Liz Kahn, a 52-year-old woman who just moved from the Bronx to Bradley Beach, New Jersey, has been living with HIV since 1987. Noticeable fat loss in her legs and arms took her by surprise last year.
"I had no idea this would happen," she says. "I look like Humpty Dumpty with my legs and arms so skinny and my body blown up in the middle."
Though she's normally physically actice, Liz feels her body-shape changes are taking a toll on her lifestyle: "I don't even want to go to the beach... because people say, 'Why are your legs so thin?'"
When Liz's doctors were unresponsive, she went online and looked for information on her own.
Her research led her to switch a part of her treatment regimen (with her doctor), from Combivir to Truvada. Though Liz hopes the switch will keep things from "getting any worse," research suggests it may help her quest to restore the lost fat.