Chuck Griffis, CRNA, MS, and Suzette A. Chafey, RN,NP, MPH
The "buffalo hump" on the back of your neck is now too large to ignore anymore; it's time to get something done. And you sure aren't about to discontinue the HAART cocktail that has brought your T-cells up, your viral load down, and you-well-back to life again!
I know that you usually find me in my "Nutrition & HIV" articles but I wanted to offer you a little advice on holiday coping skills. Ever since the September 11th attacks, our fear of flying has been replaced by fear of opening the mail and being exposed to anthrax spores.
Warmest Holiday Wishes! Well, it's that time of year again! Time to get together with friends and family and reflect on your particular beliefs and interests. Remember, as the nights get colder and the cocoa gets hotter, you'll want to enjoy all the culinary joys of the season, just in moderation! Try just one cup of eggnog or just a couple of mouth-watering pieces of candy or cookies.
This question is just one way that we who live with HIV and those provide medical care and public health interventions express our concern and curiosity about HAART and transmission risk. At the personal level, we wonder if responding well to therapy renders us much less likely to transmit the virus to others should we slip and not use protection when we should have. At the community level, we worry about whether or not overly rosy views about treatment are used by some people, positive or negative, to do away with protection and other harm reduction measures.
September 11, 2001 will mark a new low point in the history of atrocious, cruel murder of US civilians. It also will mark a new self-consciousness for the people of the US. The September 11 events hurl us into a fearful situation that the rest of the world has had to live with for many years. We no longer get to live our lives without looking over our shoulders all the time for potential attack. We are horrified at our losses and confused about how to respond, how to take care of ourselves.
Well, can you believe that it's already November? With that comes the shorter days and the cool, brisk autumnal air -- wait a minute -- it was 90 degrees today!!! And, of course, Thanksgiving!
What Are Nervous System Problems? The nervous system has two parts. The brain and spinal cord are called the central nervous system. The nerves and muscles are called the peripheral nervous system. (Peripheral means around the outside). People with HIV disease can have several nervous system problems.
El sistema nervioso tiene dos partes. El cerebro y la médula espinal son parte del sistema nervioso central (SNC). Los nervios y los músculos son parte del sistema nervioso periférico. Periférico significa en las afueras.
One of the conflicts associated with developing vaccines that people don't think about is why it takes so long for vaccines to be developed. Basically, there are two types of vaccines: There are vaccines that prevent infections -- those are called preventive vaccines. Then there are vaccines which treat infections, which are therapeutic vaccines.
The terrorist attacks on September 11th affected all of us greatly and left everyone with a range of difficult emotions. It has not been "business as usual" since the 11th for anyone, including HIV/AIDS advocates, who typically spend September and October in the middle of appropriations battles, working hard to ensure that Congress approves the highest possible funding levels for critical HIV/AIDS programs.
The conference, the first scientific meeting focused on vaccine development, began on September 5, 2001, in Philadelphia. The conference was sponsored by the Foundation for AIDS Vaccine Research and Development, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and the French Agence Nationale Recherches sur le SIDA, and was attended by more than 1,000 AIDS vaccine researchers, public health officials, AIDS community advocates and pharmaceutical company representatives.
Hello Friends! Are you enjoying the summer weather? These days I am reminded of the reason air conditioning was invented! Last issue I said that I would give you the nutritional facts on some of the fare from our most popular fast-food chains. This list is huge, so I will mention a few here and will add additional selections in future issues.
A condom is a tube made of thin, flexible material that is closed at one end. Condoms have been used for hundreds of years to prevent pregnancy by keeping a man's semen out of a woman's vagina. Condoms also help prevent diseases that are spread by semen or by contact with infected sores in the genital area, including HIV. Most condoms are made to go over a man's penis. A new type of condom was designed to fit into a woman's vagina. This "female" condom can also be used to protect the rectum.
Un condón es un tubo hecho de material delgado y flexible que está cerrado en un extremo. Se usó durante siglos para prevenir el embarazo tratando de evitar la entrada del semen en la vagina. Los condones también ayudan a prevenir las enfermedades que se transmiten por medio del semen o por contacto con las heridas infectadas en el área genital, incluso el VIH. La mayoría de los condones se hacen para cubrir el pene del hombre. Un nuevo tipo de condón se ha diseñado para encajar en la vagina de la mujer.
A complex mix of symptoms and a shrinking number of AIDS physicians can add up to an OI (opportunistic infection) ID crapshoot. Your doc may dismiss diarrhea, fatigue or nausea as drug side effects even when caused by an OI or HIV itself. You can up your survival odds with info and attitude.
The 189 member states of the United Nations General Assembly met June 25 -- 27, 2001, and unanimously approved a document that can be an important tool around the world for urging governments and others to take responsibility for helping to control the global epidemic. Almost everyone agrees that the meeting was largely a success, though only time will show its results.
HIV fraud is the promotion, advertisement, or sale of products that are supposed to diagnose, treat, or cure HIV when those products have not been proven to be safe and effective for those purposes. Regular medicine does not have a cure for HIV Because it is a serious illness, many people with HIV disease are willing to try almost anything to get healthy. Some unproven treatments may be harmless, but others can be dangerous. For example, one brand of "Brain Wave Synchronizer" caused epileptic seizures.
The amount of a prescription medication is supposed to be high enough to help fight a specific disease, and low enough to avoid causing too many side effects. Other medications, non-prescription (over-the-counter) drugs or recreational drugs can sometimes cause large changes in the amount of a medication in your bloodstream. This can result in an overdose, leading to serious side effects, or to an under-dose, meaning that the medication will not be effective.
My article on disclosure elsewhere in the last issue mentioned the Seropositive Urban Men's Study, or SUMS. This study in San Francisco and New York City was undertaken in order to try to understand the sexual practices of HIV+ gay and bisexual men, how they understand these practices, and what other things are associated in our minds and behaviors with what we do sexually.
Results from a study comparing the recently approved protease inhibitor lopinavir (Kaletra) to nelfinavir (Viracept) as first line therapy were reported at a major International AIDS conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Lopinavir includes a new protease inhibitor along with a small dose of ritonavir in a single capsule.
Almost half of all states have already indicated that they may have to restrict their AIDS Drug Assistance Program by the end of 2001. Restrictions can include waiting lists, caps on services, cutting drugs off the formulary, or even closing the program to new enrollment because money is low. Additional states may be affected as well.
A recent study shows that garlic supplements decrease saquinavir (Fortovase) levels by an average of 51% and are therefore likely to greatly reduce saquinavir's anti-HIV activity. This can lead to the rapid development of resistance to saquinavir. What effect this might have when saquinavir is used with small doses of ritonavir is unknown.
Hello, everyone! I'm back from hiatus and I hope you enjoyed the previous double-issue of the Being Alive Newsletter. There was so much information to include that I opted not to include my article so you could get as much information as possible. But now I'm back with another interesting and (hopefully) educational article for your perusal.
GMHC Treatment Issues - Volume 15, Number 5, May 2001
The US government's premier clinical trials group for studying HIV therapies is adrift. The HIV Research Agenda Committee (HIV RAC) of the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG) sees its mission as performing small, scientifically challenging studies that quickly respond to emerging questions about HIV pathogenesis and treatment.
In the May issue of the Newsletter, I discussed two small but intensive studies on the relationship between disclosure of one's HIV+ serostatus and the practice of protected sex.
Nearly everyone infected with HIV wants to avoid passing the infection along to others, whether a primary, one-time or in-between partner. We have different beliefs and practices, however, in how best to meet this goal, and one area of some controversy is whether or not one has a duty to disclose one's HIV status to every partner one has sex with.
At the 8th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) rolled out its newly expanded initiative to cut in half the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections a year in the US.
The AIDS epidemic is now in its twentieth year; I especially remember being reminded this past June that high school seniors about to graduate had never known a world without AIDS.
Many people have used medical marijuana to manage symptoms of HIV infection and side effects of therapies. Medical marijuana users assert that the drug is useful in treating nausea, increasing appetite or as a mild analgesic (to help with headaches or mild pain). However, people living with HIV have been left with unclear information as to the risks and benefits of medical marijuana use.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.