Been away awhile

[Charles.M]

First let me state Im not dead,not yet anyway. I have been trying to get on with life. Though I have missed you guys and will be forever greateful for the woderful folks here who help me learn to live with this. The education and moral support you guys provide is awesome, thanks again so much.

Most days I feel fine and have little issues, viral load still UD, have never missed a dose. Its been almost 15 months since my DX and my CD4 count has stalled at about 170 and I am still taking bactrim. Odd part to me was my initial VL was only 64K, but CD4 was 72. Three months later I was UD and CD4 at 163 I thought I was on my way. My initial % was 4 and now has climbed to 8, not great but moving in the right direction. I also get depressed at times who wouldn't??? Its never really that bad though, gotta be a glass half full guy. I am still looking at the grass from the top vrs looking at the roots. I am remodeling my Northern house (presently a full kitchen remodel) as well as relandscaping my southern home, so I keep pretty busy and my mind stays occupied on the tasks at hand. Problem for me is in the evening abd bedtime I cannot shut my mind down. Keeping busy is good, but it is in someways a way from hiding from reality. I have not had a decent nights sleep since my DX. Anyway thats my story and all I want for christmas is a 200+ CD4 count!

[Jim Allen]

Glad to hear that you are doing well overall and good luck with the remodeling.

Regarding the bactrim, once you have been UD for two years it might be worth having a conversation about stopping this regardless of the cd4 counts.

[Charles.M]

Thanks Jim, I was wondering the same thing about how long I can keep taking the Bactrim. I know the CD4 count cannot be magicaly fixed but why the heck has my climbed stalled at the 170 +/- mark? It scares me alot

[Tonny2]

                  ojo.               Hello Charles!, So glad to hear from you again. How about you having been able to have a good night sleep since you diagnosis, welcome to the club. Have you tried to take some melatonin to help you sleep?. Have you talk to your doctor About this issue?. Ever since I started taking the integrase nhibitors in my case raltegravir, in yours, biktegravir on biktarvy, I’ve insomnia…I’m glad you’re keeping busy, that’s life and you are living it…your cd4 will eventually increase, I wouldn’t eorry because your body is no longer fighting hiv, you are UD, I know everybody feels better being over 200 but take it easy, they will go up…keep up the good work and remember that he formula to control hiv and take back control of your life is take your pill as prescribed and now that you are “positive” you got to be more pisitive about life…hugs and please keep us posted


Ps. sorry for the typos

[leatherman]

hello! Good to hear from you again.

let's tackle your cd4 number first. Being older always means a slower recovery from any problem than when someone is in their 20s or 30s. And some people just take a longer time. While the data shows that most people take about 1-3 yrs to get their numbers into a good range, like most other diseases there are also the outliers who recover faster and other who recovery slower.

It took me 12 years to get above 300. Of course the meds weren't as effective in the mid 90s; but I was consistently on modern meds for nearly 10 years before getting above 300. In the last 20 years since then, my cd4s remained around 350.....until oddly enough about 4 years ago my cd4s began creeping up and eventually reached 700. In the last 2 years though, they have dropped back to 450. It's like a crazy roller coaster ride.

So let's tackle the second issue about cd4s. The cd4 count is not a measure of how effective/strong your cd4s are. It's only a measure of how many. The general consensus is that more cd4s equals better immune response thus better health. but that isn't true either. Some people with high cd4 counts get sick also.

If you've been feeling healthy (and with what you wrote, it sure sounds like you're feeling pretty good), and UD then I say you should feel happy and just keep on enjoying life.