In regards to the article, "Big guts and no butts, and humps...Oh My!", I'm disturbed about the reference that ALL women are having these ghastly side effects! I have to say that this is just not accurate. Of all the women in my area I have not seen one buffalo hump. Perhaps some breast enlargement is going on, but nothing like the article portrays! I, myself thought I might have some loss of subcutaneous fat on my arms; and appear more muscular, but I am also weight-lifting again and have gotten back great muscle mass. There are NO skinny arms here! I have seen men with the protease paunch. I realize, this is a grave concern to many people. My concern is that the above mentioned article may turn off many women who NEED to be on combination therapy. Without my drug combo I would have been a dead woman two years ago. Now I have regained a wonderful life; this really is the bonus round. While scientists are researching this whole metabolic issue, I believe side effects or not, we are a whole lot better off than we were! Through the eighties and nineties, I lost my entire cohort of friends in San Francisco, and I just wish they could have held out to see this day. It needs to be said that it really is a very small percentage of people that have these disfiguring side effects. The majority of people on combination therapy are ALIVE because of it!

Thanks --

Portland, Oregon

"You may print this" -- S.

Note:

The Women Alive editorial team would like our readers to know that we are not trying to discourage women from taking medications. We are very much in favor of medications. We just want a drug that actually works and doesn't deform your body or make you sick.

We have printed several articles about women's negative clinical experiences. One reason why we continue to print these stories is because we know that there are other women out there with similar experiences. We want them to know that they are not alone.

Please continue to send us stories (for publication) about your clinical experiences. We would love to hear more about good clinical outcomes. Of course, good or bad, all stories are welcome and valuable to our subscribers.