No longer undetectable

[Jeffreyj]

100

My Dr. had me take less Norvir (One per day instead of 2, 100mg)

and Prezista was taking 1200mg per day, now 800 mg.

The reason for this was my cholesterol was too high (total 288, LDL-C 184), Triglycerides 316, LDL-P 3033.

Those were the July labs. The Dr. called me so I have not seen the latest labs, but he said the cholesterol showed improvement. He wants to stay with this new dose.

Any tips on how to lower these high numbers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks as always.

Trying to stay in a positive mind set!

[Snowangel]

I just went through the same thing kinda, except I got switched off Atripla because I wasn't undetectable anymore.
My doc always tells me to get some sort of cardio excercise everyday and watch what I eat.  Not too much fatty/greasy foods.  I was having the cholesterol issues last year and I tried to cut out a lot of the bad stuff out of my diet and it worked to get my numbers where they should be.

Good Luck!
Snow

[aztecan]

Hey Jeff,

Oh yes, I have had lots of experience with this issue.

There are a couple of things you can try to help lower the lipids, both your LDL cholesterol and the triglycerides.

Exercise daily, even if you just walk around your neighborhood. That can do wonders by helping to lower the bad cholesterol and increasing the good cholesterol.

Couple that with some changes in your diet. Eat nothing fried, cut down the number of eggs you eat, if you eat them, and cut down or out the red meat.

Also add some stuff to your diet. For one thing, oatmeal has been shown to be very beneficial.

Rather than drinking whole or 2 percent milk, try switching to fat free milk.

Reduce cheese and other dairy, but increase the green leafy veggies, or all veggies, as it happens.

Visualize your dinner plate divided into quarters. One quarter should be starch or carbs of some sort, like brown rice. Half the plate should be vegetables, and the more variety and colorful the better. Only one quarter should be protein from an animal source and a daily serving should only be 3-4 ounces, or about the size of a deck of cards.

Eat fish at least twice a week, more often if you are able and can afford it.

Vegetarian meals can be fun and a nice change of pace a couple of times a week as well.

Replace chicken or meat in a dish with tofu. It is heathy, nutritious and can be made to taste like just about anything.

Replace the white in your diet: white sugar, white flour, etc. These are usually heavily processed and not good for you.

You might thing about reducing sugars in you diet. Doing this may help lower your triglycerides.

My doctor always advises people battling lipids to lose a bit of weight too. He says losing just 10 pounds can really made a difference in anyone's overall health and help control their lipids.

I hope some of this helps.

HJGS,

Mark

[Snowangel]

Mark- I have a tofu question? Do you get used to the texture? I haven't eaten it in years and I am afraid to try it again because looking at it grosses me out.

Snow

[aztecan]

Mark- I have a tofu question? Do you get used to the texture? I haven't eaten it in years and I am afraid to try it again because looking at it grosses me out.

Snow

I get the extra firm type and then do various things with it. I grill it, saute it, or use it mixed into things to give it some flavor.

The texture really doesn't bother me. Right now I am experimenting with the silken (extra soft) tofu, which I put into a blender with fruit and other things to make a smoothie to have with breakfast.

I'll let you know how that goes.

HUGS,

Mark

[Jeffreyj]

Mark,
Thanks so much for the great advice. I can't ever remember eating tofu. So I'm looking forward to trying it.
I loved the visualization idea as well. I know I need to eat more veggies. I have to learn to enjoy eating them again.

[atxpozguy]

Today, I found out from Dr Brinson, I was no longer undetectable ..What was really shocking, but not surprised, my CD4 fell to 104 from a high 471, in just over two months, while battling the rabies virus.

[Jeffreyj]

atxpozguy,
Damn, Rabies? I hear the shots for that are very painfull. Sorry to hear that.

Oddly, my t-cells remained good, just the viral load rose. It seems the older I get, the less these numbers make any sense. Hope you got over the rabies.

[atxpozguy]

The shots were not that painful, the side effects from vaccine was just horrible, I must say. That myth of getting rabies shots in the stomach area is just that, a myth.

[Theyer]

It might be usefull to get a list off foods ,it was a surprise to me that prawns, avocados where very high in nastiness. I got mine from the dietitian at the clinic, but a web search, i.e. Mayo clinic will work.

[Jeffreyj]

Hi All,
Thought I would re-post here, I know it's been 60 days...But I am back to being Undetectable!!!

A wonderful bit of news, considering I am taking half of the originally prescribed dose! Plus my cholesterol is improving as well. Perhaps the last results were a blip??? Not sure, but I'm very happy to join the ranks of undetectable again.  I will continue on this lower dose of Norvir and Presita and will keep you posted.
A Happy New Year to all.
Jeff

[bear60]

Jeff
Thats great.  We like blips. 

Joel

[aztecan]

Great news Jeff.

Happy New Year to you too!

HUGS,

Mark