Recently diagnosed..

[very_tired]

My first post was initially on topic initially but then before I knew it I had written and posted what amounted to a massive essay that would have fit in better here. I wasn't very emotional at all about this at first. Maybe it was shock? I dunno but I've been having some difficulty dealing with it all of a sudden. Docs think I contracted it in June or July (6-14 weeks before seroconversion in August) but I SHOULD be asymptomatic. I'm not and apparently they think it's bad enough that they keep asking me if I was molested as a child. I've told them I wasn't but they keep asking if my mother's ex-husband tested positive for HIV. They think I'm already stage 3 (but they're waiting for test results to come back). Anyways, instead of re-posting what I wrote before I'll just link to it here:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/18559 - bottom of the page

I really just need to talk about some of this but I don't want to hurt friends and family by expressing just how profoundly distressed I am. I have a feeling that I'm not going to be around a whole lot longer.

[PaulBS]

So it looks like you'd had it for a while, at least you know and there is no more wondering. Look at it this way, aside from a bit of unpleasantness whilst you get used to the drugs, from today, your health will begin to improve, and with that, you'll start to have more energy, less lethargy and in a few months, hopefully you can look in the mirror and think "what HIV?"

Tha job at the New York Times is still possible mate!

Good luck to you.

[very_tired]

Got test results back. My cd4 count is 227 and viral load is 480,000. They started me on Atripla for antiretroviral therapy and Septra, an antibiotic, for pneumonia.

Thanks for all of your feedback though.

[PaulBS]

Wow! Dude, you really are going through a tough time. Firstly, there are lots and lots and lots and lots and...... (you get the gist) of us. In the developed world, we have a life expectancy equal to that of those who are negative. If you have indeed only just been infected (I suspect your doctors think there is a possibility you have been infected for a while, what with the strange questions about your former step-father), it will be some time before you will be on meds with a recent infection, UK & US is a CD4 count of 350. If you allow yourself, you will live a long, fulfilling and (hopefully) happy life. My HIV doc reckons that the HIV experts are trying to get it downgraded to a chronic condition like diabetes. Yes, there are lifestyle changes you have to make, but most of them are things that everyone should do, exercise, good nutrition, quits the cigs and drink in moderation! That's not so tough, is it? (Quitting cigs was the toughest for me) Just like Rauly84 said, there are steps being taken that will hopefully bring us closer and closer to a cure, but we can't rely on that, just live a good life. You are shell-shocked at the moment, so was I when I was diagnosed in January this year, in fact, on the same evening, I went out for a meal with my partner and got good and hammered! Then the depression set it, the doom and gloom, but it passed and it can for you too. I know a few people who have been living with this for many years and are healthy as oxes! One bloke I know was diagnosed 9 years ago and STILL isn't on meds! Like you, they caught mine early, I still have a CD4 count of over 600.  A guy on your other post recommeded that you have a look at thebody.com, please do have a look,  it's what has kept me sane! This is new to me too, but you WILL get through it and you can still live have the career you have worked for and get married, why shouldn't you? Only you will stop you living your life. Sorry, I've gone on a bit LOL, I was just very concerned about some of the things you were saying about not being around much longer and the depth of your depression. It isn't fair that this virus exists, but it does, and we have it, fight back mate!

[Rauly84]

MY FRIEND, YES YOU WILL BE AROUND AS LONG AS YOU WANT....TODAY WITH THE MEDICINE WE HAVE HIV IT IS NOT LONGER A DEADLY DESEASE....40,000,000 PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD HAVE HIV, EVEN MORE THAN THAT, IT IS REALLY COMMON NOWDAYS TO CATCH IT...
WAIT FOR YOUR RESULTS, IT IS GOING TO BE FINE....

KEEP ON WITH YOUR LIFE....THIS IS JUST A NEW BEGGINING.

A FRIEND.