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| Jump to "Ask the Experts" at TheBody.com: | Main Page | • | Starting Treatment | • | Side Effects | • | HIV Transmission |
| March 1, 2004 |
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• DRUG
RESISTANCE; STAYING UNDETECTABLE |
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| • HIV DISCLOSURE Switching Health Plans I have heard that healthcare companies are supposed to keep HIV status confidential. If I transition from one healthcare program to another without a break in my coverage, will I still be completely covered? Is there anything I should be wary of as I search for new jobs? HIV Notification and Teachers During a recent parent/teacher phone conference, a parent notified me that her child was HIV positive with a CD4 count of 150. She was surprised to find out that the teachers hadn't been informed. She particularly wanted me to be aware that her child did not have cytomegalovirus (CMV), since I am currently pregnant. She was quite open about the status of her children. Should my administrators have passed on her disclosure to me? What are the laws governing this issue? |
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• HIV/HAART-RELATED
HEALTH PROBLEMS Solutions
for Severe Lipoatrophy |
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| • QUESTIONS
ABOUT HIV TREATMENT When Your CD4 Count Won't Budge I've been on Combivir (AZT + 3TC) and efavirenz (Sustiva) for five years, with an undetectable viral load for four and a half of them, but my CD4 count won't rise over 300. I've had only one opportunistic infection (back when I started treatment) and almost no side effects. I exercise, take vitamins and almost never get colds. Why isn't my CD4 count higher? Battling "Treatment Fatigue" I was diagnosed in 1992, and after several failed treatments began a seven-drug rescue regimen in July of 2003. My viral load is now undetectable, my CD4 count has slowly risen from 0 to 61 and I'm 100% adherent, but I'm suffering from major "treatment fatigue" and ready to bail. This regimen is seriously compromising my quality of life -- personally and socially -- and I'm on the brink of a mental meltdown. I need a break, bad! Musical HAART Regimens? I'm not trying to be a wise guy by asking this, but what's wrong with switching meds every six months so you don't become resistant to them -- kind of like rotating insect poisons for roaches? Also, why would docs want to use more potent drugs if their side effects will ruin a person's quality of life? Is quantity of life considered more important than quality? |
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| • STARTING
HAART The Basics: When to Start What's the current consensus on the best time to start treatment? The Speed of Undetectability I was diagnosed last November, and was found not to be resistant to any HIV meds. I'm now in the second month of my first HAART regimen: 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir), efavirenz (Sustiva) and tenofovir (Viread). My results are great, according to my docs: Although my cholesterol is rising, I started with a CD4 count of 193 and a viral load of 876,000, and after just 26 days of treatment, my CD4 count was up to 247 and my viral load down to 2,270. When do you think I will become undetectable? |
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| • HIV
TRANSMISSION Shared HIV Strains and Unprotected Sex My boyfriend and I know we have the same strain of HIV. How dangerous do you think it is to have unsafe sex together? News Flash: Condoms Work! I am in a serious relationship with an HIV-positive partner. We have had wild sex nonstop for a year and, even though we use a condom every time, I figured I would have HIV by now. But I got tested and I am negative! Condoms really seem to do the job. She was with someone for eight years before me and he is also negative. Before I was tested I was nervous, but now I am totally at ease knowing that protected means protected! |
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| • STRANGE
BUT TRUE Was This Little Monkey Tough Enough? After going several months without sex, I recently found myself in a movie theater pumping the monkey for a long, long time. Well, the monkey got pretty raw and red (no bleeding, just sore), and then along came a guy who went down on it for 15 seconds. Now my mind is running away with me, thinking this guy might have just done somebody else and passed HIV on to me through the irritated skin on the monkey. What would the odds of that be? Old Sex, New Worries I had unprotected oral sex around 17 years ago, and I'm now beginning to experience HIV-like symptoms -- you know, shortness of breath, depression, anxiety, insomnia, thrush, night sweats. Do you think I might have been infected back then and it's just kicking in now? |
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| ASK
DR. SHERER ABOUT: DRUG RESISTANCE |
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Dr. Renslow Sherer, who has been a primary care physician for HIV-positive people since 1985, is now available to answer your questions about HIV drug resistance and keeping your viral load undetectable. |
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| ASK DR. LEE ABOUT: WOMEN & HIV; SWITCHING MEDS |
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Dr. Sharon Lee, an HIV physician and researcher and the founder of the Kansas City HIV Women's Coalition, is now available to answer your questions about women, pregnancy and HIV. Dr. Lee also staffs our forum on switching HIV medications. |
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| ART FROM HIV-POSITIVE ARTISTS |
 "Mass," 1998; Peter Madero III |
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View the March 2004 Visual AIDS Web Gallery! |