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Author Topic: Recreational Drug use and HIV progression  (Read 23703 times)

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Offline jkinatl2

  • Member
  • Posts: 6,007
  • Doo. Dah. Dipp-ity.
Re: Recreational Drug use and HIV progression
« Reply #50 on: February 27, 2007, 08:08:07 pm »
What I see with my own eyes, far too often, are people who do not research their own illness nor the drugs they put into their bodies. I see people who arrogantly parrot often ill-trained and unresponsive doctors. I see people placing blind trust in meds, in work-related insurance policies, in systems which are notorious for leaking information and eliminating any threat to their solvency. I see people acting astonished when their rug is pulled out from under them, when these miracle meds give them Stephen Johnson's Syndrome (Look that one up, but not while eating) or liver trouble/faiilure or cancer.

I see people pushing away the efforts of those who have walked their paths already, because the outlook is mixed instead of relentlessly rosy. I see people who eventually turn to the same people they belittle and ostracise, when no other help is forthcoming. When doctors insist that THEY failed the drugs, and not the other way around. When they get sick despite having 600 T Cells because they have a virus that eats away at the brain and spinal cord even when it is irradicated in the blood.

Yeah, that's what I see with my own eyes. And that's why I am a skeptic. Everyone trusts something. Jesus, their doctor, their Mom, whatever. My choice is peer reviewed quantifiable science. The harder the data, the better. The more replicated, the more reasonably accurate.

In the annals of time, this is a spanking new disease. We are all the guinea pigs. We all have a lot to learn. I intend to go down with the knowledge that I did, at least, what homework I could.

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline ScooterTrash

  • Member
  • Posts: 69
Re: Recreational Drug use and HIV progression
« Reply #51 on: February 27, 2007, 08:10:25 pm »
I started smoking pot at age 12. I think that was in 1974.
For me, it WAS a gateway drug. Not because of the drug itself, but because of the people associated with it. (who were also addicted to other drugs.)

Offline fearless

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,191
Re: Recreational Drug use and HIV progression
« Reply #52 on: February 27, 2007, 08:17:04 pm »
Like you said, JK, everything in moderation.

Pot is my poison of choice, but at 30 or so cones a day everyday last year, it was doing my head in and feeding my anxieties.
Be forgiving, be grateful, be optimistic

Offline Ihavehope

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,366
  • Yes, I'm a cry baby, AND WHAT?
Re: Recreational Drug use and HIV progression
« Reply #53 on: February 27, 2007, 08:18:07 pm »
What I see with my own eyes, far too often, are people who do not research their own illness nor the drugs they put into their bodies. I see people who arrogantly parrot often ill-trained and unresponsive doctors. I see people placing blind trust in meds, in work-related insurance policies, in systems which are notorious for leaking information and eliminating any threat to their solvency. I see people acting astonished when their rug is pulled out from under them, when these miracle meds give them Stephen Johnson's Syndrome (Look that one up, but not while eating) or liver trouble/faiilure or cancer.

I see people pushing away the efforts of those who have walked their paths already, because the outlook is mixed instead of relentlessly rosy. I see people who eventually turn to the same people they belittle and ostracise, when no other help is forthcoming. When doctors insist that THEY failed the drugs, and not the other way around. When they get sick despite having 600 T Cells because they have a virus that eats away at the brain and spinal cord even when it is irradicated in the blood.

Yeah, that's what I see with my own eyes. And that's why I am a skeptic. Everyone trusts something. Jesus, their doctor, their Mom, whatever. My choice is peer reviewed quantifiable science. The harder the data, the better. The more replicated, the more reasonably accurate.

In the annals of time, this is a spanking new disease. We are all the guinea pigs. We all have a lot to learn. I intend to go down with the knowledge that I did, at least, what homework I could.



Hey sexy,

I agree with you. I often feel that I am being lied to when I visit my doctor when he tells me things are going to most likely end up well when I have had co-worker who was in my same age range who died of AIDS complications. I do some research when I can.

Tell it like it is, speak from the heart, tell us all how hard it's been for you. Thats what these forums are about, but don't expect everyone to have the same amount of knowledge you have or opinion because unlike you, there are many people who were recently diagnosed and are studying this virus daily to try to understand this disease.

Infected: April 2005
12/6/06 - Diagnosed HIV positive
12/19/06 - CD4 = 240  22% VL = 26,300
1/4/07 - CD4 = 200 16% VL = ?
2/9/07 = Started Kaletra/Truvada
3/13/07 = CD4 = 386 22% VL ?

 


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