Me and my partner both have aids but he is skinny and can't gain weight. His numbers are real good. But me, I'm overweight and its hard to lose weight(?). Usually you relate aids to real skinny skeleton looking people. Why am I fat? I'm suppose to be skinny. I have aids for Gods sake????????

My partner eats more than I do and my numbers are worse???? Please explain without saying its metabolism. I'm always constipated and my partner has diarrhea WHY???????????

Thank you, Curuious

What we know at this point is that people's bodies react differently to disease and even to food. HIV infection does not result in the same "picture" for everyone. You didn't start out the same (even if you had similar weights).

There are two different types of "skinny" and two different types of "fat" in people with HIV infection. Your partner may be skinny (I am assuming skinnier than before) because of either muscle or fat loss (or both). You may be heavier because of a gain in normal fat under the skin that happens when you eat more than your body needs or because of "visceral" fat that is layering in your belly, back, neck, or breasts because of changes in hormones. You can tell the difference in the types of fat gain in your belly because normal fat gain flattens out when you lie down while the abnormal fat is harder and doesn't flatten out. Abnormal fat deposits are more a problem of hormones not just calories.

As for the diarrhea versus constipation, that is likely to depend on medication differences, differences in the bacteria in your gut, or differences in the condition of your gut.

Suffice it to say, people are different and are likely to have some variance and even different manifestations of a disease, even though it seems like everyone should have the same thing if they have "AIDS."