What was it like when you first got diagnosed with HIV?

Even when expecting a diagnosis of HIV, it's still shocking news, says Ask the Experts' Sean Strub, activist and founder of POZ Magazine. In this video, he talks about the day he was diagnosed with HIV.

Transcript

00:00

A doctor who was a friend who was across the desk from me-- this was in 1985--

00:06

and he held both my hands with his hands. And he said, look, Sean, these days you can have a good two years left.

00:14

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:20

I mean, the actual moment of the diagnosis, on the one hand, I'd been kind of expecting it, because I

00:27

had had symptoms and so on. I didn't get tested until the test came out in 1985.

00:34

But even expecting it, you know, I think I went into some sort of state of semi-shock. I kind of was out of my body watching myself.

00:43

And even when I left the doctor's office, a doctor who was a friend who was across the desk from me--

00:52

this was in 1985-- And he held both my hands with his hands. And he said, look, Sean, these days you

01:00

can have a good two years left. And I remembered, it was the middle of the day and I walked out onto the street--

01:06

this was at Broadway and 68th Street in New York. And it was a gorgeous, beautiful day, fall day.

01:14

And I just remember walking down the sidewalk in this daze and really this state of shock, as other people were going about their lives, going to lunch,

01:22

walking by me in this gorgeous day. And everything in my life had been turned upside down. [AUDIO LOGO]