Death Opens Eyes to Risk of HIV Meds

Yes, it's a sad story that you can check out at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation that brings up for me a lot of my messages to youth regarding the risks of HIV drug therapy.

There's a lot of risk involved in taking these experimental drugs. Accidents happen, blood lab results are ignored, and user ignorance all add to the sometimes problematic use of HIV drugs. Don't get me wrong, the HIV medications that are now available save lives everday. It's just that, as this story depicts, there are sometimes unforeseen problems that occur.

HIV patients that are considering HIV drug therapy should be more accountable for knowing the warning signs and symptoms of the drug side effects of the entire cocktail they are taking before they ever begin taking the meds. If a person knows what to look for, it's going to be much more likely to reduce or even eliminate the long-term damage that can be waged by some of these medications.

I, myself, have had numerous and adverse side effects from the numerous HIV medications I have been on over the last four and a half years. I won't go into detail, but I think it's important to note that I still live with the side effects of the FIRST drug cocktail I was put on in 2001. Even though I do not still take the medication that most probably caused the side effect, I still have continual problems with it. In fact, at times, this particular side effect gets worse.

Now, would I probably be alive right now if I had not taken all of the meds I have over the years? No, probably an Opportunistic Infection (OI) would have taken me down by now, considering where I started my journey with HIV. However, because of being knowledgeable about the possible risks, I have helped protect myself from extensive harm and death.

I just wish to open the eyes of people to the real risks of HIV medications that exist. Don't just blindly take whatever the doctor happens to prescribe you, be it an HIV drug or otherwise. Find out about the medication and it's side-effect profile before taking it, it could save your life.

And you can Quote me on that. The Quotable Queer

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