A Sexually Transmitted Infection
Katie Salerno/Flickr Creative Commons
If you have a sexually transmitted infection , there is a chance you may have HIV as well.
Some STIs like syphilis and herpes cause open sores that make it easier for HIV to get inside the body.
STIs like gonorrhea and chlamydia cause inflammation in the genitals that attract the immune cells that HIV likes to target and infect.
Having syphilis can increase your risk of HIV by as much as 500%. Other STIs can also raise your risk for HIV. You should be tested for HIV if you test positive for any STI.
Symptom : Fatigue And Headache
The inflammatory response generated by your besieged immune system can cause you to feel tired and lethargic. Sometimes it can make you feel winded while walking or generally feel out of breath. Fatigue can be both an early and later symptom of HIV.
There are several things that can cause a person to feel fatigued, so pay attention to your body and your lifestyle to see if you can draw a conclusion. If your fatigue persists, seek advice from your doctor.
I Take My Meds Every Day What Else Could Make Me Tired
HIV isnt the only reason you may feel exhausted though. If youre feeling tired, it might be because everything else youre dealing can drain your battery.
These are some of the reasons you might feel worn out, regardless of your HIV status:
- Emotions. Feeling depressed, frightened, or anxious tires you out more quickly than if you feel happy, confident, or carefree.
- Drug abuse. Partying too hard on Saturday gives you a massive hangover that sucks up your energy all day Sunday.
- Side effects. Some medications are known to cause fatigue, including some HIV meds
- Anemia. Anemia is when your red blood cell count is too low. This can cause fatigue because your body isnt getting enough oxygen to key organs and muscles. People with chronic illnesses, like HIV, are at an increased risk of Anemia.
- Poor diet. Eating lots of junk food and not getting enough of the right nutrients forces the body to work extra hard, which drains your energy.
- Lack of exercise. Staying inactive for hours at a time actually makes you feel more tired.
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Finding The Cause Of Fatigue
When you have fatigue due to HIV, your doctor may want to do some tests to find why you are so tired. You may have one or more of the following:
- Blood tests for anemia and hormone levels
- Tests to check your kidneys, liver, and electrolyte levels
- Review of all medicines to see if they are causing your fatigue
- Discussion of your sleep and exercise habits
Ways To Avoid Fatigue In Hiv Patients
HIV or the human immunodeficiency virus is a virus which causes HIV infection and leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. HIV affects a person in various ways over time. HIV patients are commonly characterized by tiredness and intense fatigue. There are many causes, which lead to fatigue and there are ways to reduce fatigue as well.
- HIV virus as a cause of fatigue: HIV is a long-term infection in nature, and our body provides strong immunity to respond the virus. A lot of energy is capitalized for constantly fighting against the HIV. Fatigue slowly develops as a result of this. Some HIV patients have a high viral load and are likely to develop more fatigue. Energy is regained after starting HIV treatment.
- HIV treatment as a cause of fatigue: Anti-HIV drugs help to improve energy levels in patients, but they lead to fatigue as well. These medicines include a lot of side effects such as tiredness and excess fatigue. These side effects are more common in the early phase of treatment.
In order to avoid this fatigue, you may change your mode of treatment or consult your doctor for a change in your medical prescription. Medicines such as cotrimoxazole, dapsone, pyrimethamine, toxoplasmosis and ganciclovir lead to fatigue. Folic acid can be an alternative. Blood transfusion can also be conducted to treat fatigue due to medicines, which produces a quick burst of red blood cells. Injecting a hormone named erythropoietin also stimulates red blood cell production.
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The Most Common Symptoms Of Seroconversion Are:
- rash over the body.
Seroconversion is a sign that the immune system is reacting to the presence of the virus in the body. Its also the point at which the body produces antibodies to HIV. Once seroconversion has happened, an HIV test will detect antibodies and give a positive result.
Seroconversion illness happens to most people shortly after infection. It can be severe enough to put someone in hospital or so mild that its mistaken for something like flu although a blocked or runny nose is not usually a symptom.
If you do have HIV, your body fluids are highly infectious during the early weeks and months after transmission. However, once youre on effective treatment and your viral load becomes undetectable you cannot pass on HIV.
It can take up to six months from starting treatment to become undetectable.
Hiv Testing And Pregnancy
Among the few groups of people who are virtually always tested for HIV are pregnant women. Unfortunately, many women receive their HIV diagnosis during pregnancy. Their health care provider may not have offered them an HIV test, or the woman may not have believed she needed one, because of misconceptions about HIV risk. Although pregnancy may be a hard time to find out that you are living with HIV, most of the HIV medications now available are safe to take during pregnancy. With treatment, women and other birthing parents living with HIV can have healthy pregnancies and births, and the chance that their babies will acquire HIV is less than 1 percent.
Getting tested is the only way to find out if you are living with HIV. While testing can feel intimidating or scary, if you do test positive for the virus, you can get the treatment you need to thrive with HIV.
The only ways a person can acquire HIV are:
- Re-using and sharing needles or other equipment for injecting drugs
- Unprotected/unsafe sex, which means:
- sex without using condoms or other barriers, such as dental dams
- sex when an HIV-negative partner is not taking pre-exposure prophylaxis as prevention
- sex when a partner living with HIV is not taking HIV drugs and/or has a detectable viral load , and none of the prevention tools above are used
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What To Do About Fatigue
Its important to listen to your body, recognize when youre feeling a little run down, and know what you can do to get your energy back.
Lets go through each of the causes we mentioned above and talk about solutions:
- Deal with your emotional symptoms. Anxiety and depression are natural reactions to stressful situations, such as being diagnosed with HIV. They can be treated with therapy and medications. Dont let people tell you its all in your head, these things are real and can cause physical symptoms as well! Talk to a health professional and look into meditation, yoga, and other natural ways to improve your mood.
- Dont party so hard. Having fun is good for your emotions but try not to lean on alcohol and recreational drugs when youre partying. Your Saturday nights dont have to ruin your Sundays.
- Get serious about diet and exercise. These two go together. Using better fuel and staying active are important for your health. Going on walks and working your way into an exercise rhythm will improve your mood, keep your heart healthy, and help you beat fatigue. The more you sit around, the more tired you will feel.
- Talk to your doctor about side effects. Its important to consider side effects when talking to your doctor about starting any medication.
- Get tested for anemia. Common tests can measure your red blood cell count to see if youre anemic. You may be able to change your diet or do other things to treat anemia.
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Biological Underpinnings Clinical Interventions
Although the biological underpinnings of fatigue in HIV are still unclear, Campbell points to three theories: 1) modulation by thalamo-striato-cortical circuitry that involve the basal ganglia, 2) inflammation , and 3) mitochondrial dysfunction. However, without a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms, it might be difficult to design specific treatments or treatment strategies.
Still even without specific approved pharmacological treatments for fatigue in older PWH, it’s important to address it as well as cognition during routine clinical visits.
Judith Lee
“The association between fatigue and cognition and everyday function is really meaningful for our patients it impacts their daily life every single day,” said Judith Lee, NP, an adult gerontology nurse practitioner at the University of Maryland Institute of Human Virology’s THRIVE Program in Baltimore. Lee was not involved in the study.
“In our practice, we always ask patients if they are experiencing fatigue as part of their review of systems,” she said, noting that, after ruling out other causes such as Vitamin D deficiency or hypothyroidism, “we’ve had patients get referred to outside sites for neuropsych testing.”
But Lee acknowledged that, without more research, fatigue in HIV is “a difficult fix.”
“There’s also a number of things that can keep the brain healthy or support brain health in general,” Campbell added “things like physical activity, healthy nutrition, and good regular sleep.”
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Symptom : Swollen Lymph Nodes Achy Muscles And Joint Pain
Lymph nodes are part of your bodys immune system and protect your blood by getting rid of bacteria and viruses. They tend to get inflamed when theres an infection. Many of them are located in your armpit, groin and neck which can result in aches and pains in these areas.
Given these symptoms are common across many viral infections, they alone are not a reliable way to determine if the infection you are experiencing is HIV.
Symptom : Nausea Vomiting And Diarrhoea
Many people experience digestive system problems as a symptom of the early stages of HIV. However, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea can also appear in later stages of infection, usually as the result of an opportunistic infection.
It is important to stay hydrated. Diarrhoea that is unremitting and not responding to usual therapy might be an indication of HIV, and it would be best to seek the advice of a doctor to help determine its cause.
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What Can Effective Hiv Treatment Do
HIV medication keeps you healthy so you can live a normal lifespan.
Treatment can also reduce your viral load to undetectable levels so that you wont be able to pass on HIV to anyone else. It can take up to six months from starting treatment to become undetectable, so its important to test and start treatment on time.
Listen To Your Body Regarding Rest
Allowing your body to rest when needed is just as important as being active enough. As one member shared, I do my best to rest when my body is tired. I dont stress about being tired or fatigued. It is just part of living with HIV I dont push the limits of my body too far, but enough to get my heart rate up and break a sweat. I do have days where my body just isnt there. So I dont push it and certainly dont stress over this.
Letting yourself rest can play an important role in self-care while living with HIV. One myHIVteam member shared the following advice: What Ive been working on lately is listening to my body, pushing through when I need to, but making sure I rest when my body tells me to rest. For me, giving myself the care I would give to someone else is not easy, but I am practicing self-compassion. It does get easier with practice.
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Stage : Clinical Latency
In this stage, the virus still multiplies, but at very low levels. People in this stage may not feel sick or have any symptoms. This stage is also called chronic HIV infection.
Without HIV treatment, people can stay in this stage for 10 or 15 years, but some move through this stage faster.
If you take HIV medicine exactly as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load, you can live and long and healthy life and will not transmit HIV to your HIV-negative partners through sex.
But if your viral load is detectable, you can transmit HIV during this stage, even when you have no symptoms. Its important to see your health care provider regularly to get your viral load checked.
Battling Idiopathic Hiv Fatigue
When the source of fatigue cant be linked to depression, insomnia, drug reactions, or other causes, its said to be idiopathic HIV fatigue. This means the cause of fatigue is unknown.
Idiopathic HIV fatigue is common, but its hard to predict. A person living with HIV may experience it at any point in the day, or, they may go days without feeling tired. The use of stimulants such as methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine may be helpful for some people. A healthcare provider may prescribe them for everyday use or just when one first begins to notice fatigue.
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What Are Some Basic Things To Know About Hiv And The Body
HIV is a chronic health condition. At the moment, no cure is available for HIV, though researchers are working on that. What we do have available, right now, are many treatments that are extremely good at keeping HIV under control in peoples bodies. They are easy to take, with few or no side effects. These medications are helping millions of people with HIV live as long and as fully as if they did not have HIV . If their HIV treatment is working, then the chance is zero that they can pass on HIV during sex.
What Are The Factors That Affect Disease Progression
The most important factor affecting HIV progression is the ability to achieve viral suppression. Taking antiretroviral therapy regularly helps many people slow the progression of HIV and reach viral suppression.
However, a variety of factors affect HIV progression, and some people progress through the phases of HIV more quickly than others.
Factors that affect HIV progression can include:
- Ability to achieve viral suppression. Whether someone can take their antiretroviral medications and achieve viral suppression is the most important factor by far.
- Age when symptoms start. Being older can result in faster progression of HIV.
- Health before treatment. If a person had other diseases, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis C, or other sexually transmitted diseases , it can affect their overall health.
- Timing of diagnosis. Another important factor is how soon a person was diagnosed after they contracted HIV. The longer between their diagnosis and treatment, the more time the disease has to progress unchecked.
- Lifestyle. Practicing an unhealthy lifestyle, such as having a poor diet and experiencing severe stress, can cause HIV to progress more quickly.
- Genetic history. Some people seem to progress more quickly through their disease given their genetic makeup.
Some factors can delay or slow the progression of HIV. These include:
Living a healthy lifestyle and seeing a healthcare provider regularly can make a big difference in a persons overall health.
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Study Design Setting And Population
An institutional-based cross-sectional design study was conducted from March to May 2019 at the ART clinic, University of Gondar Specialized Comprehensive Hospital . The hospital is found in Gondar town at 748km far from Addis Ababa, a capital city of Ethiopia, to the northwest, at an altitude of 2706 m above sea level. UOGSCH is a 550 bedded multidisciplinary specialised governmental teaching hospital. Presently, it provides healthcare services to more than 5million urban and rural inhabitants in its catchment area. The HIV care unit and ART clinic started in 2003. As of 2018, this institution has served about 11277 people living with HIV, on average 90130 patients every working day. This hospital provides cost-free HIV testing, CD4 count monitoring regularly, medical consultations, counselling and ART medications. Each participant signed the written consent before participation. Adult HIV seropositive outpatients diagnosed by the infectious disease physicians and registered in ART clinic, both genders aged 18 and above, lived in the sampled region for 6 months, conscious and able to speak Amharic and attending UOGSCH ART clinic were eligible for inclusion. Pregnant women, individuals with cognitive impairment and hospitalised HIV-positive patients were excluded from participation. During the sample enrolment interval , 3526 HIV-seropositive individuals registered in the ART clinic, UOGSCH.
Data Collection Tool And Procedures
The tool was adopted from Fatigue Severity Scale for measuring fatigue intensity, and Insomnia Severity Index for measuring insomnia. Data on socio-demographic, disease and treatment related characteristics, psychosocial and personal characteristics were collected with interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Data abstraction format was also used to collect data from patients medical record. Depression was measured by using patients questionnaire-9, and there was some modification in question number 9. Question number 9 Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way was modified to Thoughts of hurting yourself in some way, if yes, how far then according to their response they were asked to grade it. Data were collected by seven bachelor of science degree holder nurses and supervised by two physiotherapists. Study participants who had severe fatigue were advised to visit physiotherapy department as soon as possible.
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