A lot of what is posted here is certainly not true for everyone. This article seems like it is warning people against starting HART treatment early by emphasizing the terrible things that may happen. I am HIV+ (1.5 years now), I detected the virus within 2 to 3 weeks of being infected and began treatment within 2 months of the initial infection, regardless of CD4 count. There are many reasons I began treatment but 2 important reasons was to keep the virus from attacking my immune system and drastically reduce the risk of passing it to others. I am proud to say it was the best decision I ever did. I have had not ONE side effect to the medication and my latest CD4 count was 911. Recent research has showed that an undetected viral load reduces the risk of passing it to others by 96%! While that is not "prevention", it is pretty close. What we need to do as a society is become more educated on the advancements of medicine in HIV and update the guidelines we have regarding when to start treatment, side effects, and the fact that HIV+ people are not infectious human beings when the virus is undetectable. We have created a culture of fear surrounding HIV that is largely irrational in today's age. The fear factor is so pervasive it even permeates our judgment on when and if to start medication. If you were diagnosed with cancer or some other disease, you would not delay treatment until it progressed and the same holds true for HIV. Immediate treatment is the best advice I can give anyone...there will be a cure for this and you don't want to be cured of HIV but left with a permanently damaged immune system. It is all of our responsibilities to become educated and stop disseminating guidelines that were probably not seriously updated since 1990. Stop the stigma...it is worse than the disease itself.
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A lot of what is posted here is certainly not true for everyone. This article seems like it is warning people against starting HART treatment early by emphasizing the terrible things that may happen. I am HIV+ (1.5 years now), I detected the virus within 2 to 3 weeks of being infected and began treatment within 2 months of the initial infection, regardless of CD4 count. There are many reasons I began treatment but 2 important reasons was to keep the virus from attacking my immune system and drastically reduce the risk of passing it to others. I am proud to say it was the best decision I ever did. I have had not ONE side effect to the medication and my latest CD4 count was 911. Recent research has showed that an undetected viral load reduces the risk of passing it to others by 96%! While that is not "prevention", it is pretty close. What we need to do as a society is become more educated on the advancements of medicine in HIV and update the guidelines we have regarding when to start treatment, side effects, and the fact that HIV+ people are not infectious human beings when the virus is undetectable. We have created a culture of fear surrounding HIV that is largely irrational in today's age. The fear factor is so pervasive it even permeates our judgment on when and if to start medication. If you were diagnosed with cancer or some other disease, you would not delay treatment until it progressed and the same holds true for HIV. Immediate treatment is the best advice I can give anyone...there will be a cure for this and you don't want to be cured of HIV but left with a permanently damaged immune system. It is all of our responsibilities to become educated and stop disseminating guidelines that were probably not seriously updated since 1990. Stop the stigma...it is worse than the disease itself.
November 11, 2011 - 10:47pmThis Comment
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