I am a 35 year old woman who has been living with the virus since 1/23/97. Last year I had a total hysterectomy. My right ovary was left in, but everything else was taken out. I did not go in for 2 to 3 days. I started with chronic pain for 3 weeks prior and told scans showed a mass and cyst in the lower abdominal area. I suffered with fever for 12 days. More test were done, Then I was told that they have to do a hysterectomy. There was a "spread" massively inside the abdominal walls and they needed to stop it before it spreads. History of Dysplasia, HOV. I have 2 children 3 & 7. Since the surgery 3/17/04 I lost 55 pounds while in the hospital recovering from surgery. Is the weight loss from HIV or both? I did not have any kind of appetite while there for 21 days. Please advise me what I can do to gain weight. Presently I am on Marinol and Ensure supplements. No weight gain in one year. What can be done? Is there any hope?

Major surgery of the type you describe certainly takes a toll on the body, especially if it is done on a semi-urgent basis, as yours was done. There may also be post-operative complications that can worsen the situation, and lead to more weight loss. This being said, your surgery was over a year ago, so it is a bit unusual for things like this to go on so long. Specific tests can be done to figure out whether anything is actually going on that needs attention and you should discuss this with your doctor.

HIV itself (or opportunistic infections that relate to HIV) can certainly be associated with weight loss. This is usually in people with low CD4 counts (200 or less) and there are also a number of tests to figure this out. Here again, you should talk to your doctor.

In the meantime, it is great that you are on Ensure. We often use Megace instead of (or in addition to) Marinol in this setting to help increase the appetite.

I wish you well....