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Please Note: Due to volume considerations, not all questions can be answered. Questions most likely to be answered will be those of general interest to a broad group of visitors to this forum. Questions pertaining to a specific case; requests for diagnosis, medical advice, or second opinion; or requests for opinions about untested alternative therapies will generally not be answered.

The participation of Dr. Ewald Horwath in this Forum is made possible by Boehringer Ingelheim.

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Curious
Sep 2, 2007

My brother, sister and I just found out our step father of 10 yrs has aids. He's had full blown aids for 7 yrs, we've often thought this could be what he was sick from, we've always known he was sick him and my mom just wouldn't tell us if fear they would lose us and our kids. This past week he made a sexual pass at a friend of the family who is young, that is SO NOT like him, he's been married to my mom for 10 yrs and it put us all in shock, when my brother and my mom who were there at the time it happened confronted him about this he just said "sorry it won't happen again" they said he had a blank look on his face then he left for 2hrs waited for my brother to leave then came and told my mom he loved her and he was sorry then left for 4hrs came back all cut up almost to the point of death, they called 911 and had him admitted to a psych ward. My mom got to see him the 48hr after this happen, he has no idea how long he's been there is very emotional and doesn't know why he did either of the thing he did. I know many people have ask different question about is this the end but i've been reading up on this and can't really get that question answered. I guess my question is of course he's gonna die, i've come to relize that but is this normal for someone thats about done? He's been fighting for 7yrs so I just wanna know if i should be prepared for him to die?

Response from Dr. Horwath

It's not possible to know exactly what's happening with him from this information. However, people with HIV do sometimes develop severe psychiatric or neurologic problems. One possible explanation for his behavior is an HIV induced manic episode, which can cause out of character behavior and inappropriate sexual behavior. This is a highly treatable illness and it does not mean that he is near death. In fact, he could well recover from this episode and return to his previous self.



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