Baby's First Lab Results

[texaninnyc87]

Today was the big day when I found out my first counts. Just a refresher, I hadn't been tested in over 5 years when I found out in October that I'm positive. I've been dealing with tons of anxiety and googling every OI imaginable (THE WORST THING ANYONE NEWLY DIAGNOSED CAN DO!). I had basically convinced myself i had full blown AIDs and probably Syphilis and Hep C. I had never been tested for any other STD's in my life. Stupid, I know...

So, the results are:
Negative for every STD/I!
Great Cholesterol (duh! i've been a vegetarian for 16 years and a ballet dancer my whole life)
CD4: 300
Viral Load: 129,000

I know those numbers aren't great but honestly I'm just so grateful to be above 200 and start treatment prior to an AIDs diagnosis. That might be kind of stupid but it was something I was very worried about. I got approved for ADAP so all my meds and appointments are covered (yay!) and I got some more blood drawn for genotype testing. We talked about different meds and i guess my doc thinks none of the one pill options will work for me because my anxiety has been so intense lately. I was really hoping to try Stribild as I've read such good things about it but it's too new for my doc to feel comfortable with. Atripla definitely out due to mental reasons. She mentioned a 3 pill once a day Truvada combo, so thats probably where we'll start off. She also said it was totally fine for me to wait until after the holidays to start meds since I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling over the next few weeks. I've also been vaccinated for meningitis, pneumonia, and gotten my flu shot. When my numbers are higher i'm going to get the Hep A & B vaccines. I was also told that (like most NYers) my Vitamin D is kinda low so she told me to add a calcium+vitamin D to my daily multivitamin regime, NBD.

So while my numbers kind of suck, i'm very hopeful about all of this. More so than I have been in the past months since finding out. Also really glad I managed to escape the syph and the hep. With my slutty track record i was almost certain i had one if not both of them. I'm also super grateful to have access to free health care and LOVE my social worker and doctor. The organization i'm going through gave me a funny Christmas care package which included slutty underwear. I found this ironic because thats how I got into this whole mess to begin with, but i appreciate the gesture!

My silver lining is that I'm finally getting prescribed the anti anxiety pills i've always needed. Merry Christmas to me!

[anmlvrnyc]

hey tex,
i'm glad you are getting all the help you need. you are going to be just fine. all you need to do is taking care of yourself and living your life happy and healthy.
cheers to you.

[Jmarksto]

Hey Texan;

I'm glad to hear you are doing well.  In terms of not starting meds until after the holidays, you may have already thought about this but - I wanted to fill my prescription a few weeks ahead of starting meds, so when I did start I had a two or three week supply buffer.

Also, I don't think you are the only one that got here through a slutty track record...but not me of course 

JM

[drewm]

Is that a sigh of relief I hear? 

Seriously...numbers not too bad. The good news is you are being treated. Glad to hear things are going well.

Who wears underwear? LOL

[texaninnyc87]

just tried them on. totally see through and low rise. maybe i'll wait to wear them out till i'm undetectable... ...jk!

[texaninnyc87]

Also got a prescription for klonopin so hopefully i wont have any more panic attacks before appointments and maybe ill actually get a good nights sleep for the first time in months!