POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: gwmpoz23 on October 16, 2012, 12:32:38 am
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I have been poz now for a year and half and it just seems it never gets any better. I was on Atripla for 9 days and it made me a paranoid freak, I have been on Complera for the past year and I am now resistant to 2 of the 3 components and now started a new regimen that is simply killing my stomach. I have been through numerous bouts of bronchitis, chostochondritis, and more. It seems that it just keeps getting worse, is it even worth the bother to try another set of drugs, will it ever get better?
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my personal experience over the last 20 yrs has been that I spent 12 yrs just to get to undetectable. I've been on 18 different HIV meds. I'm resistant to many of them. I used to (for 6 yrs) throw up daily, then thought it was a blessing when (for 6 yrs) I only threw up 4-6 times a month. God, how I hated the "sick years".
However once I finally got the "right" combination of meds, everything changed. I didn't vomit anymore and I felt better than I ever had in nearly 20 yrs (yes, even back to long before I knew I had aids). I'll tell you what, the past 8 yrs have been a far cry from those first 12. ;)
Sometimes it's tough on people, very tough sometimes. I lost my partner (to aids), my job, my friends etc also during those first 12 yrs while I was sick as a dog; but I always believed that life was worth living. The struggle to get better was the thing that kept me moving forward through those bad days/years.
Everything can be fixed or made better, except death. It just takes hard work and patience. You. with the help of your doctor, should be able to find the "right" combo; but as you have seen, it just might not happen overnight. You'll have to have patience while you keep trying different meds, and dealing with the various side effects.
Many people think that they can't go on; yet those people have always been surprised to find that they did have the strength in them to persevere, get through the bad times, and make it to the good times. I think you can do the same. Try to hang in there until a better regimen can be found.
Best wishes for better times in the near future!