Women, HIV, and Weight Loss

Women, HIV, and Weight Loss

Society's glamorizing of thin women might lead doctors -- and some women with HIV -- not to be alarmed by unplanned weight loss. Any weight loss that is unplanned and can't be explained should be cause for alarm. Your weight should be monitored with the same watchful eye as your lab results.

Malnutrition and weight loss are common problems with HIV disease. Malnutrition can result from loss of appetite and food intake due to depression, fatigue, illness or side effects from therapy. Without monitoring, it can persist undetected for a long time.

Weight loss is an obvious sign of malnutrition. It can begin and become severe anywhere in the course of HIV infection, though it's an increasing threat when CD4+ cell counts fall below 100. Wasting is an extreme type of weight loss and is an unexplained loss of 10% or more of a person's normal weight.