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Chronic Disease ?
#164406 - 11/17/05 12:28 AM
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Hello All,
I'm a 44 year young male, + for 5 yrs now. Still on the same meds the whole time (combivir/sustiva) though I will switch soon due to lipoatrophy coming on.
My Doc says this is viewed as a chronic condition now. Is he somewhat jiving me? Anyone read any studies on the average survival time nowadays?
Thanks, doug
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ny10001
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Grand Master
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Reged: 07/08/05
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Posts: 199
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Loc: New York
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Your doctor is correct. It is now considered a chronic condition. As long as you adhere to your treatment regimen, you can live a healthy and long life (as in...normal or very near normal). The lipo-atrophy is probably coming from the AZT in the Combivir. You can usually swap Combivir for Truvada which is not linked with lipo-atrophy. Truvada only has to be taken once per day just like Sustiva. (it also has less toxicity...good for the long run).
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ScotCharles
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Legend
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Reged: 05/06/05
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Posts: 924
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Loc: Los Angeles
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There are no dependable studies of longevity among the HIV infected, simply because AIDS has been a "chronic" condition for such a short period of time. For myself, I believe that HIV has a limit as to survivability in large part due to the toxic effects of the medications, the ability of the virus to exist in areas where the meds can't reach, and the longtime effects of infection.
Studies of people infected with polio indicate that even after the infection is in remission, that the polio virus continue to degrade bodily functions that became apparent years later.
Who knows, certainly not the medical profession who say it is a manageable, chronic condition without any well researched basis. None of us can know the span of our lives, and I continue to believe that the Here and Now is the place to live, not the Future. Don't sweat the future, it never gets here anyway, as it is always becoming the now.
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Life is a river.
Carpe diem.
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jenn
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Guardian
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Reged: 09/14/05
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Yes, it is considered a manageable condition now, based on HAART therapy and the sophistication of the techniques that are used to define where the virus is and the viral counts, and the resistances in every different body.
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ScotCharles
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Legend
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Respectfully Jenn, what you say is not statistically proved. I feel for those who need the reassurance of the efficacy of HAART, but the truth is no one knows whether the statement "that people infected with HIV who are on HAART will live a normal span of life" is true as a statistical certainty. Surely, people with HIV live longer now than they did in the Eighties when an HIV diagnosis was a death sentence, but does that mean that HIV infection will not contribute to eventual death? The answer to that question is not proven.
That said, I revert to my usual propostion that eventual death from AIDS is irrelevant to the existential question presented by HIV infection, which is "Why is my life meaningful?"
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Life is a river.
Carpe diem.
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jenn
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Guardian
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You say that it is not proven statistically - that is only because medical advancement is at a faster rate than the number of years that have gone by. In order for anything to be proven "statistically", years must go by. Now with that said, it is clear by any experienced HIV doctor that HIV is a chronic condition now. I'm not a doctor. Ask an experienced HIV doctor teh same question. The answer is yes, it is a chronic condition today. Good luck.
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ScotCharles
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Legend
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If by chronic you mean long lasting with no cure, I agree. AIDS is not an acute disease as in fatal within a short period of time. Does AIDS' chronicity mean it will not eventually cause death? The answer is "No". Just when or if that death will occur is unknown at present and will likely not be known for years.
What our doctors want us to do is to learn to live with this life threatening chronic disease called AIDS, rather than fretting about our deaths, which even for those without AIDS is an inevitability.
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Life is a river.
Carpe diem.
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I was just at a very interesting in-service about Truvada and Sustiva. The data looked very good regarding lipoatrophy being reduced and, this is the cool part, somewhat reversed in Pt switching off of any of the thiomine analogs like AZT. Sorry I am just trying to remember the data and I cannot cite it, but it was presented at RIo and Dublin so it is hot off the press. Another thing that this doctor, who is with Gilead, was talking about is an upcoming formulation that will be one pill truvada/sustiva. That is a one pill formulation once a day with really long intracellular half-life, so forgiving and the half-lives being of the same length will produce less mutations and resistence.
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ScotCharles
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Legend
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Reged: 05/06/05
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So we won't get misshapen and the drugs will not become ineffective, but we'll still have AIDS? Okay!
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Life is a river.
Carpe diem.
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