Happy with being back on meds

[harleymc]

G'day folks.

After 3 years off medications. I'm back in the fold and feeling a lot more positive about life.

My latest nadir was circa end of October / beginning of November 2011. After a slow start I was developing 2-3 new KS lesions per week. My cd4's had dropped to 10, the viral load was not particularly high at 18 000.

Anyway I'm back to the medications. I was somewhat surprised to find my Dr prescribing 2 of my old meds + a 'new' combo rather than 3 newbies but that's what you get with a long treatment history and complicated resistance mutation patterns. Felt really sick for the first 10 days back on (that's in the past).

One month in, fresh tests but I didn't fret the results as I could already see differences... new lesions had stopped appearing, established lesions were not growing.

I've just been back for my 3 month tests, still waiting on results. The good news from the 1 month results is VL below 50 and cd4s have jumped from 10 to 50. I certainly hadn't expected a cd4 response that quickly, so I'm feeling over the moon. Even tho none of my KS have totally disappeared many of them have faded to only a shade or so darker than my skin tone, others are more stubborn.

I'll update when my latest results are in. Yikes now I better get off my butt and get the planning for my 50th birthday happening.... 2 weeks to go.

Take care folks

[weasel]

 HarleyMC  , I am glad you are feeling good about this .

   I often wonder how long a  Person can go without HIV meds .

   Here's to a great new life and good numbers for years to come !

                                                               Weasel   

[harleymc]

Thanks weasel. 


BTW I thought I'd start this post, becasue we do get to see a lot of the "I'm going off my meds" posts. So this is a counter-balance post.

[deibster]

Harley, Glad you're doing better. Welcome to the forums!
And thank you for spreading the word that going back on meds helped. Too many people believe that the meds are toxic & won't help enough to outweigh the side effects.

My side effects, on the current generation meds, are less than they were on AZT. My lab work is the best it's been in 18 years & I'm feeling well too.
Hugs from Provinctown, Deiby