Though it doesn’t get the attention that it did 25 or 30 years ago, HIV is still a serious illness. There are many people who contract the virus that don’t recognise the symptoms, simply writing it off as another issue.
Being able to recognise the various signs and symptoms of HIV can mean getting the effective course of treatment. The goal in recognising those symptoms can mean treating the problem and potentially resisting new infection.
Symptoms, unfortunately, can mimic other common ailments that are not HIV. Being able to recognise the various symptoms is crucial to getting proper HIV testing.
The Most Common Symptoms
The first step is recognising HIV symptoms. For the most part, however, they are quite similar to the common cold. The most common symptoms of HIV are runny nose, feeling tired, sore throat, fever, and muscle or joint pain.
Over time, it can become apparent that it takes longer to recover from certain infections. This is because it takes the immune system longer to not only respond but to battle those infections. Recognising the symptoms can be difficult.
Knowing If You Have HIV
While those symptoms are also quite common in other ailments, it can set off alarms that something may be amiss. If you know that something is wrong, testing for HIV is the key to finding out definitively if that is the issue.
The only way to definitively determine whether or not you have HIV is through a blood test. If you are concerned with any of the symptoms that you are seeing, make sure to get a test as soon as possible. It can mean implementing an effective treatment sooner rather than later.
How Soon Do Symptoms Appear?
There are instances when it is possible to pinpoint a potential contraction time. That said, most people who have been infected with HIV start to see the symptoms anywhere between four and six weeks after infection.
That said, more than half of those people won’t have any symptoms at all. Testing is crucial to identify potential infection as symptoms may be delayed in showing or may not show up at all. It can be hard to assume HIV in any event, but having testing done after sexual experiences can be a good way to ensure that there are no instances where HIV is present without any knowledge.
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