living with a “positive” result on gallo’s “hiv” antibody test
I developed Bell’s palsy (BP) yesterday, a couple of days after striking the left side of my head rather severely on the sharp, hard edge of my car door. After self-diagnosing my symptoms, I was reluctant to seek any medical care, mainly because there really is no successful treatment or cure for BP. Most…
I had my first parotid cyst at least 25 years ago, long before I ever tested “positive”. I blogged in March about being diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, presumably caused by “HIV”, simply because I tested positive. About that same time I began to experience what I thought were “swollen glands”, a condition I frequently…
What troubles me is the apparent willingness of an entire community to consider embracing Truvada as some sort of symbol of sexual freedom… evidenced by charges that those of us who are skeptical are guilty of being sex-negative and “slut-shaming”.
All of this on the basis of research that has been manipulated and twisted by Gilead to create a false reality of safety.
I’m resigned to the fact that Truvada as PrEP is here, regardless of what I or others fear. Now it’s mostly a question of time to see it PrEP meets the expectations of sexually active gay men…. and Gilead shareholders. The former is yet to be proven; the latter is a foregone conclusion.
My role as a gay AIDS activist was first featured in a special report on AIDS in the Kansas City Times, July 8, 1989. I recently unboxed some of the early media accounts of my life as an openly gay AIDS activist in Kansas City. The very first words in the very first article…
Last November I wrote about the outcome of my willingness to step outside my personal comfort zone to engage with a former nemesis, J Todd DeShong. When we both lowered our personal shields and allowed civil dialogue to occur, we discovered we had far more in common than we had differences. Those differences that remain did not have…
Frankly, in the end, I really, really don’t care what causes AIDS. I just want people to stop suffering and dying from whatever it is. It appalls me deeply that after all the hundreds of billions of dollars in research — possibly more than that spent on researching all other microbes combined — HIV research has ‘succeeded’ only in giving patients the horrifying choice between either dying slowly of Opportunistic Infections associated with a damaged immune system, or dying slowly of Liver Failure or having your skin peel off or maybe a Heart Attack caused by HIV drugs themselves. All the while ignoring the patients who do just fine for rather a long time when left to pursue their lives unmolested. So pick your death.
-Carl Stryg
In the simplest possible summation, Leibowitch has been treating HIV-positive patients with traditional ARV cocktails, called HAART. Where he leaves the path of traditional treatment guidelines is that once a patient is “stabilised”—meaning they have achieved respectably high CD4 counts, and their viral load is undetectable for six months—Leibowitch starts reducing the number of days per week that a patient takes these drugs, to as little as twice per week.
The latest round of OAT, stool and conventional “HIV” surrogate test markers are in, and the news is mostly good. Regardless of which angle one looks at these laboratory test results from, there is evidence to support an evolving thesis that a multi-faceted approach to immune dysfunction might be as efficacious as the current pharmaceutical-based guidelines for treating “HIV/AIDS”, minus the worst of the adverse effects. The not-so-good news is that the continuation of this seven year long experience (experiment?) is being jeopardized by the lack of financial resources. There, I said it, and I won’t mention it again until the end of this post.
Janine Roberts may well be my favorite investigative reporter on the topic of AIDS and HIV. She has published several books and produced documentary films, on topics ranging from Aboriginal resistance to British colonialism in Australia, to the shame of deBeers’ diamond mining operations in Africa.
Janine has also written the much more personal story about her life as a transgendered person—The Seven Days of My Creation: Tales of Magic and Gender.
The book that has most helped me form an alternative view about what the heck HIV might really be, and its role in the disease most people call AIDS is titled Fear of the Invisible.
As the winter solstice approaches, I am aware of what a noteworthy month this December is for me, in ways that have nothing to do with the holidays. Fifteen years ago this month I was informed that I was “HIV-positive”. Five years ago, I started this blog, primarily to share my experiences with both the diagnosis, as well as previous and new health issues. I will be sharing some exciting news about some changes that will be happening to resistance is fruitful a bit later in this post.
This site is no longer updated, but kept online for reference. You should not see this popup notice on future visits.
While much of the information on this site is no longer current, it represents almost a decade of my life. It was a period of considerable reflection and writing was my therapy.
I have moved on from that era and am now moving into what will undoubtedly be the last chapter of my life. My love for writing and telling stories-mine, as well as those of others-goes with me. Join me, if you will, at jondbarnett.com for the adventure.
