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Don't rush
Telling people that you have HIV can seem like a daunting or even frightening task. It’s important to think about who you are going to tell, and your motivation for telling them. There are lots of reasons why you might want to tell people that you have HIV not least the valuable support which your partner (if you have one), family and friends might be able to provide. But don’t rush into telling people – although you can tell people you have HIV later, you cannot un-tell somebody.
On first learning that you have HIV, or later, when you perhaps receive bad test results, you may feel a desire to unburden yourself and tell somebody. However, you may regret this later. Although you might want people to know what you are going through at times like this so you can receive their support, there are other times when you might find this intrusive – you may not want to be asked constant questions about your health, how you are feeling or how you are coping. It might even feel that you are finding youself supporting and reassuring the people who you told about your HIV.
We all react to difficult and stressful situations in different ways. Similarly, there’s no rule of thumb about what sort of support you should ask from those close to you. Think about what’s best for you. The most important thing is that you feel you have control over who you tell about your HIV.