HIV Symptoms in Women
What are the HIV Symptoms in Women?
HIV symptoms in women can be different from those in men. Some signs are more common or only happen in women, especially as HIV progresses.
- Menstrual Changes
Some women infected with HIV may experience changes in their menstrual cycles. This can mean irregular periods. The timing and length of their cycles become unpredictable. Their bleeding volumes may also change. They experience significantly heavier or much lighter bleeding than they are normally used to. In some cases, women may even miss periods altogether.
Some signs of HIV in women might mean intensified premenstrual symptoms (PMS). This could reflect mood swings, bloating, or fatigue, becoming more frequent than they were before. HIV or other infections can change a woman’s hormones. These hormone changes can then lead to changes in her periods.
- Frequent Vaginal Infections
Yeast infections: Many women who have HIV find that they keep getting vaginal yeast infections again and again. These are caused by an overgrowth of yeast. You might notice a thick, white discharge coming from the vagina. Another symptom of such infections is that they cause burning and pain during sexual activity. Some women also feel discomfort when they urinate.
Bacterial vaginosis: This is another type of vaginal infection that is more common in women with HIV. This happens when there is an imbalance of the normal bacteria in the vagina. The symptoms of bacterial vaginosis can include a watery discharge, which is a little different from a yeast infection. It mostly has a noticeable fishy odor. There might also be some itching or pain in the vaginal area.
- Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
Having HIV can make it easier to get other sexually transmitted infections, or STIs. It can also make these infections worse than they would be otherwise. Some STIs can be more common than others. These are genital herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
These infections can cause several different symptoms, such as:
- Pain when you have sex.
- Pain in your lower belly.
- A fever can also occur.
- Blisters or open sores on your genitals.
- A vaginal discharge that looks or smells unusual.
What are the Early HIV Symptoms?
Often, when someone first gets HIV, they might not notice any signs at all. Or, they might have very mild symptoms. For many people, the first stage of HIV is called “acute HIV infection.” This usually starts about 2 to 4 weeks after the virus enters the body.
During this time, the virus begins to make many copies of itself. It slowly spreads throughout the body. The body’s defense system tries to fight back, which feels the same as flu like symptoms. Its symptoms can last for a few days or even a few weeks.
These early signs can be similar to what you feel when you have other common viral infections. They might include:
- Feeling hot (fever)
- Getting the shivers (chills)
- Night sweats
- Feeling very tired or having no energy
- Having a headache
- Pain in your muscles and joints
- A sore throat
- Mouth sores
- Swollen lymph nodes (little bumps you can feel, especially in your neck, under your arms, or in your groin area)
- Rashes on your skin
- Loose stools (diarrhea)
- Weight loss for no apparent reason
- A stubborn cough
It is easy to think these symptoms are just a result of a regular illness. However, even if they seem mild or do not visibly appear, the amount of virus in the body is usually very high during this early stage. This means it is easier to pass the virus on to someone else at this time, even if the person with HIV does not feel very sick.
What are the Symptoms of HIV-Positive Pregnant Woman?
If a woman is HIV positive, the symptoms she experiences are generally the same whether she is pregnant or not. The HIV symptoms female patients may face include a fever, feeling very tired, and swollen glands. They may also face a sore throat and skin rashes.
Pregnant women who have HIV have a greater risk of catching another infection called HPV (human papillomavirus). HPV is spread through sexual contact and can cause genital warts. It can also increase the risk of some types of cancer. Usually, HPV does not directly harm the baby. However, it might cause some problems during pregnancy, like going into labor too early or making genital warts grow faster. In very rare situations, HPV could be passed to the baby during birth.
Treatment and Protecting the Baby
If a pregnant woman has HIV, doctors give her medicine to lower the amount of the virus in her body. Sometimes, they do a C-section to protect the baby during birth. This can make it less likely for the baby to get HIV from the mother. The baby might also get medicine after birth. The mother needs to keep taking her medicine to stay healthy. It also prevents her from passing HIV to others.
What are the HIV Symptoms in Transgender Females?
Transgender women who have HIV often feel the same illnesses as other women. They might get flu-like symptoms. Their glands can swell up. They could lose weight quickly or notice changes in their skin. Sometimes their mood might change too.
There are some discussions about whether HIV medicine and hormone medicine might affect each other. But doctors usually say it is important for transgender women to keep getting their hormone treatment even after they find out they have HIV.
Symptoms of AIDS in Women
AIDS (Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is the very serious, final stage of having HIV. If HIV is not treated, it can turn into AIDS. This happens when the body’s immune system becomes very weak.
One of the big signs of AIDS is when someone’s CD4 cells (a type of white blood cell) get really low. Think of CD4 cells as important fighter cells in your body. When they drop below a specific number, it shows that AIDS weakens your immune system a lot. Usually, these fighter cells should be much higher.
When this happens, the body can not fight off infections and certain types of cancer very well. They could experience different types of symptoms mentioned above. So, Sores might keep coming back in the mouth or private areas. They could get unusual rashes or skin patches. Some women might even have memory problems. Do not miss the symptoms of aids in women.
Treatment and Diagnosis of HIV
Doctors use different tests to see if someone has HIV. The most common ones are blood tests that look for signs that your body is fighting the virus. These are called antigen/antibody tests. But these tests might not find HIV in the early stage.
If doctors need to check for HIV very early on, they can use another kind of test called a NAT test. Nihongo Achievement Test (NAT) looks for the actual virus in the blood.
How is HIV treated?
Right now, there is no way to completely get rid of HIV. But there is an effective medication called antiretroviral therapy, or ART for short. This can help control the virus. People on ART take a mix of different pills that stop the virus from making more copies of itself in the body.
Some of the common types of these medicines are:
- Ones that block the virus from copying itself (NRTIs and NNRTIs).
- Ones that stop new viruses from being made (Protease Inhibitors).
- Ones that stop the virus from getting inside our body’s cells (Integrase Inhibitors and Entry/Fusion Inhibitors).
Most people take just one pill each day that has a mix of these medicines in it. If someone takes their ART medicine regularly, it can lower the amount of virus in their body so much that it can not even be detected in HIV tests.
Protect Your Health
Sometimes, early symptoms of HIV in women are easy to miss, like just a flu. Or there might be no signs at all. So, if you think you were exposed, getting tested is a good idea. Early diagnosis and treatment really help women stay healthy. It also lowers the chances of passing HIV on. If you are having symptoms, chatting with a doctor can help you figure things out and feel better.
FAQs
HIV can weaken immunity. This sometimes shows in nails as dark lines, yellowing, ridges, or fungal issues.
You can not tell if a female has HIV just by looking; only an HIV test can confirm it. However, symptoms can highlight the chances of HIV. These are constant tiredness, fever, rash, and night sweats..
HIV can hide for a long time, often without making you feel sick for many years.
You can have HIV for many years, maybe even 8 to 10 or longer, and not realize it because symptoms may not appear at the start.
There is no cure for HIV yet, but starting treatment early with ART can really help keep it under control.
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is a general term for an infection that can develop anywhere in the urinary system, including the urethra, bladder, ureters, or kidneys. Cystitis, on the other hand, is an infection strictly in the urinary bladder. Not all UTIs are cystitis, but all cases of cystitis are UTIs. Pelvic discomfort, burning when peeing, and frequent urine are all signs of cystitis. If this bladder infection is not treated, it may turn into a dangerous kidney infection called pyelonephritis.