Hi Dr Young. I hope you are well. I haven't posted for a while as i have been trying to get my head back on after diagnosis in august. I have now had 3 sets of labs..

August - CD4 284, 29%, V/L 98,000

September - CD4 330, 29%, V/L 257,000

November - CD4 282, 28%, V/L 306,000

I still feel fine, have not been sick, not even a runny nose, but my ID specialist thinks its time to start ARV's. I am seeing him later today to go over a few things and discuss treatment.

Would you aggree that its time to start ?

Thanks very much from the far east

Thanks for your post.

I'm in agreement with your doctor. If your in an emotional and physical space that will allow you to be adherent to HIV medications, I would also recommend starting combination HIV medications.

The best time to start, in my opinion, is before you develop any HIV-related symptoms, but have confirmed laboratory evidence of below normal CD4 cell counts. In your case, you've got several labs that document this (albeit with a not-too-bad CD4%) also with a quite high HIV viral load.

So, invest some time to talk to your doctor about all available options, then weigh the pros and cons of each.

Best of health to you, BY