HIV AIDS - Recognize and Stay Safe
AIDS is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which is a disease caused by a virus known as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). HIV is a fatal virus that attacks the white blood cells in the body. The white blood cells are there in the body as the body’s army against ailments and diseases. It fights off infections. When an HIV has invaded a human body, it means that it is wiping off the white blood cells off your body thus making it vulnerable to any and every kind of disease. Now there are symptoms that are an open warning that you might have an infection. You cannot tell if it’s HIV just from those symptoms but they warn you to get some tests.
• You first start to get weary without cause. This weariness is not sleep let me tell you. This is a kind of fatigue that is still going to be there after a good long night of sleep. A certain weariness does not necessarily mean that you have HIV but it is one of the complaints that patients suffering from AIDS made. If you are experiencing something like this you need to dig into it.
• Another symptom you need to be on lookout for is excessive night seating and fever. Now what often happens is that people overlook these symptoms as simple effects of cold but if you are experiencing them continuously then that might be the symptoms of early stages of HIV starting to intrude in your body. You might be starting to feel chilly without reason and it’s even warm outside. This too rings a bell.
• Rashes and swollen nodes sometimes begin to appear at the neck or armpits or someplace else on the body. These swollen glands are alarming. Now this is a symptom not every HIV patient shows but if it shows then it is definitely something to be worried about.
• Muscle aches and sore throat again look harmless and one might just go to sleep after taking an aspirin thinking it’s just over exertion and nothing else but these too are one of the initial side effects of HIV in one’s body.
• Patients have also been seen with irregular attacks of diarrhea and nausea. Vomiting too is often seen as a side effect. You might also suffer from stomachache.
• You need to be very observant of any ulcers too if they show up, especially if you normally don’t have a history of ulcers. Ulcer with other of the symptoms mentioned is a red flag.
• As the HIV gets more powerful and advances in the body, you might starting to get dry cough. Now dry cough is something people just ignore associating it with something related to the weather or allergy. But if you have a dry cough that’s originated due to this virus then it just won’t go away with your normal anti-allergy syrups.
• You may get pneumonia too and that might happen because the HIC is affecting your defence system against these ailments. People with a higher stage of AIDs are going to suffer pneumonia caused by some germs which normally won’t have a significant effect on the body.
• Rapid weight loss without a reason is a way of HIV infecting your body. If you begin to lose weight rapidly you, then you have entered a stage of HIV known as ‘wasting’.
• HIV in later stages begins to affect your brain too. The brain damage can be seen in situations like memory loss or depression. These symptoms might be due to some serious advance of HIV in your body or due to any other reason that needs to be addressed.
HIV is dangerous and precaution is better than cure. In order to fight this curse we have a number of precautions to take.
• Don’t indulge yourself in unsafe and unhealthy sex.
• Don’t share needles or syringes with anyone. Always use a new needle and dispose off the old one. Rather you shouldn’t even use the same razor. Change the blade after one customer.
• If you have the slightest doubt that you might be experiencing one of the symptoms then don’t wait for something. Just go to the nearest doctor and have yourself tested. Better be safe than sorry.
