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With a viral load of undetected, and a healthy T-cell level, is it the meds or the virus that causes the neuropthy in long term HIV patients? I am over the 30 year mark and I am now forced to deal with getting old. I am not sure if living is a blessing or a curse at times. I have watched as dozens have gone before me. I am just tired. I wonder how many of us over the 30 year of Living with HIV feel the same way. I am not depressed, just tired...
I was diagnosed at the bridge between AZT to DDI to the "cocktails" of PI drugs. Without the AZT I question if it did more harm than good to my children in-utero and post-birth. I also wonder if it would have made the difference of lasting an additional year for myself when I became multi-drug resistant and diagnosed with AIDS. In all, I'm thankful it was available as a choice vs. nothing at all. Time will only tell what impact that and new drugs will have on my body (and childrens').
WOW.. I started AZT in December 1987, did not realize all this. I had major side affects, and was deathly ill. Thank God I drank, because it lowered the dosage of med in my body so it did not kill me, like many of my friends. I was raped in High School, and was not with anyone else,that was how I was infected. I started drinking at the age of 16 to deal with being raped. I have been through physical hell, I believe that they should not make the meds so attractive, the ads are very deceiving.
It never fails to amaze me that people complain about AZT and how it had side effects- HELLO there was NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE and people were DYING like flies!!! Whine to the people that are here now because of AZT, however few, I don't think they will be whining. My god, what do people want?!!!
@Garyj247 At an International AIDS Society (IAS) meeting, about two decades ago, I heard Thomas C. Merigan, Jr., M.D., tell the tale of the very first AZT study in humans. The study was conducted at Stanford with government funding. The dose was quite high. When Obese women started dying of congestive heart failure, Dr. Merigan wrote to Burroughs Wellcome (BW) stating that Adverse Events had taken place. But, BW rejected his formal submission. I took a lower dose of AZT for 20 years.
Why wasn't there any mentioning of the deaths that were directly caused by AZT
DavSan
I have had HIV for 27 years and too started and stopped Azt. I was on a very high dose and was violently ill. I was working at the time and it became impossible, so I was forced to stop taking Azt because it made me so sick in such a short time of taking it. I know it may have benefited some but I couldn’t take it. It was all we had and yet was not accessible to all. We have come along way, but we have to stay strong, keep moving, exercise and remain social.
January 17, 2018 • Houston