Hiv Rash

[ilovethelord]

I just asked a question a while ago regarding HIV symptoms!  Is the HIV rash itchy does it look like pimples, like I have 4 pimpls on my shoulder and a few on the other side and down my back and I am itchy all over.  Would HIV rash be accompanied by other syptoms or could it come alone and a while after exposure?

[stupiddumbgirlwhoshouldaknewbetter]

Rashes have a wide variety of causes (bacterial, fungal, viral etc) and are very, very common in this situation.  Yours is not an HIV rash.  Go and see your doctor because antibiotics or anti-fungals, for example, may be required if it is not cleared.  The Dermatology Community can also be very useful.

[Teak]

HIV rashes DO NOT itch.

[ilovethelord]

Just wondering does Hiv Rash itch or not? I have seen different answers and what can it look like?

[Morty92]

You cannot tell anything about HIV from symptoms you may or may not have.  This is because there are many other things which are far more common, and much easier to catch, which have exactly the same symptoms as HIV.    Even specialist HIV Doctors do not use symptoms to diagnose HIV infection.  So if they do not diagnose based on symptoms, image how hard it is for patients to self diagnose.   The only useful thing is to take a test.

[gluston]

Hey. I know this is hard to accept, but symptoms really mean nothing because they vary from person to person. All I can tell you is that ARS symptoms occur about 2-4 weeks after the exposure and typically last for a week or so. But these symptoms can be attributed to absolutely anything and that's why symptoms are simply no good at diagnosing HIV. The ONLY way you can know your status is to get tested 3 months after a possible exposure. Reading up on symptoms on the internet is just going to make you even more anxious. But I will tell you that if one does have ARS symptoms, usually they come on all at once, full-blown. BUT again, symptoms will not tell you anything about your status.