‘A Lot of Unknowns’

As a Gay man and long-term non-progressor living with HIV over 20 years, I was delighted to see a major national publication awakening to the issues of aging and HIV. Too many Gay men behave as if lives ends some time after 30 and certainly by 40, while many in the general public seem to imagine that Gay men were extinguished en masse in the 80s and early 90s with few survivors from the pre-HAART era. Both groups are terribly mistaken, and there are hundreds of thousands of us thriving in the face of HIV after decades, with or without antiretroviral medications--and we and our heterosexual counterparts living with HIV past 50 must receive competent and compassionate care.

world need cure of AIDS and CANCER.....GOD may bless us all with a cure.....

This perhaps is an issue which has not deserved the attention it needs but will be more and more critical as persons survive longer with HIV. It's great to see the work being done with the various support groups but worrying to see the health issues still arising from the cocktails for HIV positive persons. I hope that more and more is done to reduce the side effects and allow each person to live longer but also fully and with greater dignity.

An issue which has not come up before but one that is none-the-less critical. I hope this issues gets the attention it deserves and that HIV medication continues to improve so it seems less and less like a lottery.

He definately doesn't look 40 but he doesn't look 59 either. He looks very good for someone
who is HIV Positive.

Being positive since 1987 (maybe even before) I think about this often. I expected to be dead by the time I turned 30 and I am 43 now. I thank God for each day and take my meds, see my doctor and have faith that everything is going to be all right. I am a nurse and feel blessed to have survived so far and have been on meds since 1994. Time will tell I guess. Peace to all my brothers and sisters living with HIV/AIDS.

Well I just got back from my HIV doctor, she put me had put me on a new cocktail which is much easier to take but the side effects and interaction with my other meds is just a new bucket of worms to deal with. My old cocktail starting causing horrible horrible problems with diarhea. So these new ones have stopped that but started some new problems. Plus I'm diabetic, my feet are numb most the time. I have urination problems of having to go all the time. I take meds for the neuropathy that cause my feet to swell, so I take meds for that. It's a never ending story. I have back problems that make it terribly painful to enjoy going out to autio shows or just taking a walk in the park with my partner, who by the way is HIV NEG. Without him I don't know what I'd do. Luckily my cholestrol is very low. We own our home and I still try to work although I'm out on short term disability right now till I get my meds balanced again. I am 61 and can retire at 62 but plan on working till my partner who is 59 retires because I work for such a progressive company that allows me to have him on my health insurance plan which really helps with saving money. So we plan on getting everything fixed before we retire.

Well I just got back from my HIV doctor, she put me on a new cocktail which is much easier to take but the side effects and interaction with my other meds is just a new bucket of worms to deal with. My old cocktail started causing horrible horrible problems with diarhea. So these new ones have stopped that but started some new problems. Plus I'm diabetic, my feet are numb most the time. I have urination problems of having to go all the time. I take meds for the neuropathy that cause my feet to swell, so I take meds for that. It's a never ending story. I have back problems that make it terribly painful to enjoy going out to auto shows or just taking a walk in the park with my partner, who by the way is HIV NEG. Without him I don't know what I'd do. Luckily my cholestrol is very low. We own our home and I still try to work although I'm out on short term disability right now till I get my meds balanced again. I am 61 and can retire at 62 but plan on working till my partner who is 59 retires because I work for such a progressive company that allows me to have him on my health insurance plan which really helps with saving money. So we plan on getting everything fixed before we retire.