POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: LordBerners on May 15, 2008, 01:15:38 am
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I am pleased as punch to report that the results of my biospy were that I do not have cancer! The doctors now feel certain that I have TB, though there has been no confirming test yet. Anyway I'm delighted to be looking forward to 9 months of anti-biotics rather than years of chemotherapy. Its also nice that they seem to be narrowing in on a (treatable) reason for my severe weight loss.
Thanks to those who have wished me well in the past on this issue..
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I'm glad to hear that they have ruled out cancer..are you going to have a skin test to see if it is TB that is causing you problems, or have they already done one?
The good news of course is TB can be treated successfully even in those of us living with HIV.
Hugs
Jan :-*
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Berners, as bad news goes, that's pretty good considering the other option. It makes sense too. Good luck with the final diagnosis and treatment. Thanks for the update!
Ann
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LB, thanks heavens it's not the lymphoma. Sorry about you having TB, but as Jan said, it's treatable. And in a far less invasive fashion, as you know.
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Thanks all. anniebc, I'm not sure the 'skin test' for TB we all remember actually exists. I think that might've been a test for TB antibodies we got as kids. Anyway the doctors here say it isn't all that easy to diagnose, but they have done so and I have a bag of anti-biotics to start tonight.
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Hey Lord, hope all goes well. Are you back in Bangkok receiving your treatments?
Hugs, Shaun
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Hey Lord, hope all goes well. Are you back in Bangkok receiving your treatments?
I am back in old Bangkok, and as much as I'm sick of Thailand, get this - the biopsy which I was told I'd have to bring $15,000 up-front for in the US was 18,000 baht here (about $600).
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I was there last week for a conference and did check out a few places. I would actually recommend you to start a blog sharing your experiences of medical services in Bangkok for us pozzies. I now know at least 5 people from other Asian countries getting their meds and doing regular checkups there, and I am sure a lot of people are considering that too.
In any case wish you the best of luck and get a negative result of TB too,
Hugs, Shaun
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Lordy, I am glad you have an idea of what it is that caused your weight loss.
(are you sick of Thailand?) Best Wishes.
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I remember the old 'skin prick' tests from years ago. I guess they're not all that accurate, as the TB tests my Dr. 'insists' that I have each year are a small injection. At any rate, good luck with it.
David
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Sabai die mak mak die ! :)
As said by Ann, bad news for a better news is a good news.
Keep well,
Sawasdee khup
John
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Yes, that skin prick test still exists. It should be routine on a cycle of (don't quote me) something like every 5 years for HIV patients. I know I've had it done several times over the past 15 years, but it may also have been because I've had several doctor switches.
Still, it's rather odd that they never did one on your when you were diagnosed, or is my experience something regional?
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Lord, I'm very glad you know what it is and it isn't cancer. Good luck with the treatment.
I've been tested for TB but never with a skin prick. They just did an x-ray and the stethoscope thing, and said I was negative.
Shaun, I want your job...
Modified: just remebered the skin prick, had it when I was 12 at school with all the kids - to decide who needed a vaccine and who didn't.
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Up until I retired (2003) I was still doing the skin test or Mantoux test, we also followed up with blood tests, x-rays and sputum tests..maybe things have changed a bit since then..but regardless of how you were diagnosed I'm sure you are being well looked after and the treatment will go well.
Take care of you and do as you are told.. ;D
Hugs
Jan :-*
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congrats. do you know when you will take the tb test?
i took one 2 or 3 years ago. that shit was WeiRd. they left some fluid under my skin, it looked like there was a small pea there! anyhow, i had to test in order to sub. funny thing, they gave us 3 months to clear our system in case we smoked pot. haha, gotta love school districts : )
but, back to your situation. congrats and keep us updated.
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I'm glad it didn't turn out to be cancer. Sorry bout the TB, luckily it is treatable.
Here's to better health
Sharkie
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Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes. Yes the doctors here all insist that testing for TB is not as simple as many of you are describing, but anyway they feel confident enough of their diagnosis. That skin-prick test just tested for anti-bodies to TB, not the presense of TB infection.
I've already taken the first dose of antibiotics last night - 6.5 pills, three different kinds, plus vitamin b12 and an anti-cough, also prescribed. So 8.5 pills every night. No ill effects. Thankfully I'm off ARV for at least a month on orders of my hiv doc as he thinks there are conflicts between the meds.
I'm already feeling better! :)
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Hiya, good luck with the TB treatment! It's a nasty little bugger but if you keep to the treatment regimen and complete the course over the next... uhm... is it 9 months?... you'll be OK.
I heard a talk by Valerie Mizrahi (http://www.tuberculosis.org.za/team.htm) a few days ago (she's a leading tuberculosis researcher in my part of the world) and was stunned that 70% of people in this world carry the bacterium asymptomatically. So please, don't feel marginalised at all, and know that we're here if you want to vent :)
LF
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Just a quick update - I've been on the anti-biotics for a solid few days now and I feel so much better. Actually I didn't feel that terrible before, but now I feel 'normal'. The best part is I'm eating lots, so I feel confident this terrible weight loss can be reversed. Anyway, just wanted to share the good news.
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Congratulations LB. It's great you are feeling better. Sometimes "knowing" what it is wrong, seems like half the battle, doesn't it?
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That's great news, Berner. Glad to hear the appetite is back.
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Update: I felt basically 100% well the first week of treatment, but the second week a little cough came back - god I hope I don't have the drug-resistant kind. I did some research and though this is less scary than cancer, it is still surprisingly likely to kill me - if I should happen to have the drug-resistant variety, which is around 20% prevalent in Thailand, my chances are only around 50/50.
Very scary disease. I would advise all you positive people NOT to travel to the 'third world' - for example here in Thailand though not a terribly poor country 1/3 of the people are carriers.
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Maybe you are not resistant.
A just this article, if it might help:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?tmpl=NoSidebarfile&db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=17726732&dopt=AbstractPlus
Also this article:
A Single Dose of Vitamin D Enhances Immunity to Mycobacteria [tuberculosis]
"The team assigned 192 TB-exposed healthy adults to receive either a single dose of 2.5 milligrams of vitamin D or a placebo. The final analysis evaluated 131 patients: 64 took the vitamin, and 64 took the placebo. The patients were tested for TB at six weeks.
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"The very high rates of profound vitamin D deficiency that we report in this group of otherwise healthy adults are higher than those documented in the institutionalized elderly (28) and are a cause for grave public health concern, given emerging evidence implicating vitamin D deficiency in the pathogenesis of a wide range of chronic diseases (29). The observation that black African and South Asian ethnicity are risk factors for vitamin D deficiency independently of diet may be explained by the effect of increased skin pigmentation in reducing cutaneous vitamin D synthesis (30); however, this possibility cannot be evaluated in the absence of data on participants' skin pigmentation. Our finding that a single oral dose of 2.5 mg vitamin D corrects profound vitamin D deficiency for at least 6 weeks without causing hypercalcemia underlines the potential use of this formulation as a safe, effective, and cheap ($1.20) public health intervention.
"In conclusion, we have demonstrated that a single oral dose of vitamin D enhances TB contacts' immunity to mycobacteria. Prospective trials to determine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on TB incidence rates should be performed in deficient populations with high rates of latent TB infection." [free full text -- published online ahead of print in April, 2007]
Notes:
* This study used an appropriate blood test to measure immune response to TB. A trial to prove clinical efficacy would require many more patients.
* Vitamin D had been used as an early treatment for tuberculosis.
* The great deficiency of vitamin D that was found in these South African patients suggests a role for supplementation in any case, without waiting years for a definitive trial.
http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/176/2/208
Hopes everything will goes fine for you !
John