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Author Topic: HIV Cure  (Read 24087 times)

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Offline jeezx

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HIV Cure
« on: May 06, 2011, 09:32:20 am »
I have been reading many articles about scientists claiming that a cure for HIV isnt scifi and it could be achieved within this very decade.

At first I was very happy and optimistic, thinking this could just be a 'phase' in my life which will eventually be over.

Lately i'm getting quite depressed again. I dont want to hurt anyone's moral and hope, because I know that hope keeps in some of us the will to live. But I cant stop thinking of it as a dead-end road to nowhere at the moment.

It would be awsome if indeed a cure is found this decade, and I've been reading of so many breakthroughts happening lately. Even Dr.Frasinco says a cure is in sight, but no one can assume the timeline for that to happen...

BUT, I just REALLY want to know the TRUTH - how possible is it that a cure can actually be found within the next few years to the end of this decade?

I really need a break from this world at the moment...

Offline sam66

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  • Posts: 277
  • Keep The Faith ; Fight The Fight
Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2011, 10:30:41 am »
 Jeezx,

         Cure will happen, when it happens,  in the mean time you should concentrate on managing and staying
  healthy.
december 2007 diagnosed +ve ,

Offline sensual1973

  • Member
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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2011, 10:32:16 am »
jeezx,
11 years ago i heard them saying a cure in 10 years,and now we hear another 10 years and so on,i think you should take a break from thinking about a cure like i did long ago,stick to the meds which apparently will get better.As well dont read about the findings,we read them every now and then,they are like a xanax pill then they disappear.Just enjoy life,all the best.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things i can not change.

Offline surf18

  • Member
  • Posts: 533
Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2011, 01:59:05 pm »
yea i too thought the cure would happen in months. screw that ,i dont feel that way anymore. its always five years, a decade , well wtf? what about the stuff that was done ten years ago. i agree ten years is to long,its depressing to think of that. that this is as good as it is for years. so i dont even read the research news anymore. when it happens ill know it ,but i wont do the false hope thing.

Offline sam66

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2011, 03:03:17 pm »

. so i dont even read the research news anymore.


    ???   mmmh whats this topic ?
december 2007 diagnosed +ve ,

Offline John2038

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2011, 03:47:23 pm »
What you read is what you get

Offline surf18

  • Member
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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2011, 04:06:11 pm »
well samm
this wasnt a research topic now was it? it was a question wasnt it?
it wasnt a link stating the newest studies now was it? smart one arent you

Offline J220

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2011, 12:41:18 pm »
Jeezx, the thing is no one can predict what discovery can be made that can lead to a cure, whether in a 10 year time-frame or less (my money is on less, but I am an optimist by choice).

For all we know in six months someone somewhere will stumble upon something that will the key. Or one of the multiple clinical trials currently testing various methods will issue a press release saying "we did it!".

In the meantime as someone else here said the important thing is to stay healthy and live on. The cure will arrive when it arrives.

In any case, I think this post is better suited for the "Living with" section...this section is focused on "research news and studies." Perhaps a moderator can move it so the discussion can go on there?
"Hope is my philosophy
Just needs days in which to be
Love of Life means hope for me
Born on a New Day" - John David

Offline monarc

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2011, 04:08:50 am »
Well one thing you can be sure of. It's not going to be another 30 years in the making. In the 80s people just had one option.. and that was dying.

The first thing I was told when I got the news I was positive last March was, it's not so bad as it used to be. People live healthy lives nowadays.

I visit the Reseach News & Studies section everyday now. We are on the verge of discovering something. It is so palpable..
« Last Edit: May 08, 2011, 04:10:57 am by monarc »

Offline mecch

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2011, 06:07:34 am »
Jeezx Monarc - welcome to the forums.

Jeezx - how long have you been HIV+ ?  Why do you think these days you are more depressed about the future, and why is this based on a need for a cure?

Are you in a situation in which HIV is a "manageable disease"?  Or not?
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline jeezx

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  • Posts: 23
Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2011, 08:08:58 am »
mecch - I'm 22 next month (should be..), and have been positive for a year now.

I should begin meds quite soon, so Im in my early days of the disease.

Future does not seem very bright to me. I feel like I have  thrown away the best years of my life.

A cure at the age of 40 wont help me, its way too late for me. 30 would be nice but even that is quite sad.

Of course I cant blame anyone but me for getting into this trouble. I cant describe you me crying days and nights literally (just like yesterday I couldnt walk around people because my eyes were a tear-tap which i couldnt close) of why i got ino this. I didnt murder, steal, lie.. I was the ordinary shy boy you meet at the street. I have had a great life and I just tossed it to the dust bin. Now i feel like a 'zombie' walking around the 'humans'.


If I get thought this, I will be lucky..

Offline sam66

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2011, 09:00:53 am »
Jeezx
       It can take more than one year to come to terms with being +ve, my suggestion is you first get the full facts about HIV, and treatment options available to you. Of course quality of care depends on where you live.

    If you have not done so already  learn about HIV as much as you can, start here, arm yourself with knowledge, before you take on HIV. Reality of living with HIV may not be what you thought it was.

    http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/WhatIsAIDS_4994.shtml

   Why do you say a cure will not help you at 40, as I said before I'm 50 , I would be happy to see a cure even when I'm 80 if I get that far.

  All the best

      
december 2007 diagnosed +ve ,

Offline ppp333

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2011, 11:04:39 am »
I Think he knows he will be healthy it's the focus of dating and relationships and disclosure... Granted this is probably the wrong forum for it but I know what he means...u talk to someone u like someone they like u and then u disclose bc well u have to both morally and due to law, and then boom all gone.

Yes they don't understand and if they truly liked u wouldn't judge u and would be more open to beig educated but the realtity is most are not...not even gay dudes want to deal with it and are open...so it's hard...Im in the sam spot and probably shouldn't be wanting to be with someone who runs away like that bc they will prob run away if u got cancer G-d forbid or lost ur job...somehow it's not the same thing and rejection hurts and rejection from HIV only reminds u that u have it...I hate it sometimes and then wonder if I didn't have it would I be trig to hoo up with dudes on Grndr or adam4adam but everyone gay or str8 is looking for love relationships and hooking up especially in their twenties and there is nothing wrong with that...

Don't beat urself up dude people make mistakes and get it, some people r careful and safe and get it, some are born with it...it' the cards ur dealt and when u see someone in a wheelchair or blind or whatever u realize everyone has obstaceles in life and life is hard but eventually things get better and ull weed out the people who just want sex which is cool too because it's natural..I only wish I could always practice what I preach as well bc I get down too when I'm trying to date...but just roll with the punches...oh yeah and happy mothers day to every mother who reads this...ur job is the hardest and most rewarding!

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #13 on: May 08, 2011, 11:19:43 am »
You could always solve the issue by dating other HIV+ guys.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline ppp333

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2011, 02:11:27 pm »
And where do u find those...not everyone has a plus sign on their shirt lol...

Offline leatherman

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #15 on: May 08, 2011, 02:21:54 pm »
Why do you say a cure will not help you at 40, as I said before I'm 50 , I would be happy to see a cure even when I'm 80 if I get that far.
Amen brother.

After close to three decades with all the meds, all the sicknesses and all the friends and partners who died from AIDS, it would be quite awesome to say that I lived long enough to be cured - no matter how old I am. Of course, until then I'll just have to keep chugging down my daily pills while being thankful that the medications have continued to improve throughout these three decades.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline mecch

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #16 on: May 08, 2011, 03:46:48 pm »
mecch - I'm 22 next month (should be..), and have been positive for a year now.

I should begin meds quite soon, so Im in my early days of the disease.

Future does not seem very bright to me. I feel like I have  thrown away the best years of my life.

A cure at the age of 40 wont help me, its way too late for me. 30 would be nice but even that is quite sad.

Of course I cant blame anyone but me for getting into this trouble. I cant describe you me crying days and nights literally (just like yesterday I couldnt walk around people because my eyes were a tear-tap which i couldnt close) of why i got ino this. I didnt murder, steal, lie.. I was the ordinary shy boy you meet at the street. I have had a great life and I just tossed it to the dust bin. Now i feel like a 'zombie' walking around the 'humans'.


If I get thought this, I will be lucky..

Well, you are HIV+ and its a bummer but on the up side its 2011 and the medicine is very good indeed. When you need the HAART - will you be able to get it and stay on it?  

If so, there is no reason to think you'll be throwing away your 20's and 30's grappling with sickness.  

Everything you planned as a teenager, you can pursue now in your 20's - just takes some courage, and of course the added complication of a love life that takes being HIV+ into account.  

Jane Fonda was interviewed the other day in New Yorker and she said you couldn't PAY HER to be in her 20's again.  Part of what you are facing is the end of youth, perhaps just as much as being HIV+.  Because there is no reason really, to consider your 20's and 30's as the best years of your life.  Every age has its plusses and minuses.  The best years are when you create them.  

You've got to put a lot of projects into play now - what work you want to do, what credentials and skills you want to develop professionally, and how you want to live your life personally.  I can imagine that the HIV diagnosis puts a dark cloud over all that - but part of that cloud is just in your mind. Cause you'll have to overcome this ominous feeling and make a go of it, right?

I suggest you take a look around your social circle, community, or in the press, and find some inspirational figures who are living good lives with some sort of handicap, or another.  

Its normal to feel sad, scared, etc, but these can't be your only thoughts, you have to counter them with inspiration from others and also from doing challenging things - job, school, relationships, fun - that give you a sense of power and satisfaction that you are very capable indeed.

Its counter productive to get hung up on the ifs and whens of a cure for HIV - that is, again, if you are in a situation in which you'll be able to have HAART when needed. 

« Last Edit: May 08, 2011, 03:48:49 pm by mecch »
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #17 on: May 08, 2011, 04:04:43 pm »
And where do u find those...not everyone has a plus sign on their shirt lol...

You just stated you were looking on adam4adam.  We both know that people on there state their status so don't try and be cute by half.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline MitchMiller

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #18 on: May 08, 2011, 05:45:36 pm »
I think there is more than just hope as a rationale for a cure.  It seems that basic science is now targeting a cure more than treatment.  This is a paradigm shift in the emphasis of research.  The treatment effort has been hugely successful and profitable.  A cure for HIV would probably usher in the science to cure other similar viral infections, like herpes.  In a pharmaceutical industry desperate for money makers and where HIV patents are expiring, this would seem to be one area of great potential value, especially if the "cure" did not protect one from reinfection.  Therefore, one could be reinfected and have to be "cured" again... much like the "cure" for syphillus.  That translates into a huge cash cow. 

I would like to see studies using combo treatments to attempt a cure, where agents used to kill latent HIV infected cells are combined with agents used to activate HIV infected cells combined with immune targeting agents like IL7 combined with potent ARV regimens.  Given we have these agents today, we may already have a cure.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2011, 05:53:24 pm by MitchMiller »

Offline jeezx

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  • Posts: 23
Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2011, 10:40:31 am »
Well, you are HIV+ and its a bummer but on the up side its 2011 and the medicine is very good indeed. When you need the HAART - will you be able to get it and stay on it?  

If so, there is no reason to think you'll be throwing away your 20's and 30's grappling with sickness.  

Everything you planned as a teenager, you can pursue now in your 20's - just takes some courage, and of course the added complication of a love life that takes being HIV+ into account.  

Jane Fonda was interviewed the other day in New Yorker and she said you couldn't PAY HER to be in her 20's again.  Part of what you are facing is the end of youth, perhaps just as much as being HIV+.  Because there is no reason really, to consider your 20's and 30's as the best years of your life.  Every age has its plusses and minuses.  The best years are when you create them.  

You've got to put a lot of projects into play now - what work you want to do, what credentials and skills you want to develop professionally, and how you want to live your life personally.  I can imagine that the HIV diagnosis puts a dark cloud over all that - but part of that cloud is just in your mind. Cause you'll have to overcome this ominous feeling and make a go of it, right?

I suggest you take a look around your social circle, community, or in the press, and find some inspirational figures who are living good lives with some sort of handicap, or another.  

Its normal to feel sad, scared, etc, but these can't be your only thoughts, you have to counter them with inspiration from others and also from doing challenging things - job, school, relationships, fun - that give you a sense of power and satisfaction that you are very capable indeed.

Its counter productive to get hung up on the ifs and whens of a cure for HIV - that is, again, if you are in a situation in which you'll be able to have HAART when needed. 



My medical insurace does cover necessary drugs/treatments so no problem with that.
i am just so gutted i am going to have to go throught this at such early stage of my life.
If i had to cantract HIV by destiny, I wish I would have got that at least by the age of 30 (sorry >=30 fellows, i know i sound dumb), leaving my 20s not to worry about CRAP like that.

Offline metekrop

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2011, 12:46:25 pm »
How do you think that they will find a cure for Hiv where they know that thay are sucking a whole lot of fat money from each and every Hiv patient. They won't get the cure, if they got it too they won't let us know. No a decade or fifty or hundredth year. Period. >:(
Diag.on 12/8, 2000, CD 440 VL 44K, No Meds
12/08 - 2/09 CD< 50 & VL >500k hosp'z.
St. Atripla - 7/09 CD 179, VL 197k
10/09 CD 300 VL U
3/10 468 U
8/10 460 U
12/10 492 U
3/11 636 U
8/11 530 U
1/12  616 U
7/12 640 U
12/12 669 U
5/13 711 U
11/13 663 U
4/14  797 U
10/14 810 U
4/15 671 U
10/15 694 U
3/16 768 U
8/16 459 U
2/22 780 U
8/31 940 U
2/26 809 U
8/18 882 U
3/28 718 U
8/15 778 U
2/25 920 70
8/11 793 U
2/22 690 U
6/8 834 U

Offline monarc

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2011, 12:51:24 pm »
There are so many studies and medical trials going on that are tackling the virus in numerous different ways. Every time another piece of the puzzle is found and eventually the code will be cracked.

I believe that there won't be just one vaccine to cure us from HIV, but we'll use a combination of things.
Even if the cure is found, there is also no guarantee that it will work for everyone.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2011, 01:14:29 pm by monarc »

Offline mecch

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2011, 01:22:52 pm »
How do you think that they will find a cure for Hiv where they know that thay are sucking a whole lot of fat money from each and every Hiv patient. They won't get the cure, if they got it too they won't let us know. No a decade or fifty or hundredth year. Period. >:(

Yesterday you said you believed some people on HAART will eventually become HIV-
(which was wrong, by the way)
Today, you believe there is or will be a conspiracy to hide a cure, when it is found.

So, my friend, what if it is researchers in major universities who find the cure?  They don't make a profit from HAART drugs.  So, these university scientists - they are going to bury the cure??. Not win the Noble Prize and world wide admiraiton and professional glory??   Yeah, right.

I'm waiting for your next shrewd insight, cause it will make "strike three" and maybe in the dugout you'll have a moment to reflect.   :o :D



“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline SunnyFlorida

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2011, 02:30:52 pm »
Tinfoil-hat conspiracies always crack me up. ;D Look at it this way... if they do come up with a cure for HIV, that doesn't necessarily mean the person would be immune to HIV from that point on. The antibodies we produce cannot fully keep HIV at bay, from what I understand. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, by the way. So supposing you take a series of pills that clears your body, including the reservoirs, of HIV. And somehow down the line, you have unprotected vaginal/anal sex or whatever, and get infected again. You'd have to be on the "cure" again, go through the regimen all over again.

It's true that big pharma is mostly concerned about money. I'm willing to bet that if a cure does come out, it will cost a whole hell of a lot more than a 30 day supply of HAART. However, I highly doubt anybody would hide the cure or whatnot - the concept of such conspiracies is silly.

Offline CaptCarl

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2011, 02:38:03 pm »
My medical insurace does cover necessary drugs/treatments so no problem with that.
i am just so gutted i am going to have to go throught this at such early stage of my life.
If i had to cantract HIV by destiny, I wish I would have got that at least by the age of 30 (sorry >=30 fellows, i know i sound dumb), leaving my 20s not to worry about CRAP like that.

Jeezx-
   You are far from the only one here who has to go through this at an early stage of life. Nobody wanted this at any stage in their life. I would suggest that you would be better served by focusing your energy on the positive things you can do in your life rather than the negative. You are perfectly able to live a relatively normal life, but maybe not, you just never know. It would stand to reason then that you should start figuring out what it is you can do so that you have an good life before it's too late. Plus you know, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Then you will have wasted what time you had being upset about things that you had no control over. Think about it.

CaptCarl
The only thing I can do straight is shoot..

Offline jeezx

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #25 on: May 11, 2011, 04:42:30 pm »
this might have been asked before, but i am very curious about this:
i read a lot of information about gene therapy, which is very exciting.
i read about a study where the researcher took blood from patients and modified its cd4 cells to be hiv-resistant, and then injecting it back, letting these new cd4 reproduce.
now assuming you have these new cd4 cells, which are resistant to hiv, and you stop taking medication - the latent hiv reservoirs will come to action, kill all (or most) old cd4 cells, until it wont have what to attach to next time/where to hide? leaving the patient the new cd4 cells only in his body.
i suppose if all it could be called a functional cure because it cant be proven hiv is completely out of the blood.

is there anything like this under studying or research? would like to know.
 

Offline mecch

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #26 on: May 11, 2011, 05:40:36 pm »
Jeezx you might read about the "Berlin Patient" in these threads or on the Web. He seems to be cured.  But before you get too excited, its not "the cure" because he was very sick with cancer and the treatment could well have killed him.  He was treated for cancer, and the doctors replaced his immune system with an HIV resistant one. 
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline LM

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #27 on: May 11, 2011, 08:01:40 pm »
Yeah, they have been studying stem cells to copy that effect. You never know what could come out of it, but I'm optimistic. Besides, the scientists that find the cure for AIDS will go down in history. I think no money can buy that. Besides the Nobel prize and all the money they will make anyway.

I really believe the race for the cure is on.

Offline freewillie99

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #28 on: May 12, 2011, 10:57:43 am »
Jeezx-
   You are far from the only one here who has to go through this at an early stage of life. Nobody wanted this at any stage in their life. I would suggest that you would be better served by focusing your energy on the positive things you can do in your life rather than the negative. You are perfectly able to live a relatively normal life, but maybe not, you just never know. It would stand to reason then that you should start figuring out what it is you can do so that you have an good life before it's too late. Plus you know, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Then you will have wasted what time you had being upset about things that you had no control over. Think about it.

CaptCarl

Hey, CaptCarl, good advice.  How's Miss Yvonne?
Beware Romanians bearing strange gifts

Offline drewm

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #29 on: May 12, 2011, 11:41:37 am »
Sometimes I catch myself singing Cher's tune "If I Could Turn Back Time". In reality I have always taken life's good and bad and somehow managed to roll with the punches. While I have this life changing disease, it's not, necessarily, a life ending disease. I am still doing most of what I was doing pre-diagnoses. I am grateful for those souls who paved they way before us which led to some great drugs that keep this virus under control and hope that someday there is a cure and this disease will be wiped away.

To be honest, there are hours during days when I don't even think about HIV/AIDS, they are becoming more prevalent as time marches on and my health improves. I made a conscious decision sometime over the past year that this disease is not going to define who I am, I will manage it until my last breath as best I can.
Diagnosed in  May of 2010 with teh AIDS.

PCP Pneumonia . CD4 8 . VL 500,000

TRIUMEQ - VALTREX -  FLUOXETINE - FENOFIBRATE - PRAVASTATIN - CIALIS


Numbers consistent since 12/2010 - VL has remained undetectable and CD4 is anywhere from 275-325

Offline SunnyFlorida

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #30 on: May 12, 2011, 11:50:45 am »
Sometimes I catch myself singing Cher's tune "If I Could Turn Back Time". In reality I have always taken life's good and bad and somehow managed to roll with the punches. While I have this life changing disease, it's not, necessarily, a life ending disease. I am still doing most of what I was doing pre-diagnoses. I am grateful for those souls who paved they way before us which led to some great drugs that keep this virus under control and hope that someday there is a cure and this disease will be wiped away.

To be honest, there are hours during days when I don't even think about HIV/AIDS, they are becoming more prevalent as time marches on and my health improves. I made a conscious decision sometime over the past year that this disease is not going to define who I am, I will manage it until my last breath as best I can.

Drew, that's a phenomenal attitude you have and I applaud you for it! :) I tell klouny and DanMo that "HIV is a part of you, but it does NOT define who you are, and don't allow it to."

Offline drewm

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #31 on: May 12, 2011, 12:10:27 pm »
Sunny...

It's kind of like the advances that have been made in treatment and research does not always catch up with our brains or understanding of this virus. I was telling DanMo awhile back the the drugs in 10 years, perhaps in as few as 5 years will be stronger and better and again, there is always the chance that a cure will be found.

There is so much stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS but I find that if I allow that to continue in my own existence, I am giving in to the fear and ignorance that surrounds this disease. I disclose to those who need to know. Why? So I can educate them and educate myself at the same time. By no means am I suggesting that anyone who owns a piece of this virus do something I am doing just because I am doing it but I find that the more I explain the advances in HIV/AIDS meds, research etc, the better my understanding becomes.

My initial experience with AIDS was shaped by one of my doctors from MD Anderson who was treating this in NYC in the 1980's. He was so excited when he talked to me that it was almost unnerving but what he was trying to get across is the fact that this is not the same disease as it was back then...it is manageable...it is treatable and it's no longer a life ending disease in everyones situation.
Diagnosed in  May of 2010 with teh AIDS.

PCP Pneumonia . CD4 8 . VL 500,000

TRIUMEQ - VALTREX -  FLUOXETINE - FENOFIBRATE - PRAVASTATIN - CIALIS


Numbers consistent since 12/2010 - VL has remained undetectable and CD4 is anywhere from 275-325

Offline SunnyFlorida

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #32 on: May 12, 2011, 12:31:48 pm »
Couldn't agree with you more. My first exposure to HIV/AIDS was during the uncertainty growing up in the 80s and early 90s, then I met someone on a website that was HIV+, we got to know each other pretty well and because of him I started researching HIV. Our friendship fell apart for an unrelated reason, then I met klouny. We hung out, and then he got diagnosed. I was with him through the process and came here to learn as much as I could.

I'll admit that I fell victim to the stigma when I was younger, but nowadays - not anymore. I openly discuss HIV with people I know, including my mother. I told her about the new friends I've made who are poz, talked about the advances in treatment, attitudes, reducing stigma, etc. Education is so important and will help toward eradicating the stigma.

Learning about the history of HIV treatment, I'm just amazed at the leaps and bounds made in such short times. Protease inhibitors? HAART? Wow. I agree with you that medicine five, ten years from now will be far more effective than, say, Atripla today.

Offline leatherman

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #33 on: May 12, 2011, 01:44:19 pm »
it's no longer a life ending disease in everyones situation.
well actually, yes, it still is. :(

it's still the very same disease it's always been from the 70s to the 10's. The only difference is that we have better medications today to treat it with - and none of those meds is a cure, so without the meds, HIV is still very much a terminal illness. While it's great to explain how the medications have provided greater quality and quantity of life; don't ever underestimate or under-sell HIV. People from around the world, and yes in even in America, will be dying from AIDS today. Based on the CDC stats from 2008, on average, 45 Americans will be dying of AIDS today.

I know it sounds like I'm just complaining about semantics; but suggesting that the disease is no longer terminal only adds to the misperception that the HIV health crisis is somehow over. As I try to educate legislators (and donors) why funding is still needed for research, treatment, and access programs like ADAP; and as I and others at my ASO try to educate high school and college students about the drastic need to protect themselves from this deadly disease, the last thing anyone should be suggesting is that HIV is somehow not a terminal (ie life ending) disease.

That's also why when someone suggests that they can quit taking their meds because they "feel better", or because the side effects are unpleasant, or because taking meds makes them feel the stigma, they need to be counseled, educated and/or reminded that the meds are not the enemy. It's HIV that is still the deadly enemy; while the meds are life-saving tools.

However, I can certainly agree that being diagnosed with HIV today is no longer the immediate death sentence that it once was. Nor is it even as detrimental to a person's quality of life as it once was. The way the situation has changed in just a few decades, thanks to the meds, is nothing short of amazing. ;)

Quote
Deaths of Persons with an AIDS Diagnosis

In 2008, the estimated number of deaths of persons with an AIDS diagnosis in the United States and dependent areas was 16,605. In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, this included 16,084 adults and adolescents, and 4 children under age 13 years.

The cumulative estimated number of deaths of persons with an AIDS diagnosis in the United States and dependent areas, through 2008, was 617,025. In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, this included 589,547 adults and adolescents, and 4,949 children under age 13 years at death.
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#ddaids
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline geobee

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #34 on: May 12, 2011, 01:52:24 pm »
There's a chat entitled "A New Push To Cure AIDS" at noon PST / 3 EST.  With Drs. Fauci, Margolis, Deeks.

Here's the link:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/live-chata-new-push-to-cure-aids.html?ref=hp


Offline drewm

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #35 on: May 12, 2011, 03:46:12 pm »
well actually, yes, it still is. :(

it's still the very same disease it's always been from the 70s to the 10's. The only difference is that we have better medications today to treat it with - and none of those meds is a cure, so without the meds, HIV is still very much a terminal illness. While it's great to explain how the medications have provided greater quality and quantity of life; don't ever underestimate or under-sell HIV. People from around the world, and yes in even in America, will be dying from AIDS today. Based on the CDC stats from 2008, on average, 45 Americans will be dying of AIDS today.

I know it sounds like I'm just complaining about semantics; but suggesting that the disease is no longer terminal only adds to the misperception that the HIV health crisis is somehow over. As I try to educate legislators (and donors) why funding is still needed for research, treatment, and access programs like ADAP; and as I and others at my ASO try to educate high school and college students about the drastic need to protect themselves from this deadly disease, the last thing anyone should be suggesting is that HIV is somehow not a terminal (ie life ending) disease.

That's also why when someone suggests that they can quit taking their meds because they "feel better", or because the side effects are unpleasant, or because taking meds makes them feel the stigma, they need to be counseled, educated and/or reminded that the meds are not the enemy. It's HIV that is still the deadly enemy; while the meds are life-saving tools.

However, I can certainly agree that being diagnosed with HIV today is no longer the immediate death sentence that it once was. Nor is it even as detrimental to a person's quality of life as it once was. The way the situation has changed in just a few decades, thanks to the meds, is nothing short of amazing. ;)
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#ddaids

Allow me to opine for moment. AIDS is deadly to suggest it is terminal is also correct, however, it is not, necessarily a life ending disease anymore. More than one doctor has stated this and because life expectancy of people with AIDS is greater than it was 10-20-or-30 years ago, there is a very good chance of being hit by a bus, dying of another illness or dying of old age before the virus takes its toll.

It's important to keep this in perspective. This disease is NOT cured, however, the medications have given many of us life that years ago was simply not going to happen.

Mikie, I feel you on this so let me add that we may be winning some battles but the war is far from over. Now is not the time to let up but to call in reinforcements!

(((HUGS)))
« Last Edit: May 12, 2011, 03:54:23 pm by drewm »
Diagnosed in  May of 2010 with teh AIDS.

PCP Pneumonia . CD4 8 . VL 500,000

TRIUMEQ - VALTREX -  FLUOXETINE - FENOFIBRATE - PRAVASTATIN - CIALIS


Numbers consistent since 12/2010 - VL has remained undetectable and CD4 is anywhere from 275-325

Offline elf

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #36 on: May 21, 2011, 06:51:24 pm »
Quote
When we have a vaccine in maybe five years, it will be easy to say, Take off your rubbers.


::)
New York Magazine

03/23/1987

Offline Rev. Moon

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #37 on: May 21, 2011, 07:28:47 pm »

Quote
When we have a vaccine in maybe five years, it will be easy to say, Take off your rubbers.



::)
New York Magazine

03/23/1987



Evidently a lot people suffer from selective reading and paid attention to only the latter half of that sentence.
"I have tried hard--but life is difficult, and I am a very useless person. I can hardly be said to have an independent existence. I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else."

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #38 on: May 21, 2011, 07:34:46 pm »
Careful, you might get a Burn After Reading.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline LM

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #39 on: May 21, 2011, 09:34:54 pm »
Well, I do think it's different when scientists say today we are getting closer to a cure. And we are talking about many who were very cautious about using that word.

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #40 on: May 21, 2011, 09:38:04 pm »
Well, I do think it's different when scientists say today we are getting closer to a cure. And we are talking about many who were very cautious about using that word.

And you've figured all that out in less than a month? Color me impressed.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline LM

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Re: HIV Cure
« Reply #41 on: May 21, 2011, 09:41:36 pm »
Oh, don't be mean, Miss Philicia. Just trying to be positive (and no pun intended). ;)

 


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