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The numbers game

Byjonathan

© Miklosmartin | Dreamstime.com

I’m still trying to wade through the results of several tests that have been done, and I summarize some of the important things I’ve discovered in a youtube video.

While I have a lot of new information, I don’t necessarily have the answers yet, just more questions.  At least I now have a better idea of what I need to be addressing, rather than just start popping anti-retroviral drugs.

Most of the tests I refer to in the video can be found on this blog by clicking on the “attachments” tab near the top of every page.

I will be catching up on other things I’ve been doing since the first of the year soon, so please stay tuned.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_-jtHak2ow]

Wait... there's more!

  • 97

    97. That’s my latest CD4+ count, less than half the count from six weeks ago.

    That’s it. I have tried as many alternative treatments as I can think of to reverse the decline. I will be starting my third round of pharmaceutical ARVs as soon as I can get a prescription and fill it.

    This decision has been a long time coming, and in hindsight, I probably should have restarted a few months ago. There’s nothing magical about 97, or being below 100, but it’s as good a breaking point as any. I’ve long argued that there are two things to keep in mind about CD4 counts: one is the long-term trend; the other is single- or low double-digit counts.

  • Reduce AIDS drug toxicity and side effects

    I embarked on my third course of ARVs since 1998. For ten of the sixteen years I have been HIV-positive, I was able to manage well enough without ARVs and I continue to believe there is no reason for otherwise healthy HIV-positive—let alone negative—gay men to take these drugs. To those who want to wave a recent study about the benefits of early intervention in my face, I would ask them why they put so much faith in a science that has utterly failed us to date.

  • Retreat and Adventure — Midwest Men’s Festival

    When I received my HIV diagnosis in 1998, I withdrew from my community of gay men. I “went to ground”, thinking that isolation was the only safe place to avoid being criticized for seroconverting at such a late date, when we were all supposed to know better.

    This past week has been yet another bifurcation point in my life. I returned to a community I have known about, if not been a steady part of, for more than 30 years. A community of men whom I could touch and hug. Men whose tears might wet my face and whose body heat and life forces I could feel in ways that can only happen in person. It really did feel like coming home.

  • The truth about Truvada: PrEP won’t stop AIDS

    I’m willing to grant that gay men are entitled to use PrEP… provided they have access to all the information they need to make an informed decision. Informed consent has been a hallmark of the HIV and AIDS research and prevention efforts for three decades, and that shouldn’t be waived for the campaign favoring PrEP.

    Gay men deserve to know that all the claims for Truvada reducing the risk of acquiring HIV-positivity  are based on trials—funded by Gilead—that emphasized the importance of using condoms…

4 Comments

  1. Healthy numbers there,Jonathan….CD4 in serious decline and Viral load increases big time.Classical AIDS timeline as well.When will you start your ARVs?Or do you want to go all the way and be the next Karri,Christine,Emery or Kim?

    I can’t wait to dance on your grave!

    Reply

    1.  I have considered GcMAF, but other than a preliminary report from Nobuto
      Yamamoto several years ago, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence
      that it is as beneficial as hoped. It is not easily available and is
      quite expensive. None of those reason alone would keep me from trying
      it, but given the combination of all three, it is pretty low on my
      list.  I am trying some other experimental treatments that I hope to
      share the results from soon.

      Reply

  3. Could the viral load just be picking up the internal stress of whatever’s happening with your body?
    If you want to try to decrease your viral load I really recommend the alkaline diet protocol. My last three viral loads have been very low since doing the protocol right before testing… But does viral load stay low once you go off the protocol? That I don’t know. Unfortunately it’s done nothing to increase my CD4 count. 

    Reply

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