AIDS Diagnosis vs. HIV Prognosis

[Maestro]

I'm not sure if I asked this before, so sorry if I am repeated myself...

I have read a ton about how the HAART treatment works so well for those  who are HIV+.  10+ years is not uncommon.  However, is there a different prognosis for HAART with someone who was already diagnosed with AIDS?  Is it just as effective?

Thanks for the info...

Maestro

[Alain]

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[Maestro]

Alain,

He has about 1/2 your cd4 count....But aside from the PCP, never seems to get real sick (in the past anyways). 

So even with the lessened response to HAART, AIDS is still just as manageable through HAART?

M

[franfrog]

Well, as I am not an expert on this by far but I have my opinion.  I did not find out about my diagnosis until I was already in the stage of AIDS diagnosis.  I had a cd4 of 52 and spent a month in the hospital with the OI PCP.  I started HAART immediately following my diagnosis and within a month my numbers had dramatically improved.  Within the little over a year and my numbers seems to be climbing.  That is not to say my immune system has not had more damage since I was where I was when diagnosed but it is definitely a good sign that anyone can do it.  Just because you are diagnosed with AIDS and not HIV+, that you have any less of a chance.
Fran

[Alain]

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[Maestro]

Well, as I am not an expert on this by far but I have my opinion.  I did not find out about my diagnosis until I was already in the stage of AIDS diagnosis.  I had a cd4 of 52 and spent a month in the hospital with the OI PCP.  I started HAART immediately following my diagnosis and within a month my numbers had dramatically improved.  Within the little over a year and my numbers seems to be climbing.  That is not to say my immune system has not had more damage since I was where I was when diagnosed but it is definitely a good sign that anyone can do it.  Just because you are diagnosed with AIDS and not HIV+, that you have any less of a chance.
Fran

Fran,

Your case sounds almost identical to my Uncles except for one major difference.  His CD4 has never gone above 180.  He has been on HAART since around 1999 when he was also admitted to the hospital with PCP and an AIDS diagnosis.


M

[Moffie65]

Maestro,

I have to leave shortly, but wanted to give you an answer from someone who has been in this for some time.

When I was admitted to the hospital in 1994, with PCP, MAC, and other OIs; my CD4 was 20, but viral load off the charts.  I started medications at that time, but the PIs were not part of the picture for anther two years.  These are basicly the difference between HAART today and Medication cocktails of the past.  My feeling is similar to Allain's but with a bit of a difference.  I personally feel like the jury is still out on HAART therapy, and I feel very strongly that many of us will perish, due mainly to the wreched wear and tear that these drugs place on our internal organs.  Be that as it may, it took me almost 8 years of HAART to get my CD4s above 350, but I also have to add here that the way I live, the amount of sleep I get, and the food I eat, have had a remarkable difference in the response of my immune system.

For those who are not willing to invest in their helath, moderate their drinking, take care not to damage their immune systems in other ways; well, there is no way anyone can assure you that anything will take place in the future.  It is imperative that if anyone is going to thrive with HIV, then the whole life involvement with good health must be at the forefront of the way we live.  Anything else is pretty much a waste of time, as without a healthy immune system, nothing is guaranteed. 

Just wanted to let you know that "Book" definitions of case differences is not good enough.  We must all take care of the immune system we have, or we will literally die without it.  Thus, AIDS.  Immune Deffeciency is the end of our ability to sustain the status quo.  Without a healthy immune response, CD4s are pretty much useless.

In Support.

[Maestro]

Tim,

Wow...thanks for the great answer...Much insight.

Maestro

[Boo Radley]

Maestro,

Another aspect of HIV infection is that each of is is a unique biochemical entity and HIV's course may be strikingly different in two people who seem to be similar in most respects.  Some people who have AIDS when they start HAART rebound quickly and recover their health while others take much longer or succumb to the virus.  I know people who have had 0 t-cells for years who are still alive and others who died within a short time of their immune system collapse.   I've known guys who drank excessively and took drugs like mad, whose diets consisted of fast food or nothing and they live without problems while others ate well, excercised and did all the "right" things only to get sicker and sicker. 

Frankly, we don't understand enough about HIV to predict the course it will take in any one of us.  I think it's a combination of the virulence of your virus, your genetic make-up, your overall immune health, and other factors yet to be discovered. 

Boo