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3 years with AIDS
#55674 - 01/23/03 04:39 AM
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My partner has had AIDS for 3 years now. I have heard countless stories of HIV+ patients living 15, 16, 17 years, and may even live normal lifespans with meds. What I want to hear is what are the high numbers on years for people living with AIDS. How many years have been more common? How many high numbers of years are unlikely? I'm tired of hearing "all patients are different". I just want some high/low numbers. No doctors will tell you. So, I'll ask the experienced...y'all.
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Please realize that the distinction between HIV positive and AIDS is minor...it's really legal and not so much a definition of illness. I know lots of people who got an opportunistic infection...or whose t-cells fell under 200 which would put them into the definiton of AIDS but who
are doing splendidly now--have t-cells of 800 and undetectable viral loads....and the sky is the limit in terms of lifespan. It's a different world now. And if your partner has not been infected a long time (ie more then 10 years) and has not taken every antiviral...and has rebounded using HAART then he can live a long, long time....So the docs are right....everyone is different but a diagnosis of AIDS does not say anything....in this era of HAART. What has his drug experience been like?
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Hey -- I don't mean to yank this convo off on a tangent, but I wanted to comment on what tbe last person said about the difference between being HIV+ and having AIDS. There -is- a big difference, clinically speaking. If you've got an OI or your CD4 is below 200, it's something to be worried about -- not because you're necessarily about to drop dead any minute, but because those signs mean something: They mean that your immune system is having a really tough time fighting off the HIV by itself, and you're at a much bigger risk of getting sick than someone who's never had an opportunistic infection or who has a CD4 up around 800.
I agree with you that, with HIV drugs working all the miracles they've worked, actually having an AIDS diagnosis doesn't at all mean your death is imminent. After all, the drugs can help get rid of those infections and raise your CD4 counts up to healthy levels. But I wouldn't want to fool anybody into thinking that, even though their CD4 count has dropped to 50, they're doing just fine -- cause they're not.
But still, overall I agree: having AIDS in 2003 doesn't mean you're about to die in one year, or two years, or ten, or 20, or 30. it means you have AIDS. that's it. What's the longest people with AIDS can live? We don't really know -- there are still people alive (though very few of them, because this was before the drugs existed) who were infected back in the early 1980s. It's not like this disease has been around a long time -- it might feel like it, but it hasn't.
And that's why docs aren't willing or really even able to say how long people, on average, live when they have AIDS. It might be tough to accept, but you've got to do it: It depends on the person. It depends on the HIV strain. It depends on your own immune system. It depends on how well the meds work. It depends on luck. It depends on your own mental strength. It depends on the people you have supporting you. It just depends. But with you by his (her?) side, and with modern medicine working for him too, I bet he can live as long as you do as long as he takes care of hiimself.
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Hi. You're right...I didn't mean that if your tcells are under 200 you are doing well....I meant that if they once were and now they are not you have a pretty good chance of living a long life....Yeah you are pretty screwed if y ou are not on medications and you have an opportunistic illness or under 200 tcells. But hopefully you'll be able to get the medications and be helped.
And if the medications can help you and you have a great HIV specialist who has loads of experience then you have a great chance...there is no telling how long you can survive. And also there are new medications all the time...every year that can help. SO there is lots of hope. I mean they used to NOT give mortgages to people with HIV and now they do. Does that tell you something? They used to not give fertility drugs to women with HIV and now the association for reproductive doctors says they should give fertility drugs to HIV positive women!
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killfoile
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Reged: 12/23/02
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Posts: 57
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Loc: Fort Lauderdale FL
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Dear Anons,
I won't go into detail about the variations that allow someone with Aids to live a long life or not, as that has been covered very well by the other post by Anon. But I can tell you that I have been pos for 17 years and have had Aids for 10. I'm now on my 7th cocktail and my numbers have never looked better. My suggestion is to stop worrying about life spans and just enjoy life. As others have said hiv and Aids are far too complicated to lump into catagories.
Good Health, Joe
If you remember me, through simple acts of kindness, I will live forever.
--------------------
Good Health, Joe
Life is what happens, when you are busy making other plans.
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