My Story
My Background:
As an adult, I’ve always been the sort to take charge of my own health, and investigate issues from multiple perspectives. I believe in educating myself on health issues rather than expecting doctors to fix everything for me.
So, when I seroconverted in September of 2005, I had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
I had swollen lymph nodes, body aches . . . oh, and I spent two and a half weeks enjoying severe vomiting, diarrhea, and fevers running up to 104F.
I asked my regular doctor for a viral load test: 397,000. Definitely acute HIV infection.
He referred me to an HIV specialist, but I started looking up information online right away.
During the first three weeks between my first test result and my first HIV doctor visit, I’d managed to get a good bit of research done. I’d found scores of fraudulent websites, with wild, unsubstantiated claims.
Naturally, I also ran across the HIV/AIDS denialist sorts, who think that AIDS is the result of malnutrition and/or drug abuse, or even say that HIV treatment drugs CAUSE AIDS.
There’s plenty of wishful thinking out there, and more than a few conspiracy theorists.
Did I find anything useful? Yes!
As I dug, I started to find links to published data (by which I mean published in peer-reviewed journals) on a number of subjects. I discovered PubMed (www.pubmed.gov), a government-funded search engine where you can read abstracts and (usually) full-text papers from a broad array of medical journals, completely free.
I learned from the medical journals that nutrition, certain herbs, alcohol and sugar consumption, and a number of other factors can impact immune function and HIV progression. Imagine my surprise when the doctor not only didn’t know anything on these subjects, but dismissed them out of hand and started talking about what drug combination might be most suitable!
Well, I didn’t start on prescription drugs. Instead, I changed doctors and went back to my research. I’d get future surprises about doctors who knew nothing other than pharmaceutical intervention, along with HIV+ friends who had no clue that laying out in the Arizona sun wasn’t such a great idea, or that sucking down a sugar-filled soda pop was knocking their immune function for a loop.
Within three months of my initial diagnosis, I brought my viral load from 397,000 to 976 (12/2005). In 4/2006, I suffered a setback; I’d moved to Phoenix, AZ, and found myself with severe year-round allergies. The result? An allergy-induced viral load spike to almost 13,000 which brought with it night sweats, swollen lymph nodes, and a drop in CD4 count to just above 600. Allergy treatment and relocating rapidly resolved this issue; the visible symptoms were gone within weeks of beginning allergy treatment, and by year-end (12/2006) my viral load was back down to 1,675 and CD4 count back up over 700.
Today (January 2009), I still manage my health without HIV meds. I eat well, with a mind to immune function and preventing inflammation. I take plenty of supplements — probably more than I need, but there simply aren’t sufficient studies at present to determine the minimum effective doses when in combination. I limit alcohol and high-glycemic foods.
And I’m considered a “viremic controller”, in that my viral load stays below 2,000 copies/mL and my CD4 count remains in a normal range.
I’ll say this in many places on this site, and here it is again: I’m not a doctor, and I’m not pushing a cure. I’m not going to recommend you quit taking meds if they are working for you. I’m not going to tell you that I think the pharmaceutical industry would rather keep people addicted to $10,000/year worth of meds than provide a cure. (Oops, I guess I just did. Strike that.) I’m going to share what works for me, and what the journals say. I’ll point you toward the research so you can see for yourself and make educated decisions about your health.
And, I’ll ask you to share with me things that have worked for you. This is an information exchange.
