POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Someone I Care About Has HIV => Topic started by: carpidiem10 on April 22, 2010, 12:34:42 am
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Hi all,
I was looking for some help about hair loss and HIV. A very close person to me has started to have rapid hair loss from around 5-6 weeks after the date where they had intercourse. They are really scared and can't really find an answer. They have been to several doctors who have said that it is alopecia of unknown origin. Would this be the case?
My question is this, can HIV cause rapid hair loss this early after exposure? Any help would be greatly appreciated to help this worried person.
Cheers
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OK so I am clear on this, has your friend tested postive for HIV? If not, as hard as it will be, the only thing that is going to make him feel better is getting tested. The anxiety from not knowing is not going to go away and even he gets a definitive diagnosis that the alopecia is caused from something else, next week he will develop a cough that in his mind will be PCP, a white color on his tongue that is thrush, and suddenly get more forgetful which almost surely is Aids related dementia. I have an autoimmune disease that can cause eye problems so when my vision got poor I did the only reasonable thing which was to quit going to the eye doctor and worry all the time. When I finally went a year later, I found out that I just needed glassess and it had nothing to do with my disease. What a waste of a year. Our minds do such crazy things when we are worried about things that the only way to make it better is to just bite the bullet and get it done. Just my opinion
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PCP after 5 or 6 weeks? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if he gets PCP soon, he would've already been POZ for quite some time. I hardly see someone who is recently infected (if this person is even poz at all) having PCP and AIDS related dimensia so early. But I'm not sure.
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I hardly see someone who is recently infected (if this person is even poz at all) having PCP and AIDS related dimensia so early. But I'm not sure.
Stone was just suggesting how diem10's "friend" could conflate any little symptom into being HIV-related if he's already jumping to the conclusion that the hair loss is HIV-related. We see this kind of behaviour all the time in the Am I Infected? forum. People assume all sorts of "symptoms" to be HIV-related when they could just be "symptoms" of life in general.
diem10, has your "friend" tested positive for HIV? if not, this question should have been posted in the "Am I Infected" forum. Since you say 5-6 weeks after the intercourse, I believe you are trying to link your friend's symptoms to HIV, rather than telling your friend the only way to be sure about his HIV-status is to have an HIV test. You friend also needs to know that using condoms for anal or vaginal sex is the only way to prevent possibly getting infected with HIV. If your friend is worried about HIV because he's losing hair a couple months after unprotected sex, he probably is barking up the wrong tree for the cause of his hair loss.
hair loss in and of itself is not an HIV symptom (though it can be from some of the meds or perhaps long-term HIV infection). You don't mention your friend's age or any heredity traits. Regular hair loss can come about at nearly any age and at any rate. Your friend's best plan should be to get tested for HIV, and once that is ruled out, continue to consult other doctors about his hair loss. If your friend does test positive for HIV, the appropriate doctor (infectious disease/HIV) can determine how high the viral load is, and whether your friend has been infected long enough (in terms of years) to even consider the hair loss as HIV-related rather than normal hair loss which happens to many people - if not nearly all people - hiv positive and negative.
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I had hair loss for a few months after my seroconversion (which was around 4 weeks after the exposure) but again the doctor said this was not hiv specific and may just have been from extreme anxiety. EIther way your friend needs to test first.
I don't know what it was like for other people but my seroconversion was severe to the point that I couldn't get out of bed for nearly 2 weeks, couldn't eat and felt like my head was going to explode. I had no idea what it was at the time and honestly thought I was dying. My point is that even with the severity, several trips to the doctor and to A&E none of them thought to consider it might be seroconversion, the symptoms were that of 'flu'. I tested positive 3 weeks afterwards.
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As is the case with everything that seems "out of the norm" I always wonder if it is HIV related. I had some hair loss but frankly I just think it's genetics. There are plenty of poz guys and gals with a full head of hair.
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I've moved this thread into AM I INFECTED until you clarify whether you or your friend is actually HIV positive or not. If you and he are both negative, then you should not be posting in the other sections of the Forum.
Please clarify.
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Sorry for the late reply. Yes he is.
Can anyone give any information if the hair loss can start so soon after being diagnosed?
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carpi,
Yes, hiv can cause hair loss, see this:
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102214998.html
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/aids-hiv/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100198101
Have your friend consult again with the doctor.
v
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Veritas,
thanks for the links. The doctor seems to not be too switched on from what I can gather so might not be the best source at the moment. My friend was recently diagnosed, believing that it was event in january that gave positive status.
As the articles say, hiv can indeed cause hair loss as a result of the virus itself. Can this happen as soon as five or so weeks after seroconversion?
Thanks,
Carpi
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carpi,
Do you know what your friend's cd4 count, viral load, and cd4% is ?
These numbers could give some inkling as to how long your friend has been positive. Not guaranteed, but if your friend has a very low cd4 percentage, this could mean the virus was in the body for awhile.
I don't know if hair loss can occur that quickly, however, if there is some other issue causing the hair loss, hiv doesn't help.
v
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I had hairloss that quickly which I put down to a mix of stress and antibiotics that I'd been on while in hospital. It came out in small clumps which was very noticable. I used a hair loss product that I bought over the counter and within a week of using it my hair stopped falling out and I now have far more than i need!
Leese
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I've never had a problem with hair loss. If anything it grows faster and thicker as I get even older.
If I were to shave my chest hair and stomach, I may be able to soak up a gallon or two of Gulf oil with it.
Ray
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Low thyroid levels (hypothyroidism) can cause hair dryness and hair loss, not a bad idea to get that checked.
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I had severe hair loss during my seroconversion sickness. It feel out in clumps and I had to get it cut a certain way to cover the bald spots. At the time though, I thought the hair loss was a reaction to an antibiotic they had given me for "whatever illness" was causing me to be sick. At the time my doctors said nothing about possible hiv infection even with my full medical history (including the rape). They said I had a severe strep infection and possibly valley fever...I was sick for over two months with hair loss, high fevers, horrible skin rashes and swollen lymph nodes in my neck and behind my ears.
Hair loss may not happen to everyone but it was definitely one of my symptoms.