My Primitive Cocktail: January 2013

Monday, January 28, 2013

Update! 1.28.13

About 5 months back I felt like a got a fast Flu.. Night sweats, achy, & itchy.. I had thought maybe I was having a Herpes outbreak because I was itchy.. But I didn't remember EVER being that itchy. So I began taking L-Lysine. It did take the itchy away.. But to make a long story short, they found my liver enzymes to be raised. A lot!.. It went down after I stopped the L-Lysine, but still elevated.. (I'm not sure if it was elevated before the L-Lysine.)

So for the last 4-5 months I've dealt with Hepatitis like symptoms. Last week my blood work said I didn't have Hepatitis B or C, and I had Hep A many years back. As for Hep B, I was vaccinated 12 years back... Funny thing, after she told me I didn't have Hepatitis (which I was sold I did) my symptoms went away.. lol

Anyway, my last blood work showed great for about everything. Testosterone, Vitamin D, Sugars, and no extra diseases.. and my Viral went from 200,000 (my viral had gone up when I was feeling all Hep'ish) down to 123,000.. As for my T-cells, they messed up & didn't draw it so I don't know.. last test I was at 500 T-cells.. Which is the lowest I've ever been...

I am ready to begin a cocktail if it proceeds to get any lower than 500. I'm comfortable and mentally good with it.. I would take it for whatever amount of time it takes for me to see better numbers.. and at some point (after a year or so) go back to natural.

I go back in 10 weeks to see the results of my T-cells & Liver enzymes.

And OH YEAH! I've reduced down on my Olive Leaf from 3 grams a day to 500mg in the a.m. & 500mg in the p.m.. And added Milk Thistle twice a day... I have stopped everything else.. hoping to bring my Liver enzymes down. ~ also began juicing vegetables as well to help cleanse...

My Story

I believe it was 1994 I became positive, but didn't find out I was until 1995. I didn't have insurance at that time so I was tested anonymously. A few years later, I received insurance through my work & then found a local Infectious Disease Doctor. She then sent me to have blood work to see where my numbers were.

Two weeks later I had an appointment to find out my results. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but it was something like my T cells at 1,800 & my viral load was 200,000. My viral was somewhat high, but my cell count was way up there! She told me I was in a grey zone for beginning a cocktail regimen. At that time I was scared & didn't know much about the whole HIV thing. I thought "Well, I have a son in elementary school. I need to be here & healthy for him." So I told my doctor I wanted to begin treatment.

I wasn't too good at swallowing pills so I chose the simplest cocktail at that time. And that was Trizivir (Trizivir contains three different medications: Abacavir (Ziagen®, ABC), Lamivudine (Epivir®, 3TC), and Zidovudine (Retrovir®, AZT, ZDV). Before taking the drug I told her "I wanted the drug that was the least one to cause lipodystrophy." She then told me I would be safe with Trizivir. After two weeks it had brought my viral to undetectable. So yeah, it kicked butt. It kicked butt for about 9 years keeping my viral undetectable and my T cells between 800 and 1,200.

During the last 3 years on Trizivir, I began having odd feelings of being overly hungry. That nausea feeling you get when you’re hungry but more intense. I recall a time after the gym I was in a drive through line ordering food and had to open my door because I felt like I was going to vomit. And it seemed I would get that feeling once a year for a couple of months the last 3 years.

I then started to notice a little bit of lipodystrophy in my legs & face. Nothing others would pick up on at that time but I know my body well and I could see it. After noticing that change I became scared & stopped taking Trizivir. Of course my doctor wasn't happy. So being scared of dying, I began the cocktail again after 3 weeks of being off of it. The next year there were times at the gym I thought I was going to vomit and/or pass out. So here we are again (and now that I look back, I feel those times of feeling nauseous & wanting to pass out was probably a build of toxicity from the Trizivir.).

My Primitive Cocktail

Monday, January 28, 2013

Update! 1.28.13

No advice

Limitation of warranties

Professional assistance

Liability

About this medical disclaimer

Followers

Total Pageviews