Symptoms of HIV

Symptoms of HIV

• High fever
• Sore throat
• Headache
• Rash
• Chest infection or cough
• Mouth ulcers
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Large lymph glands in neck, armpits and groins
• Pains in the joints or muscles

You can see that the symptoms of HIV infection are very similar to the symptoms of any disease caused by infection such as tonsillitis, chest infection, influenza etc. All of these are much more common and it is much more likely that if you do have these that they are not early symptoms of HIV but symptoms due to something else. Anxiety itself is a powerful condition and can persuade people that they have symptoms which in fact they don't.

The important thing is to avoid putting yourself in a position where you might have to worry about the early symptoms of HIV, in general this means using a condom for penetrative sex - whether anal or vaginal. If you use a condom and it stays on and does not rip then the chances of HIV infection are almost zero.

If you don't use a condom or it breaks then it might be an idea to consider using Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). This is a one month course of anti-HIV medications designed to try to interrupt new infections with HIV. It is best taken as early as possible after an unsafe episode. It is available from us, but is expensive privately, or free of charge from a GUM clinic or an Accident Dept in the UK