Mental Health & HIV / Re: Has HIV given or increase your anxiety or depression? Or is it just life?
« Last post by idontknowhowbuthereitis on Today at 08:19:14 pm »LOL you say that like it's an unknowable thing; but it's simply that you don't have enough information yet or trust in the information to understand what being on the meds for 30 yrs will do. We actually can very easily extrapolate what is going to happen being on meds for 30 years - you'll be alive and you'll probably be healthy.
Thanks for your feedback, but the medication I am on is BIKTARVY which was approved in 2018, so how can any documented patients have used it for 30 years time and how can an end patient make actual data driven decisions regarding long time impact (30 year usage), if no one has ever used it for that long (lol). Yes it might be the result of years of trial and error and hard work by scientists, but expecting no side effects doesn't compute with me (although I have none at the moment). ARTs are a powerful drug, has to be some sort of side effect other than just keeping your VL down..
I am very comfortable and don't have future concerns personally but I think its a fair call out for patients to ask about the long term effects of HIV and ARTs, when much of the medication being mass produced and distributed is fairly new or has a previous commercial agenda by big pharma.
Again new to this club, I just take a logical approach to things, at one stage in life opioids were aggressively prescribed, I wouldnt encourage anyone not to take meds, but yeah blindly saying you will be fine and live a healthy life and blindly trusting big pharma, isnt for me. Although I actively take my meds and so grateful, I wouldnt be surprised if there was side effects down the line (not trying to scare monger)
The reality is, this is the cards we have been dealt so there is nothing we can do about it, follow our doctors advice and enjoy life.
Much love, dont take it personally