know what to do.

Actually gonorrhea is usually -- usually, not always -- symptomatic in men, so if you don't have any burning or doscharge it's possible you don't have it...but only way to be sure is to check.

Once you know what disease you do and don't have, and have been treated, notify as many women as you can remember and find. Some is better than none.

For the future -- using condoms will avoid this dilemma....

Sherly, I do have symptoms and they started a long time ago. It burns very bad when I pee and I have a dull pain in my testicals are they are swollen. I have a yellowish white thick discharge that is oozing out my penis all the time and it drips that has been increasing in volume the longer I have it. I also have this itchy clawing sensation in the urethra that I feel the need to have sex. Now I am really sacred to find out what else.

[Sheryl]

What you should be scared of is leaving it untreated. You obviously have gonorrhea and it isn't going to go away by itself, it needs treatment.

The same is true of other disease you might have, if any -- won't go away on their own, need treatment. Get yourself to a doctor as suggested before, get treated for g.c., tested for other diseases (inc. HIV) and then treated for any you might have -- and use condoms from now on.

Serious complications can and will follow if you leave these things untreated.

[Firefan]

Sheryl; Johnson is an obvious troll. Cheers!

[Johnson994]

Sheryl; Johnson is an obvious troll. Cheers!

You are obviously a trouble maker.

[backflip]

"Sheryl; Johnson is an obvious troll. Cheers!"

Even a blind man can see that. From his sexual screen name, to his reference to his sexual prowess, he's obviously an impotent man trying to assault us with his words.

[Sheryl]

Tend to agree with you, was beginning to suspect that myself. Even if he's not, there's certainly nothing more to add to what's already been said!

[lopburi3]

Troll closed.