A mum has bravely opened up about her HIV diagnosis, urging people to make sure they get tested regularly as it can 'happen to anybody'. Naomi Sloyan, 56, who works as a location manager for Coronation Street said HIV was the last thing she or medics suspected when she first went to her GP with extreme fatigue, pins and needles and cold sores.
She was only handed the diagnosis after falling seriously ill with pneumonia. She had lost weight, to around six stone, and had ended up being admitted to hospital for two weeks.
It was only when tests showed it was a form of pneumonia associated with HIV that the diagnosis was finally made in March 2018. The Wilmslow mum-of-one said she was shocked to be told she had HIV and that she had actually been living with it since 2014, reports CheshireLive.
READ MORE The faces of the eight murderers locked up for hacking dad to death in horrific gang attack
Naomi reflected on disturbing adverts that warned about HIV and AIDs, featuring tombstones back in the 1980s but wanted to prove how people diagnosed are able to live a perfectly normal life with HIV by taking medication.
With National HIV Testing Week now upon us, Naomi has told her story in a bid to bust any remaining stigma about living with HIV and to drive home the importance of regular testing. The latest data shared by the Terrence Higgins Trust shows a 20 per cent drop in HIV testing since 2019 and so they are keen to get more people aware of how easy and discreet testing is now.
Naomi said: "I was diagnosed in March 2018. I have been living with HIV since 2014 but obviously I didn't know I was HIV positive for all that time. For most of 2017 I was getting various symptoms such as rashes, extreme fatigue, pins and needles and cold sores and I was losing weight. I went to my GP and HIV was never raised. I live in Wilmslow, which is a white middle class area and I don't think it ever entered their head.
"I was eventually taken to hospital with a urine infection which turned out to be pneumonia. They still didn't test me for HIV or for pneumocystis (PPC) pneumonia, which is a form of pneumonia associated with people who are HIV positive. I was treated with antibiotics and came home but I didn't improve. I was still off work and I wasn't functioning. I went down to six stone and I was skin and bone. I was sleeping ridiculous amounts."
Naomi was infected with HIV during what she describes as a 'brief fling' which she had entered into after coming out of a long-term relationship. She said that at the time she was 48 and perimenopausal and so her main concern in starting the relationship was birth control, with her thinking she didn't need to worry about contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
She said she did go for a sexual health check but wasn't offered a HIV test. She should also have been contacted when her former partner was diagnosed with HIV yet this didn't happen.
Naomi was inspired to go public after going to see a play about young gay man who was diagnosed with HIV when he was 16. She said it was a profound moment and it made her realise that if he could share his story then she could share hers in a bid to help others
She now takes one pill a day and is able to enjoy life as a busy working mum with her daughter Isobel, 22, and their two beloved Bengal cats Ben and Jerry. Her daughter, who is now studying biochemistry at university, has been really supportive.
After falling seriously ill, Naomi had spent two weeks in Macclesfield Hospital at the end of 2017, going into 2018. She then spent a short period of time in North Manchester Hospital as part of her treatment.
"In March my thoracic consultant did a routine check of my lungs and said 'have you ever had an HIV test?' and I said probably while I was pregnant. They said let's do one now and then two days later I was called in and told my viral load was in the millions with a CD4 count, which tests for immunity, of seven. I was very poorly."
Explaining her initial response to being given the news of her diagnosis, she said: "It was a complete shock to be told I was HIV positive but, also, weirdly, it was a relief. I had been worried that it was some kind of cancer. Once I got over the initial shock it was quite a relief just to know what was causing my symptoms and that it was perfectly treatable."
Naomi said that once the pneumonia had cleared she was able to go on to antiretroviral medication and that, within two weeks, she felt like a different person. Within around a month, she was back at work.
"After being so sick, this was amazing," she added. "With most people, it takes about six months to get to an undetectable level. With my diagnosis coming so late, it took me about two years. I've been at an undetectable level for the last few years now. I live a perfectly normal life and you would not know I was living with HIV.
"If they'd had opt out HIV testing when I was admitted to A&E then it would have been picked up earlier, rather than being poorly all that time. That never needed to happen."
Naomi urged people to get tested regularly so they could begin treatment if HIV positive and with no effects on long-term health. She doesn't know for sure if her late diagnosis has impacted on her health longer-term.
Free testing kits can be posted out, with results available in just 15 minutes.
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- Man who once won the lottery escapes jail for stealing £15k of trainers
- Nicola Bulley search timeline day-by-day and all the key evidence
- The 10 Greater Manchester areas where house prices are still soaring
- Court hears further details in tragic case of young man killed by tree
- Eerie photos of Manchester's abandoned Belle Vue Stadium that's like a zombie apocalypse film
