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Author Topic: Have to live in my new body  (Read 11121 times)

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Offline frankt

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  • Posts: 22
Have to live in my new body
« on: November 03, 2009, 11:59:27 am »
had an old buddy call yesterday asking if i was  having health problems and of course i said no. he said someone had seen me saturday night at a restaurant and because of my fat neck they thought i was sick.
I have had these lipo fat problems for over ten years now and have come to the realization that i must accept the way i look and get on with it. The meds that keep me alive are causing it ,so would you rather live and look like a fat pig or not live. easy choice. i thought i had it under control by not eating carbs and exercising religously but now I am blowing up again. My stomach is insane. I have gone from almost fitting into 34 again to 38 not fitting in a matter of months. I can almost feel the fat smothering my lungs and organs.

Offline aztecan

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  • 36 years positive, 64 years a pain in the butt
Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2009, 01:12:53 am »
Hey Frank,

I hear you.

I thought my hump was getting smaller, and my neck, and others even mentioned it.

But now, it seems to be getting bigger again. I wonder if my growth has anything to do with eating too much recently?

What meds are you taking?

I switched to Isentress/Truvada from Lexiva/Combivir, which did lead to a much better lipid profile and some reduction in my neck and hump.

But I understand your frustration.

HUGS,

Mark
"May your life preach more loudly than your lips."
~ William Ellery Channing (Unitarian Minister)

Offline frankt

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2009, 10:51:57 am »
I have tried everything. Time for me to break out the 40 inch waist slacks. I have had some luck with no carb diets but the they are so hard to stay on when you travel and when you come off them you blow up. A dietician told me many hiv drugs and PIs in particular inhibit the bodies ability to breakdown carbs and even my dr. has said new drugs that work outside the cell may help me avoid the fat deposits.
i am on prezista,truvada,and norvir. this is the first time the drugs have not made me sick all day long. I dont know if i am ready to trade sickness for appearance or if i have the choice.
I had to go to two weddings recently and finding a dress shirt that will fit around my neck is very tough. I bought the largest  shirt at big and tall with the biggest neckline and I still cant button it so i leave it unbuttoned under the tie. How do you go from a 16.5 neck to not being able to fit into a 22.5 neck in a couple of months? That isnt your diet,its the drugs.

Offline mecch

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2009, 12:01:24 pm »
Just a ignorant's question:
If you have lipo because you got it on the old tritherapy regimes, why doesn't switching to new regimes stop the continued accumulation?  Is it a matter of once the ball is rolling, it doesn't stop? 
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2009, 12:09:01 pm »
Just a ignorant's question:
If you have lipo because you got it on the old tritherapy regimes, why doesn't switching to new regimes stop the continued accumulation?  Is it a matter of once the ball is rolling, it doesn't stop? 


Mine did basically stop, though of course it doesn't reverse -- however my issues were lipoatrophy not lipohypertrophy.  But I think generally since these are cellular level dysfunctions being caused that the end result in appearance is often delayed several years in its effects, meaning that once it becomes very apparent to the patient it's often from a med that you took many years before toxicity accumulated and manifested itself on the surface. 

For example in terms of my face having changes in appearance, it first began on the bottom of my feet and then my buttocks and then my face and the timeline for this stretched a good five years with my face only happening the last two years of that five years.  And of course it varies wildly from patient to patient.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline frankt

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2009, 03:10:16 pm »
 you could be right. I do remember a period where i lost much weight and all body hair in a crix trial but never had the sunken face thing.
Many think zerit is the culprit which i took on several regimens in the 90s. There did come a point in tiime when no drugs were working for me and I had gone from 180 to 250 in a matter of months. I went on a drug vacation for about a year. I got my weight back down to around 185 with diet and no drugs. When I started drugs again I gained 45 lbs in two months. So in my case i have to believe its the drugs and not the virus.
I am so fat right now its hard to breathe when i exercise. I am starting to wonder if the drugs might kill me before the virus does.

Offline aztecan

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  • 36 years positive, 64 years a pain in the butt
Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2009, 10:23:53 pm »
Frank,

When you mentioned not being able to button the collar on a dress shirt, I know exactly how you feel.  I can button my extra large shirts with effort. But, I can't tolerate the buttoned collar for very long.

I buy crew neck undershirts because of this. T-shirts choke me.

When I first noticed my lipohypertrophy, it seemed to come on very fast, like in less than six months. But, it is possible it was going on for a while and I didn't notice it.

I never lost the hair on crix, and I took it for 11 years.  I did lose my butt - literally. That is a pain at times.

Sometimes we have to just grin and bear it.

HUGS,

Mark

« Last Edit: November 12, 2009, 02:31:29 pm by aztecan »
"May your life preach more loudly than your lips."
~ William Ellery Channing (Unitarian Minister)

Offline koderkev

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2009, 10:23:17 am »
Boy, I hear all of you!  During the "Crix years" I had a hump and my belly ballooned.  Now that I'm on Presizta/Norvir/Isentress/Epzicom I've got "fat neck" also.  It's so depressing.  Isn't there a way that our doctors can push a liposuction through on the basis of "life threatening" grounds?  All this misplaced fat has to be causing problems in our systems.  While the hump is not as prominent as it was 10 yrs ago, I still can't control my stomach size.  Oddly, all my stomach fat is above the belt line, so I still wear a 32 waist, but have no butt and a big belly.  Yuck.

KK
I distrust morning people largely because I suspect them of getting together one morning and setting up the rules of civilization while the rest of us slept.

Offline frankt

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2009, 01:04:15 pm »
sucks doesnt it? You have to have an elastic belt and expando slacks. I own 34 through 42. If I ever get off the meds I will be back 36s, but for now I am gonna have to move back up to the 40s. Maybe its an excuse but I have to eat something to keep the meds from tearing my insides up. My diet this week is two hard boiled eggs for breakfast,and salad for lunch and dinner. Just read an artilcle in the New York I saw on twitter about HIVers and memory loss. All I want is weight loss.

Offline Wade

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2009, 01:22:28 pm »
Hi Guys,I too have the big neck syndrome,along with growing tits,mostly the fat is under my arms and my back. They have gotten huge,I would never take my shirt off in public any more.I had my hump removed with surgery about five years ago,also have had several facial filler treatments(I have both types of lipo)my doc says this is unusual...I'm just wondering whats going to happen next maybe a singing a_ _hole on the top of my head!I keep waiting and hopeing they will find an anwser,and stop all of this. I think It's the norvir and the zerit I was on years ago,good news is no viral load and rest of labs look good even lipids? Everybody keep your chin up, I'm keeping up all of mine!
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Offline frankt

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2009, 06:00:51 pm »
yeah,the fat bags on sides my torso and middle of my back are really cool. I had the fat bags lipoed once when i was getting my hump done. they came back the minute i started back on drugs. How do you get huge fat in the middle of your back?  I am wondering if dieting and exercising is just making the fat more obvious? I had a dr tell me it was back in the 90s. Same guy who had me on the scam serostim for a year. what a waste.  a bigger scam was the radiation for swollen parotids. payback is a bitch.

Offline frankt

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Re: Have to live in my new body
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2009, 06:11:54 pm »
Mark, Crixivan was evil for me. I started taking it in a trial before approval. First I lost all my body hair. than my weight dropped from 185 to 140. People were asking me if I had AIDs. Pretty funny. I was still a functioning drunk at the time and noticed pains in my lower right side every morning after drinking. Finally one morning after an evening of vodkas and black russians the pain was very severe and never went away. the pain was so intense I passed out on way to emergency room. spent the night there. have not had a drink since. that is the only good thing crix did for me. I also developed a very painful condition in both shoulders called frozen shoulder. that takes 18 months to subside. got addicted to painkillers for 6 months.  I have come across a few articles linking crix to frozen shoulder.
at least i have an excuse for not being able to get laid.

 


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