Initial Post-Infection Fat Loss - Advice from Dr. Carl Grunfeld

[bobino]

Thought I would post this in this forum for those who might be interested.  Earlier this week, I saw Dr. Carl Grunfeld, who is one of the leading researchers investigating lipodystrophy in HIV patients.  Here are a couple of things he told me that I haven't seen generally reported.

First some background:

I've been HIV+ for about 2.5 to 3 years, and over the past 12 to 18 months, I've been experiencing peripheral fat loss (face, butt, arms, legs) as well as some visceral fat gain (my pants are all tight now).  My CD4 count is normal, and my viral load has varied from undetectable to numbers in 100s.  I'm not on HAART and I never have been.  So, I'm not the typical lipo patient -- not on meds, and my immune system is basically normal.

So I got in to see Dr. Grunfeld and he told me that he doesn't believe that what I am experiencing meets his definition of lipo.  He told me that I'm going through a period of post-infection fat loss.  He said his research indicates that this is common in HIV+ people (even healthy ones) who are recently infected.  He says there is a "step down" in body fat after which the fat loss process hits a plateau and remains stable for years until one starts taking meds or the immune system fails.

I had not read about this phenomenon anywhere, so I thought that I would post this info here.

The good news is that Dr. Grunfeld believes that my fat loss will not get much worse.  The bad news is that he admits he could be wrong.  I'll be going back to see him in 6 months, and I'll see what he says then.

[pozniceguy]

Thanks for the info.   this pretty much follows what happened to me..lost a lot of fat..got sick..numbers were terrible  cd= 2......vl=1mil+.....PCP  ....officially diagnosed with HIV  probably infected years before....

[egello]

Thanks for the info.   this pretty much follows what happened to me..lost a lot of fat..got sick..numbers were terrible  cd= 2......vl=1mil+.....PCP  ....officially diagnosed with HIV  probably infected years before....

so you just never gained back that lost fat on peripheral part of your body as you got better?

[pozniceguy]

Egello...no I never did gain it back ..I have been on Serostim for a few years to "stop" wasting but also to help regain "lean muscle loss"  that has worked to a degree.  I have gained back some definition in muscle but it is virtually without fat...I feel a lot better and can move well enough ...the Sculptra treatments have "restored" the facial features so I don't look "sick" ...I never was a large person //  used to be 6' 165lbs,,,now 5'10" 145lbs and holding steady for several years...

[egello]

niceguy

wait,,, you got shorter? Lipo makes you shorter too? FFFFFFFF...... I am short as it is..... 

So is Sculptra treatments  the best treatment to go with in terms of safey and naturalness? Looking at facial wasting website, I think I am at stage 1. What should I be doing to prevent any further wasting?

[antibody]

i know i lost a lot of fat from my face, arms, legs and upper body. all this was about 4 years before starting Atripla. I had people tell me to get off the d4t and i wasn't even on treatment. this guy didn't even know me. he said this based on looking at me and said i'm a hiv researcher over at UCSD you really should change hiv meds...... i was flabbergasted to say the least! who the fuck is this guy? he is not my doctor. not my nurse!! where does he get off! it's like asking a chick when are you due? and she is not even pregnant!! anyways... i don't really know where i am going with this except i know i lost a lot of fat that i will never get back. i miss that fat, i love that fat!! i want my fat back!!!

[pozniceguy]

egello .. yes a little shorter....the fat pads in the feet and some of the overall loss from all over the body seems to have reduced my total height....of course being a little older than you , the pads( fluid discs between the bones)  in the spine gradually thin down and that contributes as well, but I am at least 2 in shorter than I  was in 1994 when diagnosed with HIV+, just another one of those after effects that vary from person to person....