Jim Allen:
Unfortunately, with HIV and the damage, infections, meds and other factors gut issues are common enough, but that doesn't mean acceptable to be left unmanageable.
It could be several issues or a combination of them. If it were my own HIV care, my minimum expectations to start with and demand would be to check a stool sample as we were prone to certain infections as a group. Anyhow, I wish you well and for the short term, prehaps try the BRAT diet until the issue is resolved.
I did have issues with diarrhoea for a long time; I would eat, and then it would come out the other end just as fast, so the typical HIV stuff and the eating (500 grams) daily probiotic yoghurt worked to settle things within a few days, and I stuck with eating that for a few years.
--- Quote from: SBnew on December 03, 2022, 09:34:19 am ---Yea maybe i havent been too good at explaining just how bad it is, but i am calling monday and saying that i cant deal with this.
--- End quote --- Don't kick yourself. Advocating for your best healthcare is often hard.
After 30 years of my own HIV treatments, and the experiences of being caregiver for my two late partners, a friend, and my grandmother, I learned that the time a person most needs to advocate for their own healthcare is usually the same time it's most hard to advocate for that care.
There's nothing like signing papers to check yourself out of a hospital against medical advice to go home and die. That was a damned hard healthcare decision to make. Thankfully my roommate at the time was a nurse and we talked long and hard before we made that decision. Boy was I glad to have someone there willing and able to help me make that decision - and then explain the reasoning to a doctor enough to get them to see my point.
But it's just as hard sometimes to make healthcare decisions when you're not on the verge of death but just feel "bad". How many days do you vomit until you know the medical treatment isn't working best for you? Do you give it a little bit longer? Can you do something to compensate or stop the side effect? How hard do you push your doctor to understand how real and bad your side effects are? Those are the times when it's hard to advocate for what you need. (I took in a 3 month calendar marked with every time I vomited to proof to my doctor that saying I was barfing alllll the time wasn't just exaggeration.
Not that I'm trying to diss any doctor (because while I've had 2 bad doctors, I've also had 2 GREAT doctors in all the years); but sometimes doctors are quick to prescribe a medication and move on without really taking into account a patient's issues with the med. But it's not all their fault; most of the time with today's drugs you get a prescription and you get HIV under control and that's it. I think it makes some doctors get complacent. And that means a patient who is having an issue has to advocate for themselves even harder to get a doctor to pay the right amount of attention to a problem.
--- Quote from: SBnew on December 03, 2022, 09:34:19 am ---It is after everytime i eat, about 15-30 minutes after.
--- End quote --- in the spirit of advocating for yourself, keep in mind that everything isn't HIV-related either. Age can be a factor. Being very ill with HIV (high VL and low cd4) can impact your immune system enough to "trigger" other issues. Other issues could just be happening.
Having nausea and diarrhea soon after eating could be a sign of Chron's Disease or Diverticulitis. Just make sure as you talk to your doctor about these issues (your negative side effects and changing meds) that you both explore all options.
also make sure to follow some of the other advice here. Even if you changed meds tomorrow and there were no side effects, you have been unwell for a while and it will take time to recover. make sure to try the BRAT diet.
best wishes in getting to the bottom of and resolving this terrible issue. ;)