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Author Topic: Memory and HIV  (Read 6226 times)

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Offline a2z

  • Member
  • Posts: 209
Memory and HIV
« on: March 11, 2009, 10:25:15 am »
I've noticed over the last couple of years or so, but particularly since I started HAART (Reyataz, Truvada and Norvir) that I have a great deal of difficulty in creating new memories.  I'm in a constantly changing profession with lots of new stuff to learn each year and it's getting to the point of being intolerable.

Does anyone take or know of any drugs to help restore, at least partially, memory-making functions of the brain?  The only memory drugs I've seen out there are for Alzheimers.
Dates are blood draw dates:
3/12/15: CD4 941, 36.4%, VL UD
9/4/14: CD4 948, 37.9%, VL 150
5/23/14: CD4 895 --.-% VL UD - Truvada/Isentress
09/21/09: CD4 898 27.0% VL 120 - back on track, same meds.High level enzymes, but less so
06/15/09: CD4 478 21.8% VL 1150 - high liver enzymes... looks like I may not be resistant
05/22/09: Fixed insurance, resumed medicine
04/17/09: Ran out of medicine, could not resolve insurance problems
04/01/09: CD4 773 28% VL 120 - high liver enzymes
12/01/08: CD4 514 23% VL 630
10/17/08 started Reyataz, Norvir and Truvada. -- possibly minor neuropathy, but otherwise okay.
9/10/08: CD4 345 17%, VL > 78K
8/18/08: CD4 312 18%, VL > 60K (considering meds)
12/19/07: CD4 550 28% VL > 100K (no meds yet)
Diagnosed 10/23/07

Offline clsoca

  • Member
  • Posts: 164
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2009, 11:28:48 am »
I read in the LA times a few years back, if you do crossword puzzles nightly before bed,  the stimulation would improve short term memory. I am sure the study is still on their web site archives. 
10/07 Infected
11/07 Seroconversion
07/08 Tested Poz
07/08 VL 487  CD4 658  (No Meds)
10/08 VL 286  CD4 724  (No Meds)
01/24/09 VL 30,100   CD4 329 CD4 30% (No Meds)
02/06/09 VL 44,000   CD4 367 CD4 36%  Blood Work @ UCLA (No Meds)
02/06/09 VL 44,000   CD4 317 CD4 35% Blood Work @ USC (No Meds)
02/12/09 VL 52,000   CD4 297 CD4 29%
02/12/09  Started Atripla
04/01/09 VL 60  CD4 667   CD4 48%
06-05-09  VL UD CD4 427   CD4 39%

Offline mjmel

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,069
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2009, 08:03:40 am »
Math problem solving is recommended to keep brain synapses in tune.


Mike

Offline BT65

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 10,786
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2009, 09:16:07 am »
I have chunks of years of my life I have totally no recollection of.  Of course, I think this is due largely to some drugs I was on at the time.  But, I feel ya on having no memory.  It's extremely frustrating.  And my memory doesn't work nearly as good as it used to.
I've never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.-Clarence Darrow

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Offline HollyStar

  • Member
  • Posts: 344
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2009, 10:39:04 pm »
I know what you mean. My memory wasn't great before the meds and now that I am on them, I don't see any improvement. If anything my memory is getting worse and I'm only 24, lol. I am enrolled in an online math course but I haven't done anything in weeks. I might try Mike's suggestion and get back into the math. Good luck and if you find something that works for you, don't forget to let us know. :)
Diagnosed  July 28th 2003

'I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.' -Diande Ackerman

'Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?' -Frank Scully

'If your ship doesn't come, swim out to it.' - Jonathan Winters

Offline a2z

  • Member
  • Posts: 209
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2009, 03:53:49 am »
I read in the LA times a few years back, if you do crossword puzzles nightly before bed,  the stimulation would improve short term memory. I am sure the study is still on their web site archives. 

Thanks for the suggestions.  I guess it made me realize what I still do have.  I play poker, do sudoku and hold a mentally challenging job (including lots of math at times.)  I just can't seem to memorize new things and that worries me for my future.

I even take 120mg-240mg Gingko Balboa and 1.5 Acetyl-L-Carnitine daily for the last month...no improvment.
Dates are blood draw dates:
3/12/15: CD4 941, 36.4%, VL UD
9/4/14: CD4 948, 37.9%, VL 150
5/23/14: CD4 895 --.-% VL UD - Truvada/Isentress
09/21/09: CD4 898 27.0% VL 120 - back on track, same meds.High level enzymes, but less so
06/15/09: CD4 478 21.8% VL 1150 - high liver enzymes... looks like I may not be resistant
05/22/09: Fixed insurance, resumed medicine
04/17/09: Ran out of medicine, could not resolve insurance problems
04/01/09: CD4 773 28% VL 120 - high liver enzymes
12/01/08: CD4 514 23% VL 630
10/17/08 started Reyataz, Norvir and Truvada. -- possibly minor neuropathy, but otherwise okay.
9/10/08: CD4 345 17%, VL > 78K
8/18/08: CD4 312 18%, VL > 60K (considering meds)
12/19/07: CD4 550 28% VL > 100K (no meds yet)
Diagnosed 10/23/07

Offline Joe K

  • Standard
  • Member
  • Posts: 5,821
  • 31 Years Poz
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2009, 12:17:14 pm »
Memory?  What memory?  My personal worst, is taking seven tries to transcribe a phone number from the answering machine.  What were we talking about...

Offline Texan38

  • Member
  • Posts: 686
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2009, 08:03:23 pm »
I thought it was all because I was getting older! Well, which could also be part of the problem. I sometimes forget my coworkers' names! And numbers...good Lord, forget it. If I don't write it down, it never existed!
As a matter of fact, I had bought a book of cross word puzzles...at least I think I did.
In Hollywood an equitable divorce settlement means each party getting fifty per cent of publicity.
~ Lauren Bacall

Offline mjmel

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,069
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2009, 02:13:21 am »
I get 'lost' driving into town sometimes. My mind wanders off and when I return .... I'm like, "Where was I going and how do I get there?"
Is it HIV related? Med related? Aging related (58 yrs)? Past drug use come back to haunt me?
Bit of all the above?

Yes.

Mike

Offline mum20011940

  • Member
  • Posts: 3
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2009, 06:43:05 am »
  :)may be age as a forgetful 50 year old mysellf worst case parking car in large carpark spent an hour and half looking for it with trolley of shopping with the remote i rang my son who reminded me he dropped me to the store and was waiting for me to ring him for a lift back my car was outside my house.
was it menopause who knows 

Offline J.R.E.

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,207
  • Positive since 1985, joined forums 12/03
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2009, 08:29:19 am »
Hello ,

Long term memory seems fine. It's the short term that gives me trouble sometimes.  Having conversation can also be trying. I will be talking and suddenly loose my thought, and go blank in the middle of a sentence. Have to sit there for a few seconds and try to remember.  I also seem to be typing faster than my thoughts permit, so I am constantly having to go back and make corrections. Words missing from sentences etc...    57 years old here !

Ray
Current Meds ; Viramune / Epzicom Eliquis, Diltiazem. Pravastatin 80mg, Ezetimibe. UPDATED 2/18/24
 Tested positive in 1985,.. In October of 2003, My t-cell count was 16, Viral load was over 500,000, Percentage at that time was 5%. I started on  HAART on October 24th, 2003.

 As of Oct 2nd, 2023, Viral load Undetectable.
CD 4 @676 /  CD4 % @ 18 %
Lymphocytes,absolute-3815 (within range)


72 YEARS YOUNG

Offline minismom

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,660
  • Quocumque jeceris stabit
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2009, 06:38:34 am »
Mim has some serious memory issues.  There are many times we'll have a conversation, she'll walk away, and then come back and ask what we said, where she was going, or what she was supposed to be doing.  Her conversations go fine unless she's interupted.  Then, she has to ask what she was saying.

Anything she has to commit to "muscle memory", ie dance, is extremely hard for her.  Information that she has to learn and retain takes a lot of time, tons of repitition, and fatigues her quickly.  In the middle of a lesson, we watch her eyes glaze over - a sure signal that her brain has shut down.  Multi-step tasks and multi-tasking never go well.  Neither does a "laundry" list of things she needs to accomplish.  Too much info = too much confusion.

Not sure if this has to do with her HIV or her meds.  I tend to lean towards a combination of both.  Of course she doesn't have age to blame - she's only 8.

Mum (who is old and forgetful)
www.watoto.com
www.MotherBearProject.org
"Whichever way you throw me, i will stand"
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today...it's already tomorrow in Australia"  Charles Schultz

Offline decayingsinner

  • Member
  • Posts: 274
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2009, 06:49:57 pm »
I usually try to do a couple Sudoko puzzles a day.  I always liked math and find this to be an enjoyable little hobby of mine.

Offline jampdx

  • Member
  • Posts: 92
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2009, 03:42:09 am »
Well, F oh dear... you all aren't very encouraging to someone who hasn't started meds yet, but will at some point. lol. heheh   :o
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-Infected 1/6/2009
Positive 2/9/2009
3/8/2009:  CD4 603  VL f\'d up by lab and having to redraw
4/7/2009 CD4 650 VL 348
6/24/2009 cd4 964 VL 850
9/26/2009 CD4 546 VL 822
7/22/13 CD4 1080 VL 2,220
6/30:2018 CD4 780 VL Undetectable

Offline J.R.E.

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,207
  • Positive since 1985, joined forums 12/03
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2009, 07:52:38 am »
Current Meds ; Viramune / Epzicom Eliquis, Diltiazem. Pravastatin 80mg, Ezetimibe. UPDATED 2/18/24
 Tested positive in 1985,.. In October of 2003, My t-cell count was 16, Viral load was over 500,000, Percentage at that time was 5%. I started on  HAART on October 24th, 2003.

 As of Oct 2nd, 2023, Viral load Undetectable.
CD 4 @676 /  CD4 % @ 18 %
Lymphocytes,absolute-3815 (within range)


72 YEARS YOUNG

Offline randym431

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,137
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2009, 10:55:31 am »
Well I'll add an encouraging note, not in the main stream experiences.
I personally feel I have gained ability, especially detail memory, but only after being on meds for
a year or so. I've been med-ish since oct 2005. When I was younger, my hobby was detailed wiring
and circuit building (electronics), as well as building pc's.
I have certainly re-gained and actually surpassed my youth detailed memory capacity, in the last few years (on meds). I kinda gave up a lot of my hobby because I found it too taxing to plan and design circuits, wiring mazes, and the likes. And this was my pre-aids era Im speaking of.
Now, I once again find it easy and fun to mess with all this, my hobby of old.
Other than the side effects of fatigue and the sustiva dreams, for me its nice to have rejoined my hobby of old, that keeps me busy, happy and engaged. And its a hobby that daily fatigue doesn’t have an effect on.
I know this is not the norm with hiv and meds in general, but so far so good...
Diag Sept 2005 VL 1mill, CD4 85, 3%, weight 143# (195# was normal)
Feb 2021, undetectable, weight 215#

Offline mudman8

  • Member
  • Posts: 115
Re: Memory and HIV
« Reply #16 on: March 24, 2009, 05:29:14 pm »
I have a terrible time focusing and staying on one project at home.  I was being interviewed on the phone for some free therapist help, they started with the worst, drug abuse or psychotic episodes. No, No , No. they then asked about being distracted and hard time focussing HELL YES!  I'll start doing the dishes and find myself in the bathroom, then  get that blanket off the couch and OH YEAH back to the dishes.

I hate puzzles, I hated math, I always seemed to come up with the wrong answer.  I can't remember a phone number from just having looked at it. I'm an artist at heart I can remember colors, visuals, pictures. Lots of UBIs...... Useless Bits of Information.

I used to know hundreds of latin names for plants, now I"m lucky to remember a handful.  Often I have to say I'll come back to that, and it does pop up.

I read some info a few years back and they were saying the best thing for the mind is exercise, walking, stretching etc.  My 87 yo father now has dementia and it's tough, he takes it well and relies on mom and me to keep him together. Watching him decline is tough.

Also years ago there was a book review of a researcher trying to understand memory and it turned out that the hands and touch have a lot to do with remembering things.  Which is why I had to write those latin names 50 times.  Try Dizygotheca elegantissima or Gleditsia triacanthos  inermus (honey locust).  As a kid I used to tear apart leaves, feel the bark and break twigs to see how resistant they were, that helped tremendously.
Life is analog

 


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