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Nov 03, 2009 1:38 AM GMT
I think this information should be read by as many HIV-negative guys as possible. It might renew your commitments to safer sex. I copied this over from http://joemygod.blogspot.com/: David France http://nymag.com/health/features/61740/Some fifteen years into the era of protease inhibitors and drug cocktails, doctors are realizing that the miracles the drugs promised are not necessarily a lasting solution to the disease. Most news accounts today call HIV a chronic, manageable disease. But patients who contracted the virus just a few years back are showing signs of what’s being called premature or accelerated aging. Early senility turns out to be an increasingly common problem, though not nearly as extreme as James’s in every case. One large-scale multi-city study released its latest findings this summer that over half of the HIV-positive population is suffering some form of cognitive impairment. Doctors are also reporting a constellation of ailments in middle-aged patients that are more typically seen at geriatric practices, in patients 80 and older. They range from bone loss to organ failure to arthritis. Making matters worse, HIV patients are registering higher rates of insulin resistance and cholesterol imbalances, and they suffer elevated rates of melanoma and kidney cancers and seven times the rate of other non-HIV-related cancers.
Whether this is a result of the drugs or the disease itself, or some combination, is still an open question and certainly varies from patient to patient and condition to condition. Either way, it is now clear that even patients who respond well to medications by today’s standards are not out of the woods. Current life-expectancy charts show that people on HIV medications could live twenty fewer years on average than the general population. “It’s spooky,” says Mark Harrington, who heads Treatment Action Group, a New York–based HIV think tank. “It seems like the virus keeps finding new tricks to throw at us, and we’re just all left behind going, What’s going on?” Complete article (pretty long) here: http://nymag.com/health/features/61740/ |
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Nov 03, 2009 2:00 AM GMT
Thank you for posting the article.
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Nov 03, 2009 4:39 AM GMT
Yes thank you indeed
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Nov 03, 2009 4:41 AM GMT
Shit. Thanks. I'm abstaining from sex now.
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Nov 03, 2009 4:44 AM GMT
See, I knew I was going senile early!
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Nov 03, 2009 4:51 AM GMT
GuerrillaSodomite saidSee, I knew I was going senile early! It's o.k. I'll keep stuffing your face with cookie dough ice cream while we play Old Maid. In all seriousness, it's good to educate although don't live in fear. |
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Nov 03, 2009 4:54 AM GMT
26mileman saidGuerrillaSodomite saidSee, I knew I was going senile early!
It's o.k. I'll keep stuffing your face with cookie dough ice cream while we play Old Maid. Make it bridge or canasta and you have a deal.  |
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Nov 03, 2009 4:59 AM GMT
o.K. and I promise to comb your hair for your passport photo. |
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Nov 03, 2009 5:03 AM GMT
26mileman saido.K. and I promise to comb your hair for your passport photo. No combs! I have much childhood trauma concerning them.  |
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Nov 03, 2009 5:11 AM GMT
generally speaking, its no surprise that taking a cocktail of drugs is going to affect the organs...esp the liver...its tough...and a good reason to keep on keepin on practising safer sex!!
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Nov 03, 2009 7:39 AM GMT
Thanks for this. I passed it on to a friend who is ostracized by the gay community for not believing in the current theory of HIV treatment.
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Nov 03, 2009 8:10 AM GMT
GuerrillaSodomite said26mileman saidGuerrillaSodomite saidSee, I knew I was going senile early!
It's o.k. I'll keep stuffing your face with cookie dough ice cream while we play Old Maid.
Make it bridge or canasta and you have a deal. would you even know the difference at that point  hehe  |
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Nov 03, 2009 11:35 AM GMT
Thanks for the article...very interesting read. And yes, I believe all should read this article. Not being informed is unhealthy for both sides.
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Nov 03, 2009 2:12 PM GMT
Being HIV+ this kind of stuff puts a pit in my stomach every time I see it....so, this is for anyone else like me...i asked my doc if he's seeing this. I live in the metro NY area, so for all you HIV+ guys, i wanted to share his info....the cut and dry...keep active and eat well...
the reply: Yes, we do see it. But a few things to keep in mind; most often the aging and lipodistribution is more common in people that have have HIV for a real long time and have been on the earliest drugs available such as AZT and Crixovan. The newer drugs and combinations do not have as profound an effect. Also this is seen most often in people that are noncompliant with their meds, have frequent drops in their CD4, lead "rough" lives, alcohol, drug use, and smoking.
Although a newly diagnosed HIV individual today has the same life expectancy as nonHIV (assuming they have access to medical care and medications and are adherent) we do see a phenomena of seeing illnesses earlier. For example, if you were HIV neg and genetically inclined to develop heart disease at age 70, in the presence of HIV you might see the same heart disease at age 60.
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Nov 03, 2009 2:20 PM GMT
Triathlete1970 said
Although a newly diagnosed HIV individual today has the same life expectancy as nonHIV (assuming they have access to medical care and medications and are adherent) we do see a phenomena of seeing illnesses earlier. For example, if you were HIV neg and genetically inclined to develop heart disease at age 70, in the presence of HIV you might see the same heart disease at age 60. Which would make sense given that HIV is an immune deficiency disease. If you're fighting an immune disease via meds and your own immune system, that busies the immune system, taking time away from other more normative repairs that would prevent premature aging and other "old age" conditions. Ugh. The dangers of sexual self-expression. Very disheartening. |
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Nov 03, 2009 2:38 PM GMT
It seems no real study has taken place, because of the urgency of the illness itself. A person is stuck between side effects and medication or faced with a disease untreated. It's a hard decision either way. We all know if HIV goes untreated, the potential harm, and avoidable illnesses, ultimately resulting in death, is the alternative, if not for the new cocktails. Time is factor, and until we play this out no one truly knows for sure.
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Nov 03, 2009 3:57 PM GMT
Either way, it's a chronic disease, and your death date is moved up. The moral of the story? Personal responsibility. Social responsibility to society in general. You see, it's not all about me, me, me. In 2009, HIV is nearly 100% preventable.
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Nov 03, 2009 4:13 PM GMT
I don't want to turn this into a bashing but, really, Chucky'stud' as you call yourself, you come off as if you are an expert on things. I equate you to an imbecile.
Talk to any infectious Disease doctor and you will find that ALL studies being conducted are in their infancy stages as the ARV's available are still being tested.
True, its a chronic disease, but your comment about it not being about me, me, me....who are you to say anything....I would focus on things like steroids and their abuse to the body if I were you.
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Nov 03, 2009 4:49 PM GMT
This is very hopeful. My friend that im "hanging out with" and I got tested yesterday. Even though i was pretty sure im still negative it was still nerve wrecking to be there. Its kind of weird how this disease can really affect the mind and its course of thinking
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Nov 03, 2009 5:10 PM GMT
Triathlete1970 saidI don't want to turn this into a bashing but, really, Chucky'stud' as you call yourself, you come off as if you are an expert on things. I equate you to an imbecile.
Talk to any infectious Disease doctor and you will find that ALL studies being conducted are in their infancy stages as the ARV's available are still being tested.
True, its a chronic disease, but your comment about it not being about me, me, me....who are you to say anything....I would focus on things like steroids and their abuse to the body if I were you. I wouldn't go so far as to directly call chucky names (since the only predictable result is another tiresome pie fight), but some people can be so sanctimonious, smugly tossing around the phrase "personal responsibility" as though everyone with this disease is automatically a bad person. The condescension and judgement inherent in such an attitude are, if you can believe it, more painful than any physical symptoms we might have... |
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Nov 03, 2009 5:16 PM GMT
jarhead,
agreed and noted
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Nov 03, 2009 5:20 PM GMT
I think what Chucky is getting at is that everyone who contracted HIV wasn't raped by a pos guy or under some similar situation. It's more likely to contract it in a lapse in better judgment.
And Chucky, there's no way this disease is nearly 100% preventable. Especially since we're talking about a community with an overwhelmingly large disposition to regularly perform the riskiest of behaviors.
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Nov 03, 2009 5:27 PM GMT
Do you mean the communities of Africa where the disease is most prevalent? Yep, fucking a cunt is very risky for the fucker and the fuckee. Perhaps you mean the communities of Russia where HIV infection rates are out of control primarily from shared needle use? Maybe you mean hemophiliacs engaging in that disgusting business of blood transfusions?
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Nov 03, 2009 5:57 PM GMT
McGay saidDo you mean the communities of Africa where the disease is most prevalent? Yep, fucking a cunt is very risky for the fucker and the fuckee. Perhaps you mean the communities of Russia where HIV infection rates are out of control primarily from shared needle use? Maybe you mean hemophiliacs engaging in that disgusting business of blood transfusions? Nope, I mean gay men who regularly have anal sex despite the many complications and overall health risk. Health risk evidenced by the fact that, even in this day and age where information and protection are universally available, gay men are STILL contracting the disease at a much greater rate than other communities. |
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Nov 03, 2009 6:58 PM GMT
Well, that's odd, because you're the only one talking about 1 particular community. The OP's quote doesn't mention any one community at all. Further, what makes you think unprotected anal sex among gay men is the riskiest of all behaviors? Needle sharing's not as risky? Heterosexual anal sex? You're intent on singling out what you think of as lesser people than yourself within the gay population, even though you're gay (despite your denial of same).
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Nov 03, 2009 7:10 PM GMT
RunintheCity saidTriathlete1970 said
Ugh. The dangers of sexual self-expression.
That is a very strange and yet very telling remark. |
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Nov 03, 2009 7:19 PM GMT
Why do you all get bent out of shape when someone talks about personal responsibility for contracting this disease?
Let's show by a raising of hands how many contracted this disease by being raped or getting it from a hospital etc.
Like it or not. Most guys who have contracted it have done so because of a lapse in judgement. It is what it is. Stating the obvious does not necessarily mean someone is passing judgement. We all need to be responsible for our own health - fullstop.
Carry on RyanReborn
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Nov 03, 2009 7:31 PM GMT
'Protection' reduces the risk, it doesn't eliminate it. If you want to be 100% safe, move to an island were you are alone and there are no other animals of any kind there.
Yes, I am being intentionally flippant. If your going to draw a line in the sand, then the above example is the only one you can use that doesn't bring some sort of personal judgment into the equation.
If you don't want to die in a vehicular accident, then you ought never get in a vehicle ever again, or even get near one.
There's a difference between being smart and being self righteous. Of course everyone who's self righteous hasn't a clue because they see that self righteousness as brilliant reasoning and logic.
Total irresponsibility is almost as bad as the delusion of the implacable self righteousness.
There is risk in simply being alive day to day. The issue is learning to balance the risks required to enjoy life with the cautions in maintaining a long life. Too many seem to attribute their luck as brilliance in their decisions. Unfortunately for them, they are also the least equipt to deal with a random tragedy and are most likely to fall apart when it happens.
I've dealt with tragedies in my life so I know. I'll not disclose them for that would only instigate an unnecessary pissing contest. I've known people who's lives fell apart on far more trivial issues and a few who've survived worse. Blindly casting blame is both egregiously ignorant and completely pointless. It is not my place (nor anyone else's) to use another person's foibles and tragedies as examples unless they've given explicit permission.
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Nov 03, 2009 7:33 PM GMT
"Especially since we're talking about a community with an overwhelmingly large disposition to regularly perform the riskiest of behaviors."
No, we are talking about people with HIV/AIDs, not the community that ryanreborn is taking yet another slam at. The HIV/AIDs population <> the gay male population.
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Nov 03, 2009 7:38 PM GMT
Ryanreborn,
Just curious: Are you as against anal sex between two heterosexuals as you are between two homosexuals?
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Nov 03, 2009 7:40 PM GMT
The issue here as I see it is the inference by some that all people who have contracted HIV did so by a lack of personal responsibility. While that may be the case with some it is certainly not the case with all. In these forums there always seems to be a lack of understanding, empathy, care for those who have contracted HIV regardless of how it happened.
I have a doctor friend who contracted HIV while working in a psychiatric hospital. One of his female patients became agitated, grabbed a used syringe and lunged at him pricking his skin. Because of where he was there was not the 72 hour drug available to him. Was he irresponsible?
Another friend was in a monogamous relationship where both parties were tested and found to be negative. Over time because of their commitment to each other made the decision to stop using condoms. In a moment of weakness/irresponsibility one of the guys cheated and brought HIV back home. Was the other guy irresponsible?
There are more and more of these stories so to make a sweeping generalization that it must always be lack of personal responsibility is hurtful and maddening to those of us who do have compassion and love for our brothers.
Maybe before making a sweeping generalization that may be hurtful to someone who does have to live with their status daily maybe each of us can take some personal responsibility and temper our remarks with non judgemental wisdom.
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Nov 03, 2009 7:53 PM GMT
stringman saidThe issue here as I see it is the inference by some that all people who have contracted HIV did so by a lack of personal responsibility. While that may be the case with some it is certainly not the case with all. In these forums there always seems to be a lack of understanding, empathy, care for those who have contracted HIV regardless of how it happened.
I have a doctor friend who contracted HIV while working in a psychiatric hospital. One of his female patients became agitated, grabbed a used syringe and lunged at him pricking his skin. Because of where he was there was not the 72 hour drug available to him. Was he irresponsible?
Another friend was in a monogamous relationship where both parties were tested and found to be negative. Over time because of their commitment to each other made the decision to stop using condoms. In a moment of weakness/irresponsibility one of the guys cheated and brought HIV back home. Was the other guy irresponsible?
There are more and more of these stories so to make a sweeping generalization that it must always be lack of personal responsibility is hurtful and maddening to those of us who do have compassion and love for our brothers.
Maybe before making a sweeping generalization that may be hurtful to someone who does have to live with their status daily maybe each of us can take some personal responsibility and temper our remarks with non judgemental wisdom. I have never heard anyone state that everyone who have contracted HIV have done so due to a lapse in judgement. No one is that stupid. Yet this is constantly thrown out: to muddy the waters as it were. Yet there is little talk about people taking personal responsibility for their actions and their health. It's as if fucking or being fucked is the be all end all of existence og gay guys. Now come to think of it - it can very well be. First example - Not responsible Second example - Yes, responsible |
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Nov 03, 2009 8:12 PM GMT
Blondizgd saidWhy do you all get bent out of shape when someone talks about personal responsibility for contracting this disease?
Let's show by a raising of hands how many contracted this disease by being raped or getting it from a hospital etc.
Like it or not. Most guys who have contracted it have done so because of a lapse in judgement. It is what it is. Stating the obvious does not necessarily mean someone is passing judgement. We all need to be responsible for our own health - fullstop.
Carry on RyanReborn
Here you go. My hand is up. I was raped by my abusive exboyfriend in 1996. Happy now? The circumstances of my seroconversion are immaterial, same as anyone else's... |
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Nov 07, 2009 7:58 AM GMT
Triathlete1970 saidI don't want to turn this into a bashing but, really, Chucky'stud' as you call yourself, you come off as if you are an expert on things. I equate you to an imbecile.
Talk to any infectious Disease doctor and you will find that ALL studies being conducted are in their infancy stages as the ARV's available are still being tested.
True, its a chronic disease, but your comment about it not being about me, me, me....who are you to say anything....I would focus on things like steroids and their abuse to the body if I were you. I'm afraid that you show your ignorance here. Among the various steroids (hormones soluble in fats) AAS remain among the primary treatments of choice for HIV, and wasting disease. Study up, Ignorant One. Not all steroids are anabolic (e.g. cortisone (wasting) or estrogen (feminizing)). I'm afraid, you are, in fact, 100% wrong. AAS are used to PREVENT wasting disease. Study up on anti-aging. It's not your name calling, but, ignorance, that's a bit bothersome. Of course, I reckon that's how you got where you are. Any which way you cut it, HIV is nearly 100% preventable, and IS 100% preventable if you never have sex, and never get tainted blood. I.e. incredibly easy to avoid through a modicum of good behavior. You're quick to defend that bad behavior, and, of course, that's why the sickness is epidemic. You can lead a horse to water, etc.; and ignorant folks are too ignorant to know they are. Such is life. I'll put my blood work, my cardiac sonogram, and my fitness levels against yours any day of the week. It speaks for itself. Just because you're ignorant doesn't mean you shouldn't be called out for it. I'm afraid you are ignorant, whether you choose to believe it, or not. You make some assumptions that are completely wrong. Call me imbecile, if you want, but, I'll tell you I'm mature enough to study, ask experts; talk to folks, including the chair of the Dallas HIV community, as well as having spent 35 years in fitness. I.e., you're clueless. As some point, you have to accept responsibility for your bad behavior. At some point, you have to quit spewing few gossip ( there's no science in your claim; in fact, the opposite is true). We'll agree to disagree because you simply don't know better. You demonstrate the selfish I,I,I,me,me,me, vermin spewing irresponsibility I often mention. See how you are? Not just clueless, but, unable to look, and unwilling to look, at truth, about a number of things. Poor, poor, you. |
