newbernswiss:
What is the one thing that stresses you the most being HIV+. :'(
dad1216:
Since you asked for one:
HIV winning, and me loosing....
Bob (who, along with others, have a long list)
MOONLIGHT1114:
Right now its the loneliness and isolation, but I am changing that!
~Cindy
ubotts:
HAVING TO TELL FAMILY N FRIENDS THAT IAM HIV.. I CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET WHEN I WAS 19..TELL MY MOM I WAS GAY YEARS LATER, I HAD TO COME OUT OF ANOTHER CLOSET..BEING HIV POS.. THE STIMGA IS WORSE THAN THE DIEASE ... I HAVE HAD, PEOPLE THAT KNEW ABOUT MY HIV STATUS, PULLING THERE CHILDREN AWAY FROM ME, AND WENT TO A FAMILY THANKGVIVING DINNER, THE TABLET WAS SET WITH BEAUTIFUL CHINA, MY PLACE SETTING, WAS A PLASTIC PLATE WITH PLASTIC UNTENSILS.. I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE.......I COULDNT JUST UP AND LEAVE BECAUSE A FRIEND HAD TAKE ME TO MY FAMILYS HOME....THERE WERE NO BUSES AROUND AND I DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO TAKE A CAB HOME.............SO I SAT THERE LIKE I HAD LEPROCY..THEY MIGHT AS WELL, PUT ME ON A DESERTED ISLAND................THAT WAS JUST ONE OF MY WORST DAYS..........
Miss Philicia:
Definitely telling my family was the hugest stress, and one I lived with for an entire decade. I kept telling myself that it was not causing me any stress and was in complete, deep and utter denial about it. Finally I removed the issue from the plate and told them, but still I am cognizant of the fact that telling them in '93 and '03 represent wildly different scenarios. At least by '03 more people were familiar enough with HIV to know I was not facing imminent death.
Today the stress is mostly what I call "long term battle scars" in that I think my mind is fucked residually from it all. I've spent the last couple of years in therapy seeking to correct this and manage it.