[Hiv Support Group] Living A Life Being Hiv+ & Living With Someone Who Is Hiv+ (Compiled)

[halfboyfriend]

Any gatherings during CNY folks? What are you guys planning to do? 

 

This year I've applied to join Just an extra chair (https://kindness.sg/blog/2016/01/22/just-an-extra-chair/) and excited to visit the host family for the CNY Eve's dinner. 

[Guest worried]

my friend just started medication for 10 days seems no improvement, still very weak, restless, no energy, breathless, sometimes no appetite, coughing and fever.

 

he had pneumonia after tested positive but before hiv medication and discharged few days later.

 

Any one got any idea how long does it take for medication to be effective?

[mx67]

Think the medication to take effective is quite individual. I didn't have any fever nor cough but knew through blood test. Been taking medication for over a year and didn't feel anything at all.

[Guest PozD]

On 4.2.2017 at 5:26 PM, Guest worried said:

my friend just started medication for 10 days seems no improvement, still very weak, restless, no energy, breathless, sometimes no appetite, coughing and fever.

 

he had pneumonia after tested positive but before hiv medication and discharged few days later.

 

Any one got any idea how long does it take for medication to be effective?

The medication has two effects. First, the number of viruses will start to decrease rapidly. If the chosen medication works well, you should receive the non-detectable level (no viruses in the blood) after about six months. However, the absence of viruses does not yet mean that your immune system has recovered, this will generally take a longer (and, sometimes, much longer) time. The state of your immune system is characterized by the number of the immune CD4 cells, this will be checked by the doctor every three months. The normal level is 500 or more. Initially, in the advanced HIV infection with pneumonia and so on, it is below 200. The lower was the initial level, the longer will be the recovery time.

There is also another important thing to know. When your immune system begins to improve, your body starts to recognize the infections and fight them. This is, of course, very good, but this also means that you will feel ill (have a stronger inflammation). So, you may actually become more sick when the tratment begins.

[Guest PozD]

On 4.2.2017 at 5:26 PM, Guest worried said:

my friend just started medication for 10 days seems no improvement, still very weak, restless, no energy, breathless, sometimes no appetite, coughing and fever.

 

he had pneumonia after tested positive but before hiv medication and discharged few days later.

 

Any one got any idea how long does it take for medication to be effective?

And your friend has to visit a doctor and tell him about his condition. He might need to take antibiotics against pneumonia for a while again.

[lovehandle]

On ‎5‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 0:26 AM, Guest worried said:

my friend just started medication for 10 days seems no improvement, still very weak, restless, no energy, breathless, sometimes no appetite, coughing and fever.

 

he had pneumonia after tested positive but before hiv medication and discharged few days later.

 

Any one got any idea how long does it take for medication to be effective?

but I think the age might be a factor too

[faradise]

On 05/02/2017 at 0:26 AM, Guest worried said:

my friend just started medication for 10 days seems no improvement, still very weak, restless, no energy, breathless, sometimes no appetite, coughing and fever.

 

he had pneumonia after tested positive but before hiv medication and discharged few days later.

 

Any one got any idea how long does it take for medication to be effective?

 

Hi Guest worried, 

 

Since you didn't specify in your question, there are actually 2 aspects when you are talking about "for the medication to be effective" regarding your friend's situation.

A) For the HIV medication to work, and the viral load to decrease while the CD4+ count to increase

B) For the symptoms you mentioned, "very weak, restless, no energy, breathless, sometimes no appetite, coughing and fever" to go away

 

For (A), it depends on the type of medication, your friend's physique, and how late the HIV status was discovered. According to my doctors, they say the viral load will decrease by base-10 log factor scale (didn't know if I phrase it correctly, not a Math/Medicine major here) per week or something like that. 

 

But I guess you are more concerned with (B), like when will the fever, coughing and stuffgo away.

 

Coming from someone who had PCP pneumonia and stayed in the hospital for 3 months, your friend is in a pretty good condition, or rather his pneumonia is not as serious as mine. And when it comes to recovering from pneumonia, (B) is kind of related but yet kind of independent from (A), because even if the CD4+ count were to increase, it only means that he will be less susceptible to new infection, IT WILL NOT CURE THE CURRENT PNEUMONIA, but his immune system will be stronger to fight it. Viral load mostly just means how likely is he going to give somebody an HIV infection in practical terms and how whacked his immune system is. 

 

If you want to know how long will it take for those symptoms to go away, there are a few things you need to look at (to judge how bad his pneumonia is):

1) Type of Infection

Have the doctors told him what kind of infection is he having? Is it a bacteria, viral or fungal infection? A bacteria infection would be easier to treat as antibiotics can do the job easily provided it's not some rare bacterial. For viral and fungal infections, it's kind of trickier. Antibiotics can also be given for fungal infection, but there's a higher possibility of having pneumothorax (punctured lung) here. Not much medication can be given for viral (usually it's the H-something N-something virus), recovery depends on the person's immunity level.

 

2) Oxygen level

A normal person's O2 level is around 95-100. Since he was hospitalised, I believe your friend's O2 level should be around 80-90 when he's admitted (and he only stayed for days). His 02 level should return to normal levels pretty soon.

 

3) Chest X-ray

Were there white patches on his chest x-ray? Did the lungs showed signs of pneumothorax (concave at the lower part near the diaphragm, lungs not expanded fully)?

 

Since you didn't provide much information and your friend is still having fever, most probably the infection is still active, but it isn't too serious since he was discharged within days, not weeks or months. I would assume it's a light bout of pneumonia. Looking at his severity most probably symptoms like fever, lethargy, and lack of appetite would go away within 2 weeks to a month of starting medication. The coughing, breathlessness would continue for a period of time (I am talking about months) since the structures of the lungs are partially damaged. 

 

If your friend had bedside pleurodesis (the introduction of talcum powder into the pleural space to induce scarring to fix the pneumothorax) done, the weakness and breathlessness would continue for a couple of months.

 

For conditions like pneumonia, you can only take things slow and there's almost nothing that you can do about it. Tell your friend to rest more, avoid things like cold drinks, eat healthily. 

 

Again, like what I said in my previous reply, we are not medical professionals and we can only provide information based on our own experiences. 

Edited February 6, 2017 by faradise

[Guest Worried]

Tks a lot for replies

 

he is meeting doctor , will see what's the updates.

 

he is an retirees. Any age aslo a problem.

hope he will get well soon

[lovehandle]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 1:42 PM, Guest Worried said:

Tks a lot for replies

 

he is meeting doctor , will see what's the updates.

 

he is an retirees. Any age aslo a problem.

hope he will get well soon

which is why I mentioned, the "age"

 

his case seemed so....

[Guest selfsucking]

can someone with hiv selfsuck themselves n will they be able to contracted STIs since they are +?

[faradise]

1 hour ago, Guest selfsucking said:

can someone with hiv selfsuck themselves n will they be able to contracted STIs since they are +?

 

@Guest_selfsucking I think you are just a troll and even typing a reply here is a waste of my time.

 

And as to the + and STIs question, let me inform you, you have a best friend and his name is "Google".

 

For goodness sake, go Google before asking such questions online, and watch more BBC/CNN other than porn, that self-sucking is... *flip eyes*

[lovehandle]

previously there was a thread on insurance related to HIV but cant comment anymore

1).Treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases.
2) Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS),
AIDS-related complex or infection by human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (except HIV due
to blood transfusion and occupationally
acquired HIV).
 

If even STD  (Contracted due to your own flings) are excluded from your plans , u can easily imagine HIV/AIDS etc are out too

so always read the fine prints

 

 

 

and now then I get to read this, tks for proving a Gay can perform like any other men!

On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2012 at 6:40 PM, Clickclock said:

"I heard some people say that gays are not allowed to be in the army. Is it true? That is why the questionnaire have questions similar to that?

If so, can I lie my way through the army and say I am gay and not telling them I am hiv + ?

Because right now the army doesn't know I am HIV poz and I can even get into their enlistment training already.

OMG I AM SO CONFUSED.."

Gays ARE allowed in the army, Im a living example, I'm a 302 personnel, that means I declared my sexuality to the army. We are still required to serve but we have drastically more "relaxed" vocations that aren't very chiong sua. If I were you i'll rather tell them I have HIV, after all, you DO have the illness and being HIV will get you PES F which is the ultimate excuse from serving the country. For 302 personnel like me, Im still pes B, but under the status, your PES status do differ from person to person depending on how and when you declared, I declared during bmt so Im still pes B, while a couple of my friends who declared at cmpb either got pes C or D. Its a diff, depends on the medical officer as well.

 

 

Note: saving plans are Savings-related

Insurance plans are insurance policies, they are totally two different thing in spite of the fact that the same Financial advisor can advise u

[Guest Worried]

Hi guys, 

 

Ive recently been diagnosed positive and is worried about pre-employment checkups. 

 

For obvious reasons I intend to lie about my medical condition during interview. But what are the chances of being outed by the doctor conducting pre-employment checkup when he/she sees my public health records. 

 

Should I just avoid all pre-employment checkups or is that being overly paranoid? 

 

Thank you so much in advance for the advice. 

[Guest Don't worry]

I assume you were diagnosed at a public healthcare institution here, since you mention your "public health records"

Pre-employment checkups should be done at private clinics most of the time.

In that case, the vast majority of private clinics do not have access to your public health records (only 40 clinics out of 2500 clinics have access to your public health records

according to his article http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/moh-to-spur-private-sector-input-for-health-database )

Unless you sway sway visit one of these 40 clinics, you should be fine, and you don't have to declare

[auscent]

On 12/02/2017 at 7:19 PM, Guest selfsucking said:

can someone with hiv selfsuck themselves n will they be able to contracted STIs since they are +?

 

Yes can get infected...only for trolls like u.

[Guest GUEST]

I had my NS check up and they took my blood.does anyone know how long it takes for cmpb to test for hiv and how long it takes for them to inform you? And also how do they inform you? Is it by mail or call or???

[Guest Regret :-(]

i only got fucked once by a guy but it was with a condom and the rest of my sexual encounters were just sucking dicks. But that was almost 3 years ago? would HIV take any effect now?

[Guest GUEST]

10 hours ago, Guest GUEST said:

I had my NS check up and they took my blood.does anyone know how long it takes for cmpb to test for hiv and how long it takes for them to inform you? And also how do they inform you? Is it by mail or call or???

 

You will see the MO and he will tell you in person.  

 

 

[Guest GUEST]

10 hours ago, Guest Regret :-( said:

i only got fucked once by a guy but it was with a condom and the rest of my sexual encounters were just sucking dicks. But that was almost 3 years ago? would HIV take any effect now?

 

If you've been having safe sex, there really isnt anything to worry about.

 

Chances of you contacting HIV is close to zero. 

 

But if you are afraid, just go to one of the anonymous test. 

[sum1outhere_03]

12 hours ago, Guest Regret :-( said:

i only got fucked once by a guy but it was with a condom and the rest of my sexual encounters were just sucking dicks. But that was almost 3 years ago? would HIV take any effect now?

 

Anal sex with condoms should be safe.

It takes about 8 to 10 years for HIV to become full-blown AIDS (where CD count is 200 and below).

During the initial years you may feel nothing, except occasional flu like symptoms.

You may want to check the following link:

 

https://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids