[Question #11529] Symptoms hiv

13 months ago

Im a 35 year old female living in mexico, i have a partner that i know was very promiscuous , we have been having unprotected sex for the last six months, and 2 weeks ago i had sore throat no fever and the last week i developed a very itchy rash thats appearing in my legs, hands and soles, the rash comes and goes, i already went to the dermatologist and told me it was acute urticaria, and has asked me to take some blood tests to rule out some unresolved infection and also told me that maybe is stress thats causing the hives, so i started worrying that maybe its ars or symptoms of hiv

Im worried, what do you think?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

13 months ago

Welcome back -- but I'm a bit confused. You describe yourself as female, but your previous question nearly two years ago indicates otherwise.

Your symptoms re not suggestive of ARS, which doesn't typically cause urticaria (hives). This is most commonly due to some sort of allergic reaction.

But since you're worried about HIV, get tested. A negative result at this time won't prove you were not infected with HIV, but it WILL prove your symptoms are not caused by HIV. The symptoms of ARS are not caused by HIV itself, but by the immune response -- which is indicated by the antibody test. Therefore, a negative HIV test would show that something else is the cause of the urticaria.

I'll be happy to comment further if you'd like to get tested and post your result. But for now, I really don't think you should be worried about HIV.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

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13 months ago

Sorry doc, my friend let me use his user buy im femaleo

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

13 months ago

That's fine, I don't care. But is my reply helpful? (Apparently we're both online simultaneously. Most users don't get real-time replies!)

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13 months ago

Sorry doc, feel asleep, had night sweats but no fever, and the hives wont go away, ill get tested

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

13 months ago

Have whatever tests the dermatologist ordered. Given the sexual events described, it would make sense to include gonorrhea/chlamydia from all exposed sites (vagina, maybe throat and rectum) and blood tests for HIV and syphilis. No other STD testing is needed.

Threads normally are closed after two follow-up exchanges, and we're there -- but I'll leave it open so you can let me know the STD results (and other lab results, if you like). But I won't have any further comments until then. Good luck.

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