You can become infected and not have real symptoms that would trigger a thought, oh I should go get tested, for years and years and years, until you do. Until the virus has quietly been attacking your immune system, and you hit that threshold where your immune system is weak enough where all of a sudden, you’re sick all the time. I want to catch people early, when they have no symptoms they had no idea because when we start treatment on people early, they have longer lives, they do better, and they don’t have all of this inflammation in their bodies from just having virus there, replicating itself, and damaging their systems. They do much better.
Dr. Flash wants you to know that HIV can have NO symptoms, and that could go on for years! So don’t wait for a sign that you’re feeling sick. Getting tested for HIV (and other sexually transmitted diseases) on a routine basis is the best way to stay on top of your health and knowing exactly what’s going on in your body.
Click here for more HIV basics and click here to find HIV testing locations near you.