Archive for the ‘HIV Treatment’ Category

HIV Infected: What To Do Then?

Posted by admin On January - 15 - 2010Comments Off

Even If you are infected with HIV virus, your life can be good. In fact, there are lots of people infected with the virus that has a normal life and a normal behaviour towards other people. It’s just a preconception a person infected is not happy. A successful therapeutic program should consider even other factors: first of all the psychological one.

You need to know some immune system facts in order to understand how HIV spread and causes danger. If you have the knowledge of your disease, this can be less bad for you. If a person is aware of being HIV positive, may take appropriate steps to avoid infecting other people. Some types of vaccines require special procedures if the person is HIV positive. The physician should therefore be aware of the state of the patient not to further jeopardize his health. The same happens in case of major surgery, as overstretched the immune system. The operation will thus be carefully planned in the interest of the patient. Alcohol, smoking and drugs are even more dangerous for HIV because their immune systems weaken further. Positives should pay more attention to diet and raw foods that could be dangerous (think of salmonella and other bacteria, intestinal parasites and other viruses). He instead recommended a healthy diet, rich in vitamins, protein and calories. Anyone travelling in countries with poor hygiene conditions, particularly in the tropics, is facing a high risk of infection. The sieropositive should only take medication prescribed by a doctor, because of possible side effects due, including but not limited to interactions with other drugs. The intense physical demands and stress, but also sunbathing or exposure to the sun can interfere with the functioning of the immune system.

The doctor can play a key role in helping patients to adapt to the positive result of the test anti-HIV.
Patients need to digest this fact, their new condition. This includes the formulation of questions about many aspects of their lives, the reassessment of priorities and goals. A further problem for many people who are infected with HIV has the sense of guilt towards the behaviour that led to their conditions. It ‘important that your doctor does not give opinions about the status of his patients. Patients who show a strong interest in treatment and actively participate in decisions on treatment to follow are more likely to adhere more to the prescription. However, for many patients, it is difficult to establish a relationship with your doctor.

Adequate nutrition, regular exercise, control of substances luxuries (such as alcohol or drugs) could influence the course of HIV infection and, in any case, the quality of life and psychological state of the patient. Your doctor may encourage the patient to a healthier lifestyle and regular. The continued use of drugs increases, for HIV-positive patient, the probability of the risk of exposure to new infections such as hepatitis C.

You can lead an active life for a long time. Just learn more about your disease can help you. Maybe sharing your emotions even with other people inside a support group can be good.

Detailed Information On HIV Medications

Posted by admin On November - 30 - 2009Comments Off

HIV patients will have to rely on certain medicines as their primary treatment method. You can expect to get an anti-HIV “cocktail” from your doctor. This “cocktail” helps to keep HIV from multiplying too fast and maintaining the immune system’s health.

A few years ago, HIV patients would have to consume multiple dosage of HIV medicine to keep themselves healthy. But that is not the case anymore as technological advancement has set in and made it possible for the patients to keep it down to a minimum of one or two dosage per day.

The medicines being used to treat HIV patient is known as antiretrovirals. Some doctor will combine a few of these antiretrovirals to come up with highly active antiretroviral therapy, better known as HAART. This will help to reduce the risk of unwanted resistance against HIV medicines. This will usually happen to those who are treated with just one antiretroviral medicine.

Doctors will usually look for the following factors when they prescribe a patient for antiretroviral medicines. This includes:
The effectiveness of how the medicine is reducing viral load

Will it help the virus to grow stronger and develop resistance against certain medicines? Doctor will be able to find out if the patient have been previously treated with any antiretroviral medicine.

Will there be any side effects and are you able to cope with it?
Will it be too expensive for the patient?

The patient will also be treated with medicines that are essential to fight against illnesses normally occur among HIV patients as they have weaker immune system compared to a normal and healthy people. Some illnesses, such as pneumonia are among the usual sickness found among HIV patients. This happens because their CD4+ are damaged and couldn’t fight against infection anymore.

Therapy By Using Antiretroviral:

Some of the well-known antiretroviral includes:

Lamivudine, enofovir, emtricitabine and abacavir – these are good nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors

Nevirapine, efavirenz, or etravirine – Nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)

Tipranavir, ritonavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, fosamprenavir, atazanavir, saquinavir, lopinavir/ritonavir – Protease inhibitors (PIs),

Enfuvirtide and maraviroc – Fusion and entry inhibitors

There are usually two reasons why the treatment is considered as failed.
The patient refuse to cooperate and do not take their medication as prescribed. So make sure you discuss with your doctor if you’re experiencing difficulty to take your medication as prescribed.

Another reason for the treatment is considered to fail is when the HIV virus became resistant toward the medication.
Doctor will find out the reason why the treatment is not effective if your CD4+ cell count is falling.

Home Treatment For HIV

Posted by admin On September - 20 - 2009Comments Off

Do you know that you can still lead an active lifestyle for quite some time even after you’re infected with HIV / Aids? These are some of the tips that you can follow in order to stay healthy and preventing HIV from spreading.
Educate yourself about HIV and actively decide the activities that will contribute towards your health.

Regularly get immunization and other medications needed for prevention measures from developing serious infections and illnesses. This includes pneumonia and cancer because people who are diagnosed with HIV are known to have weaker immune system.

Be a part of support group who can relate to you and your feelings. This will help you to feel better.

Never use any type of drugs and avoid yourself from drinking too much alcohol.

Find out how to manage food in a proper way so that you’ll be safe from food-borne disease.

Avoid smoking because people who have HIV have higher chance to develop heart attack or getting lung cancer. Even 1 or 2 stick of cigarette will make a major difference between life and death.

Maintain a healthy eating habit and make sure you’re following a balanced diet in order to improve your immune system. You’ll probably lose more weight than what other healthy people are experiencing, so learn to cope with it.

Live actively and make sure you exercise daily to improve your health and life. This can also help you to reduce stress and prevent HIV related fatigue from developing.

Try to get someone who is knowledgeable and skilled to be your caregiver because that can help you to go through tough period. You will need all the emotional, medical and physical care that you can get.

As someone who is healthy and safe from HIV infection, you should consider giving the emotional support that your friend or family member need if they’re diagnosed with HIV. Listen to them and continue to provide emotional support to make them feel better.

Make sure you protect yourself from HIV infection by making sure that you’re using condoms during sex and never share needles with anyone else.

Stay away from unhealthy sexual lifestyle and help your partner to be safe from HIV.

Always ask for your doctor’s guidance whenever you need to know about improving your life and health as a whole. Always remember, HIV infection doesn’t mean the end of the world.