My dad died, health spriraling out of control because of depression.

[jm1953]

Hey members,

Since my Dad died in the late part of February my life has been a mess.  He was my best buddy and the only one in my family who acknowledged me and accepted my lifestyle and illness.  Mom did too but she past over ten years ago.  My sister and the rest of her extended family, all I have left have divorced me long ago, my therapist feels because of homophobia and the AIDS stigma.  My sister is the executor of a rather large estate and the probate is expected to take over a year.  Most of the estate is in a revocable trust, however much too is left out of the trust.  Everything is split 50/50.  Prior to my dad's death my sister made my life a living hell, and now it's even worse.  The stress has caused significant health problems, mostly impacting my kidney, now in late stages of stage three kidney disease, and depression among other stuff.  I have hired my own attorney.

In the meantime I know I'm not tolerating my current drug regimen well, Prezista, Norvir, Emtriva, and Sustiva.  Lipoatrophy a big problem.  CD4's and viral load stable.  Would like to switch to Isentress but don't know what to put with it.  I posted in the treatment and side effects thread, but thought I might get more suggestions through this thread.  I'm a long termer, about 23 years, 58 years old, with a host of health issues. 

See my HIV doc in a couple of weeks.  He knows I need to change.  What works and doesn't with Isentress.  Do know Aptivus/Norvir and Reyataz/Norvir not good combos through research.  Don't think I tolerate Truvada too well, which seems to be prescribed alot with Isentress because of Viread which is has a black box warning for people with kidney issues.

Sure could use some help here!

Best to you all, and as usual, thanks for being here!

Jeff

[Miss Philicia]

I use Isentress with Prezista/Norvir Jeff, plus Truvada. Otherwise it's hard to discuss someone's treatment issues (for me at least) without resistance profile (as a long termer I will assume you have some resistance issues) plus the complicating kidney issue.  Good luck.

[jm1953]

Thanks Miss P for the info.  Wondering, can drug resistance testing be done if you have no viral load?  Thought someone told me that.

Once again, thanks for your kind response.

Jeff

[Matty the Damned]

Thanks Miss P for the info.  Wondering, can drug resistance testing be done if you have no viral load?  Thought someone told me that.

Once again, thanks for your kind response.

Jeff

As far as I remember, you have to have a VL above a certain level (500 copies?) for resistance testing to be useful.

MtD

[aztecan]

As far as I remember, you have to have a VL above a certain level (500 copies?) for resistance testing to be useful.

MtD

Yep, it has to be greater than 1,000.

Isentress has minimal side effects for most people, but I don't know what to add to it if not Truvada or Combivir, neither of which would be optimal for you.

I would be interested in knowing what your doctor recommends.

Sorry your going through all of this.

HUGS,

Mark

[newt]

Isentress goes with everything you might wanna take except Reyataz (but that's a bad choice with kidney problems anyhow) and possibly Sustiva.

Sorry to hear about your dad.

- matt

[mecch]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.  What a loss.  And sorry to hear your sister is a b.
Can you possibly hire someone to deal with this and remove yourself partly from the stress of the estate distribution?  A professional might be able to keep a better eye on your sister than you can.