POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: Matland on June 10, 2018, 07:46:11 am
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Hello Everyone,
I am 31 years old man, diagnosed two years ago. I have a question in my mind for a while and some answers are really frihgtening me. Well, we are as positive people getting old fast and early compared to negative peers. Lately, i found some grey hairs on my chest and lost a lot of hair on my head. :( Ok genetically i am prone to whitening of hair but i am the only bald in my family. Is this because of the drug that i use (genvoya) or the virus itself?
Any comment?
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Well, we are as positive people getting old fast and early compared to negative peers
Terrifying concept, that personally I think is way off base.
My own take on this and from everything I've read and all the lectures I've attended is its a complex issue and reducing it to a headline message is selling ourselves short and I blame for a large part the media for this. In short were not growing old faster. Its just some normal ageing issues that occur in HIV negative population we might see in higher frequency sooner in the HIV positive population, but it does not equal faster ageing, also when looking at individual level it also heavily depends on other factors, including lifestyle, genetics, past illness etc etc
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Ok genetically i am prone to whitening of hair but i am the only bald in my family. Is this because of the drug that i use (genvoya) or the virus itself?
Any comment?
Anyhow on topic and sorry for my rant.
If you ask me by the sounds of it your hair is getting white as you are normally ageing. That's life I suppose now my own father was balding by the time he was 29 and I am way past that and still have all my hair but some greyness.
If I was you I would accept the greyness, when men age they look better so I have been told so enjoy it. If you really think your HIV is making you grey, well up to you to think so but nothing you can do about it now.
As for the the meds nobody has reported it as a side effect to my knowledge in studies and I do not see an obvious reason how it would change your hair colour but if you want to be sure talk to your doctor.
Jim
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Older reference but concept is the same.
http://www.thebody.com/content/69122/premature-aging-and-hiv-dispelling-myths-and-calcu.html?getPage=1
PS
The phone corrected greyness to gayness for some reason on the post ;D I had to go back and edit this but it did make me laugh.
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BTW If grey hairs are the biggest concerns at the moment when it comes to living with HIV, than I am glad to hear things are going well.
Jim
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Agree with Jim. A lot of people misinterpret the 'ageing faster' thing when it comes to HIV. It doesn't mean you get older, in terms of appearance, quicker than negative folk - it just means there are some conditions of ageing that if you were genetically predisposed to get (and you may not) then you MAY get them a little earlier than you would have done if negative. That isn't due to some mysterious attribute of the virus, but rather because even when under control, there is a very low level of inflammation in the body due to the viral reservoir which over time can theoretically hasten some of those conditions of ageing.
It doesn't mean everyone will get one of those conditions, or even that it's nailed on that you will get it earlier, but the one thing it absolutely doesn't mean is that you start looking older sooner.
FWIW, I'm pretty bald and greying now, although this isn't a surprise as my dad was the same at my age (or even younger).
Just look after yourself, keep a positive mental attitude and try to grow old as gracefully as you can :)
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ojo. Marhaba my good friend Matland, I will be 56 years old on August 21st, and after living with HIV /AIDS and taking medication for 23 years, you can barely see my gray hair, as a matter of fact, lots of people think that I look like a 45 years old man. So I don't think that what's going on with you has to do with medications or you being hiv-positive, I think that you are getting old because it is part of life... As Jim said if that's all that is going on in your life, I guess, I should congratulate you, after 2 years on treatment I think you're doing greatn... You can always dye your you can always dye your gray hair or go smooth, and buy a wig. Start worrying when your "little thing" doesn't work anymore, when that happens, definitely you are getting old.LOL...HUGS habibi
PS.sorry for the little thing
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thank you for your answers guys
i dont know but i am a bit crank about aging issue. This is something that i bring from my adolescence. My puberty time was too early and i grow up too fast which made me quite depressive. All my peers were just kids but i had facial hair. You know, i was the subject of ridicules due to my rapid growth. And now i think my body has already started the ageing process early again. Anyway, this is my body i know it very well. I think you are right. There is nothing i can do about it.
PS: @Tonny by saying ''habibi'' i think you wanted to imply ''friend'' or something. That is arabic and unfortunately we turks do not understand the language of arabic. We just share the religion in common that's it. But thank you ''amigo''
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puberty time was too early and i grow up too fast which made me quite depressive. All my peers were just kids but i had facial hair. You know, i was the subject of ridicules due to my rapid growth.
Kids and teenagers can be cruel, i'm not excusing it though and sorry to hear you were subject to this.
Jim
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And now i think my body has already started the ageing process early again. Anyway, this is my body i know it very well. I think you are right. There is nothing i can do about it.
As said before, you are NOT ageing faster because of HIV, so relax on that front.
You may not even be genetically predisposed to the ageing related conditions that sometimes appear a little earlier in poz folk, so it's not worth losing any sleep over it :)
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Perhaps, @Matland, my own experience will ease your mind a bit. I'm a pre-HAART survivor and about twice your age.
It sounds as if you're referring to some articles I'll cite here that, imo, are worth a detailed read:
https://www.poz.com/basics/hiv-basics/hiv-aging
https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-hiv-causes-premature-aging-49010
I think the most important takeaway is that any aging effects are more likely to be seen in my population (pre-HAART) than those who have maintained an early, steady ART as you have. Genetic predisposition and lifestyle, as already discussed above, are certainly contributing factors. Personally, I don't see you've any cause for concern.
In my own experience, yes, I'm experiencing organ inflammation and early osteoarthritis. But I've a 25-year history with and without ART. My understanding is that, while I'm now UD, the HIV nevertheless lives in my organs. That said, on a lighter note, even medical personnel mistake me for someone in my early 50s. ;)