9 years ago my daughter found out that she is HIV positive from a test performed during her pregnancy. She did really well until a few years ago when she had cervical cancer. After her surgery she had severe allergic reactions to 3 or 4 different antibiotics. These were so severe she could not breath etc. Then this year she had knee surgery and had a major allergic reaction to one of the pain medications. So severe that she had welts, was extremely swollen and couldnt breath. She was kept in the hospital for 5 days because the reaction kept coming back after the drugs for the reaction would wear off. She never had these before. Our question is, Is this a common problem for women with HIV?

I do not know of any data suggesting that women with HIV are more likely to have severe allergic reactions to medications compared to women without HIV. One of the questions I have is whether she had reactions to 3 or 4 different classes of antibiotics or whether she had some cross-reactivity which may occur with some antibiotics. You may want to consider having your daughter see an allergist, a physician who specializes in allergies. Some products may contain small amounts of chemicals or drugs and it would be helpful to have a list of products/drugs she should avoid.