wishful thinking from a newbie

[curiousfortruth]

Newly diagnosed and on meds. I'm mentally prepared to be on meds for the rest of my life but having wishful thinking...

For those of you have been poz for a while, are you hopeful there will be a cure within your lifetime?

[leatherman]

are you hopeful there will be a cure within your lifetime?

You want my honest answer? Nope.

Because I've always followed the science about HIV, ARVs, and potential cures for the 38 yrs I've been living with HIV, I know that finding a cure has actually been very hard for scientists because HIV is a retrovirus. Except for a few times when some of my friends or my two partners were actually dying, I have just never wasted any of my time hoping that a cure was going to appear anytime in the future.

I've been taking ARVs for 30 yrs. While I used to take about 28 pills a day and puked every day, now I've down to 2 pills a day and I'm a lot healthier and more active than most of my 61 yr old peer group. Plus, as an American living with HIV, because I have this disease, I have better healthcare than I would have had otherwise and that's great since I'm expecting to live to at least be the 104 yrs old my grandmother reached.

So, although a cure would be nice (even though that situation would probably leave me with a lot of survivors guilt and PTSD over those I've lost before this "cure" came along), and although I'm only half way through my expected 104 yr old life , no I have never hoped for a cure in my lifetime and with always improving treatment, I don't expect to start hoping.

Of course, my opinion is a bit jaded since I spent my first 25 yrs of living with HIV dealing with horrible medications and trying not to die. Don't let my coping strategies stop you from hoping if that's what you want to do. Cure strategies really are constantly improving. Just don't let waiting for a cure drag you down or stop you from taking your daily medications.

[Jim Allen]

For those of you have been poz for a while, are you hopeful there will be a cure within your lifetime?

I'm not expecting a cure within my lifetime.

Don't get me wrong, there has always been and will continue to be some breakthrough technology and novel approach promising a cure around the corner that fails, and we learn a lot from it. As exciting as these things are from a scientific point of view, I never expected any of them to deliver a cure despite the hype from investors, the media or the community over the decades. I don't see it happening within my lifetime, certainly not with the current developments.

Live long enough, and odds are you, like most people, will have several physical or mental conditions that will require a daily pill to manage and keep it in check so that you can continue to live your life. This is a huge advancement in itself compared to how many conditions were treated or not treated as little as 30, 50 or 100 years ago.

Amazingly, (thankfully) HIV is now one of those many conditions that are relatively easy to manage with a pill or two a day. I think the next development phase with real promise is not a cure for HIV or many of these manageable conditions but the continued development of long-lasting dosing of medicines, in the form of injectables, slow-release capsules and subdermal implants.

[Jim Allen]

wishful thinking from a newbie

You are certainly not the first person to be hopeful for a cure, and will not be the last.

It's fine as such; just don't fall into the trap of not taking your meds based on that hopefulness or media/investment promises/hype. I've seen too many people go down that road; it's sad at best, ending in tears and at worst, well, I don't even want to discuss that.

Anyhow, don't let HIV or the hope for a cure consume your life; if you have access to healthcare, then take the pill a day and focus on living your life—plenty of worse things in life than a touch of AIDS.

[Loa111]

Myself, no I am not hopeful for a cure in my lifetime either, which could be another 30 - 40 years if I am lucky, and for the same reasons as stated by Mikie & Jim above.

What I am hopeful of is different treatment which may come in the future, that might be alternatives to taking daily pills.

For example, long acting injectable drugs are available now, I think it is a shot every 2 months, maybe if the scientists can engineer this to last for 3 - 6 months in the future, that would be exciting.

There's studies focusing on under-skin long acting implants too.

Sorry I don't have a reference link handy, but they've been mentioned on here and in POZ Magazine before.

[curiousfortruth]

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

[Mightysure]

I think it's possible.  I think a functional cure is more likely in my lifetime, but I think the key lies in early detection.

I don't see anything wrong with being hopeful, while remaining realistic about the current science.

I guarantee that 10 years ago people would've said they couldn't fathom a treatment regimen that only doses 6 times per year, but here we are, with Cabenuva changing the game. Only 6 days a year do I have to worry about dosing.


So who knows what some scientist is cooking up