This is really not a question but more of a diatribe. I HATE, HATE, HATE what these meds have done to my body and have tried everything, w/in reason, to make my body look better. Nutrition, Exercise and thousands of dollars of corrective surgery. And guess what? Nothing works.

I feel bad for the young people who are still, in 2009, getting infected. Trust me people, all of these meds will make you look freaky. They were designed to do that. It's not fun wearing pants and long sleeve shirts in 90 degree, humid weather. Please wake up and stop putting yourself at risk. These meds aren't getting any better when it comes to body fat changes.

I guarantee that if it comes out that these meds were, in fact, designed to produce these body changes, as a sort of stigma, I will start the largest class action lawsuit ever known, and it will include pharmaceutical companies, doctors, the body, scientific researchers, etc......

I mean really- yes I will live a fairly full life, but I will have to hide myself as much as possible to keep my status as unknown as possible. Thanks for giving me such a great life.

D

Your experience and frustration noted. Contrary to your bad experience, the vast majority of patients currently starting newer HIV regimens have minimal side effects and are not having the fat problems seen with earlier regimens. Aging, starting at a low CD4 count, time with HIV and other non drug factors (including genetics) contribute to risk for symptoms from treatment so starting treatment earlier often will decrease the risk for body shape side effects. Patients in our clinic who are experiencing what you describe are most often patients that have been treated for a long time with prior exposure to medications that did cause more body shape changes (while prolonging their life and otherwise protecting their health) as well as starting off with AIDS and now getting older--all factors that make the body shape problem more difficult to manage. KH