POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: texaninnyc87 on February 14, 2013, 08:56:02 pm
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So I got my first set of lab results since i started meds (stribild) and thought id share.
my viral load went from 129,000 to 80, which is pretty awesome! At this rate I'll be undetectable in a few minutes so thats nice! My doc said its one of the fastest VL drops shes ever seen and she wanted to call me when she first read my results because she was so excited (shes a sweetheart). my cd4 went from 280 and 20% to 350 and 26%. The percentage increase is nice even though the actual cd4 increase isnt crazy. overall im super happy with the results! i am anemic though...i suppose this is what i get for 13 years of vegetarianism.
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Congrats on the labs. It is good you have a good relationship with your doc.
How anemic are you? They always tell me I'm anemic, but I am just one point below the normal range. Actually, the last few labs I've been back in the normal range. They always tell me poz folks are often a tad anemic.
All the best!
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That's great Texan. Congratulations! I will be doing labs and getting my results of how Stribild is working in 3 weeks.
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Congrats, man! That's really great!
Maybe you remember me - I started Stribild in December. I'm pretty anxious to get some sort of labs done to see if it's working, not working, sort of working... I assume it is, but it'll be a relief to get some kind of tangible information. Your results are encouraging. :)
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I dont know how anemic i am but my doc didnt seem too worried about it so i'll assume im not on the low end of the spectrum.
of course i remember youre also on stribild oksi. My side effects were so minimal I was kind of worried it wasnt doing anything! its nice to know that im just tolerating it really well.
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Ah, good. There are a lot of people here. I thought maybe you forgot who I was. :) I was told that Stribild was expected to have an immediate impact on the VL, and it looks like you proved it!
I go back and forth with this stuff. Just when I think I have no 'real' side effects, something weird happens, and I blame the Stribild. Then I think, no that's just me being a baby, then something weird happens again. :) I'd like a little more consistency or stability, but maybe things will change when I see the new doctor. :)
Since the time I posted earlier today, for instance, vertigo came back (I don't know if it's really "vertigo" - that's what I'm calling it). Gravity is off to my right side instead of down today, but it's not swirling around me today, at least. Haha! I've never felt anything like this before the Stribild, so I *think* it's related, but I have no idea. If someone had described this to me before I felt it I'm not sure I would have believed them entirely. How can gravity move?
It can. O_o
I've only had mild pain in the kidney area since that first time and it's never lasted anywhere near as long. It's on both sides now, though. Related to Stribild? Dunno. I really don't wanna switch to something else, though, so I hope it's all in my head or something else.
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Obviously if you're really worried about your kidneys you need to get them checked but my doctor did give me a few warning signs to watch out for. Jaundice, usually starting in the whites of the eyes is a major one. Tenderness in your abdominal region and back (she did a lot of poking around asking if anything hurt). And dark colored urine. So if you have any of these i'd definitely go sooner than later and get that checked on.
human bodies are just weird. chances are you'd be feeling a lot of these things even if you werent on meds. even if you werent HIV positive. being forced to think about your health so much puts every little twinge or dizzy moment into sharp focus and forces us to hyper-evaluate our physical well being and search for a diagnosis to match every symptom. i've been trying to internalize this and not worry too much about all of the little things I might (or might not) be feeling and try to look at my health as a whole. i'd recommend you try to do the same!
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Yeah, the pain in the kidney area of the back is worrying me. I tried to tell the doctor, but he wasn't interested in hearing any side effects. I had a post about it last week.
I have a new doctor, but I couldn't get an appointment earlier than next week. I'm just trying to drink lots of water until then. :)
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Oh, and no, this vertigo thing isn't from worrying about my health. I know anxiety. We go way back, but I have a restraining order against him right now. ;) I'm also just not particularly worried about HIV, so unfortunately I can't chalk this up to that. I think I mentioned before that it's actually been kind of a good thing in my case.
There's definitely something 'wrong', but I'm hoping it's just something completely unrelated, like gallstones or appendicitis. I'll know next week I hope! :)