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Often times the battle to stay healthy is totally overwhelming, almost 85% of the thing I need to do to take care of my home life are getting increasingly difficult. All of my friends are dead & I have no desire to find or make new ones. So, most of the time I find it easier to just stay home with the dog. Life has no meaning & I have few interests after 33 years of existence with HIV/AIDS & 24 years of not working because of being disabled. It does not appear there is much hope for help @ 69
I'm enjoying life immensely, I'm in my mid fifties and despite having cd4 counts that fluctuate between 100 and 150 I have excellent health. I've had ups and downs but now my health is better than it has been since I sero converted in 85. I'm paying into a retirement fund/ superannuation after a career break and career change. I expect to be 70 when I retire. i still play sport, volunteer and keep physically and socially active.
I have been HIV positive for 25 years and living in the Boston,mass area, I have been on a new prescription (genvoya) for 5months and doing excellent with my t_cell and viral load counts.…i find it extremely hard to find another guy to start a relationship with,and its depressing cos most people don't know or want to know anything about HIV cos they lack the knowledge of the disease...
It's been a long 40 years (I'm one of the very few left who can reliably say he became infected in the 1970s). Things have changed a lot. In the 80s and early 90s, my goal was to die with dignity and minimum trouble for loved ones. After 1996, it was coming to terms with survival (good new: I'm going to live; bad news: I have to plan for retirement). As I move into retirement, the issue now is isolation. Building a new social network at my age is tough, but often unexpectedly fun.
Being a very long time survivor with HIV/AIDS, my life issues today are due to lack of friends or supportive people (extended family). I am very aware of the"stigma" that is prevalent and am becoming more OUT in my willfulness to assist in the education and also possible change that is necessary to overcome this battle. I have very strong feelings about anyone living with any issue that has a major problem of denial or abuse in the social society. Change and education needs to be done.
Carlos56
I am a 37 years POZ survivor. I first tested HIV+ in March, 1980 as a volunteer in the SF Hepatitis B CoHort Study along with 6,800+ gay/bi men. My T-cell dropped 50 in 1987 and I survived a PCP diagnosis, which was the #1 killer til a treatment med was found. 37 years later, today I feel healthy even energized with a passion to make up for lost time and reclaim my life. I am thankful to be among the survivors when estimated 680,000+ dead and today among the 1.2 M estimated POZ Americans.
November 8, 2016 • Sacramento, CA