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Blog on Signs and Symptoms of Diseases and Their Treatment
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Early Signs and Symptoms of HIV
Think about it! AIDS is one of the scariest diseases in the entire world at present. The disease is impossible to cure and can only be controlled in the human body. The disease has been around now several years now and there is still no hope of a cure on the horizon!
Millions of people all over the world are infected almost every minute and millions more who are infected wait in breathless hope of a miracle cure!
But if you are not one of them then please take the time to go through commonly seen early signs of HIV
What is HIV AIDS?
AIDS is caused by the HIV virus that passes from body to body through infected body fluids. Once the HIV virus enters the body, the infected patient is called as HIV positive. The HIV virus attacks the human immune system and specifically the CD4 lymphocyte that is responsible for body defense. In our body we have a finite number of these CD4 lymphocytes (about a 1000) which attack and kill attacking viruses. But the HIV virus targets these cells and uses them to build carbon copies of it. In the process, normal healthy CD4 lymphocytes are completely destroyed. Eventually there comes a day when all the CD4 lymphocytes are destroyed, the body has no defense and the infected body is filled with HIV viruses. When this happens the entire body is susceptible to infections and eventually it fails. This is now called as full-blown AIDS.
The main difference between HIV and AIDS!
HIV is the causative virus while AIDS is the full-blown condition where the immune system is almost non-existent. The HIV positive stage can be controlled to prevent it from crossing over to the active AIDS stage with the help of anti-viral medication. But most often patients do cross over from HIV to AIDS in about 8-10 years. The exact time period may vary upon many different lifestyle conditions but a person is said to be affected with AIDS of the CD4 count falls below 200. (healthy person has about 1000 CD4+T cells).
There are more than 10-12 conditions associated with AIDS, and if any 1 of these is found, the person is said to be infected by AIDS.
Symptoms of HIV And AIDS
People infected with HIV show some symptoms for a few years, but during asymptomatic period, HIV is multiplying fast, infecting and killing cells in immune system. When the immune system weakens, the symptoms begin to emerge prominently. It is quite important that an infected person diagnoses these early HIV symptoms so that the treatment can be started early.
The early symptoms of HIV to watch out for in 2-4 weeks of infection are-
1. Rash and red patches all over the body
2. Frequent unexplained headaches
3. Unexpected loss of hunger
4. Enlarged lymph glands for more than three months.
5. Fatigue and aching joints for no reason at all
Other common signs of HIV infection that crop up later on are-
1. Persistently enlarged lymph nodes which are painful and cannot be treated
2. Sudden loss of weight for no reason at all
3. Night sweating with cramps and fever
4. Persistent vomiting and diarrhea not due to food and digestion problems
5. Difficulty in focusing with persistent headaches.
6. Genital dryness and frequent STDs
7. Frequent oral, skin and genital infections
8. Kaposi s sarcoma and other types of cancers
9. Opportunistic infections not commonly seen in humans
10. Neurological symptoms of short term memory loss, senility and eventual comas
Also, please note that if your are diagnosed HIV positive, do not consider this as your death sentence as medicine and research has developed ten times over the decade and people with HIV live up to 10 years and sometimes even more. Learn to accept the disease as part of your life and carry on. Read my article Living with HIV for more help!
Tags: aids, early hiv symptoms, early symptoms
15 Responses to “Early Signs and Symptoms of HIV”
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am in africa and do you have some of your branches in here so we acceess the inproved arvs
I was recently diagnosed with HIV, I no symptoms to my knowledge, at least none of the sing listed, however I recall having bump appear on various parts of my body, I worked approx 70 hors per week nad when i was off I drove about 80 miles round trip to visit my girlfriend.
I went to the doc complaing about a cold like sympton wet cough. He decided to do a HIV test which was positive. I don not feel any better that I felt before going to the doc. the medicine causes crazy dreams.
I feel just fine. But this is driving me crazy!!!
I meet this guy in August and we always had protected act till January. I found out he was HIV positive in April. He never told me a coworker of his told me. Between January and April I haven’t lost weight or anything but swollen neck glands in February for two days
Had act with a girl afternoon,is it possible having symptoms same day or next day or three days after? Please explain in detail, thanks
Body takes 3 to 6 months to produce enough antibodies against HIV. Presence of these antibodies confirms if a person is HIV positive or not. So, you should wait 6 months if you want to get tested only once. Or you may get yourself tested after 3 months and then after 6 months to be 100% sure.
had act with many girls with protection,do u think there is a chance to infected hiv even if i go out with many .
I think you should be fine as long as you use co-nd@m. Just be careful not to smooch these girls.
home hiv test ? what is it where can i get in india.what will b its cost.how can i test my hiv status.
My friends,
I beg that you stop living in fear and go get tested. There is even the home HIV test kit you can purchase online if you want to be private. Know you status and then from there you can deal with. I assure you one thing if your’re positive the HIV symptoms will show and increase worse/ If negative you’ll get yourself sick of being in fear….. ” Get Tested” Bottom Line.
hi i had act with a guy as a g#y relationship.do i get h.i.v? and i am married too..plz help me
Well, the only way to find this out is to get yourself tested. Don’t worry, get yourself better and get rid of this fear..
m i a hiv patient…? dont know about it?
Get yourself checked. Many people get themselves checked for HIV, its no longer a taboo. If you are tested negative, you will be relieved. If the result is positive, you can start medication early an live a healthy life for several years.
Had unprotected sex with a guy in july 2010, resulted in preg. had to abort. I flowed for almost 3months, was given antibiotics and other hormonal drugs, just finished one, i also treated fever, of recent am having frequent headache, throat pains etc. Am scared. Hope am not infected with hiv
I have unprotected sex with this girl on 14 October 2010. However i suffered dry cough since quite some time ago…It had been chronic until now and only last week 4 Nov 2010 i have seen the GP. But i tried cough syrup, flu medicine, antibiotics. and i have changed doctor to hospital’s doctor… they did some blood test and said it could be a viral infection, i understood that they might not have done any HIV test because it is different.
The blood test result says viral infection on white blood cells, and the blood count is still alright. it all started with this cough around 14 oct 2010. I dont think this cough is a cause from the unprotected sex…
however i hope my case is a dengue fever and not a HIV