POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: cars7465 on April 06, 2014, 09:20:43 pm
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Ok, I just want to say I realize there is a very large problem with different wasting problems associated with being positive. My question isn't about that.
I'm a big guy. 5'8" 230 lbs. Lot of muscle, but just as much fat. I've got a belly. I've been on a great weight loss streak, in part i'm sure from being positive and not knowing, and from having celiac's disease (3 years ago I was diagnosed) and not being able to eat anything. I have to say, it's been awesome to lose so much weight and I hope it continues.
My question is this. Are there any positive people that are bigger, like myself? Or will I continue to drop pounds? My ID Doc seems to think it will slow down (not that it's been quick by any means, 70 pounds over the last 3 years). But I keep reading about the wasting problems with the new medications, and I guess I'm just wondering if there are any people out there who are able to maintain a healthy weight. And by healthy I mean whatever you want. Whatever weight you feel is healthy for yourself.
I'm not trying to start a war, or raise any issues, but every time I look for information about weight loss or gain related to HIV, all I find is wasting syndrome and how to counteract it.
Also apologies if I'm not in the correct thread.
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But I keep reading about the wasting problems with the new medications,
Really? Do you have any links to what you've been reading? I'm wracking my brains here and I can't recall reading anything about "wasting problems with the new meds". If anything, I've read individual reports of people worried that the meds are making them gain weight, but wasting? That's a new one on me.
Wasting associated with hiv is usually confined to people who had untreated hiv that went to aids and its associated illnesses. There's also lipoatrophy, but that is associated with the older meds that are (for the most part) no longer in use, not the newer meds.
If you've got wasting information about the new meds that I've managed to miss, please share - links please!
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Look more to your celiac to place weight loss blame unless your hiv numbers are bad.
Your information is somewhat out of date
Positive people come in all shapes and sizes
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If you've got wasting information about the new meds that I've managed to miss, please share - links please!
Perhaps I'm interpreting the information I'm reading wrong. The last thing I read was linked on the main page of this site. I was under the impression that lypidtrophy was caused by the new medications, not the old ones. My mistake. I'm still learning.
And Zach, I do apologize if my information is out of date, but the information on the web is so scrambled, it's hard to find any current info besides what's on this site. I do search here for almost everything.
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The last thing I read was linked on the main page of this site.
I looked at the front page and didn't see any articles that were obviously going to be what you're asking about - and I really don't have time to click on each article to hunt it down.
May I please make a suggestion? There is absolutely no problem with asking questions, but when something you read prompts you to ask a question, could you please provide a link so we're all on the same page and not having to second-guess you as to what you're actually asking about? It would make our life easier and it would give you better, more concise answers to your questions. Win-win all round.
A good site for up-to-date hiv information is http://www.aidsmap.com/ another is http://i-base.info/ , and http://www.nat.org.uk/ is good too for basics. Those three are UK/European based, but it doesn't change the information. The only real differences are slight ones in preferred treatment protocols (specifically when to start), but the meds are the same meds, the hiv is the same hiv.
Some folks here like The Body, but I don't rate it very highly. But that's just my own opinion. I don't have a link because I don't have it bookmarked and I'm quite sure google works on your computer too. ;)
If you're reading something that makes you wonder about things, by all means bring it here - but provide a link! Thank you very much. :)
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I had wasting, but it was in like 1994, before the PI's came out that saved me and many others. My numbers were bad, the HIV was basically out of control. It took a while to recover from that. But I did recover.
If anything, I've gained weight since being on the latest meds (Stribild). And even before that, when I was on Isentress and Truvada i gained weight. So I wouldn't worry about wasting, not at all. It all depends on your diet and exercise habits.
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But I keep reading about the wasting problems with the new medications
Really? Where? On this forum? Anecdotal information is useless. There are no studies showing HIV-defining clinical wasting (read: defined as a weight loss of at least 10% in the presence of diarrhea or chronic weakness and documented fever for at least 30 days that is not attributable to a concurrent condition other than HIV infection itself) resulting from any "newer" HIV medications (we'll assume that to mean FDA approval in the past decade).
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I agree with the others ... it does not sound like HIV meds are the blame for the weight loss . I would also like to add the reason we ask for links is to better help you understand what you are dealing with, so please do not misinterpret our attention to that detail as any thing other than helpful .
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I looked back for what I had read, but it's gone.
Either way, I understand I was wrong, or misunderstood. If I come across it again I will post it for you all to read.
Sorry to not post it the first time. Will make sure I do next time.
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Hello Cars ,
Nice to meet you , I'm about the same size as you :)
I actually wish the new meds caused weight loss .
Were I more motivated in weight loss ; as I have in the past , I loose
weight very fast . But eating is fun so I continue to get heavier :(
My concern is where the weight goes , no longer on my ass :O it
has taken up residency in my middle like a balloon !
You do not have to apologize for not linking ! The " Link Police "
sound mean but they are just perfectionists in this field of knowing
how to do what some of us never figured out :)
Weasel