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How many times have you started to have a conversation with someone about Hepatitis C only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever heard someone say something about Hep C that didn't seem quite right to you? You were probably right something was amiss. A discussion about Hepatitis C can...
As per Wikipedia, the definition of a stigma is as follows: "Stigma is a word that originally means a "sign", "point", or "branding mark"." Wikipedia goes on to call stigma "A badge of shame, a physical mark of infamy or disgrace." Damn that w...
Recently, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) issued a statement that all Baby Boomers should be tested for Hepatitis C. The question often comes up as to why this particular segment of people is so vulnerable. What does being born between 1945 and 1965 have to do with Hepatitis C? What was di...
Buyer Beware! There are several snake oil salesmen out there who are claiming to have cured their own Hepatitis C with herbs, supplements and parking lot gravel. Okay, maybe not the parking lot gravel but it might as well be. What you need to remember is that there are two different types of...
Most every adult woman (and an occasional man) has enjoyed a manicure and a pedicure at a nail salon or spa. That 30 minute pedicure can be so relaxing but are you aware of the danger lurking in that nail salon? Although few individuals recognize the medical risks associated with this common pr...
I am sick of being sick!
Even though my numbers are pretty good I still seem to catch every virus that crosses my path… Add the side effects of my medication and you have one seriously miserable human being!
With three school-aged children it’s hard to avoid germ exposure. Even though I am a self-proclaimed germaphobe I cannot seem to pass this trait on to my children so they bring all kinds of good stuff home to mommy. Since they are older and mostly self-sufficient I avoid them like the plague when they are sick. I do my mommy duties but at a good distance. Medication time? I’ll leave it on the counter for them. I make contact for a quick hug, pat on the back, fever check. Hand washing and germ-x are my passion! I can’t stand people who don’t cover their mouths when they cough! I have a deep hatred of hand dryers and door knobs! I won’t use a public restroom unless I am about to explode! I should be a practically germ-free zone, yet I feel like I am ALWAYS sick!!!!
My first time to be slapped in the face by my newly weakened immune system courtesy of HIV was a little over a year after my diagnosis. I worked in retail and a customer was OBVIOUSLY sick (I hate when people don’t keep their germy, sick asses at home!) and coughing all over the place. Two days later, I have the flu. Two days after that, the flu morphed into pneumonia. I have never been so sick! It took forever to recover, and since then (maybe it’s subconscious, maybe it’s paranoia, maybe it’s true) I seem to get sick more and more easily.
Trying to keep a job when you get so sick that you have to call in about once every six weeks is a pain! Since I am not open about my ‘affliction’ I get a lot of LOOKS. I’m sure some think I’m a hypochondriac, maybe they think I’m lazy. Some probably think I’m a closet alcoholic and calling in for a hangover. I can’t afford to go to the doctor every time I need a day of healing rest in a drug-induced coma (even though I have health insurance). I don’t LIKE going to the doctor for something that I know how to treat with over-the-counter medication or that I know I can call and have an antibiotic called in for. So I endure the looks. It’s times like these that I do wish I was ‘out of the HIV closet’. I wish that someone understood.
Besides germs, I also have to deal with medication side effects. I was doing great on Atripla! Take one pill at bedtime and all is well! When I got pregnant I had to change regimens. Now I’m on Combivir and Kaletra. Oh how I LOATHE Combivir and Kaletra!!! Not only do I have to take three pills in the morning and three at night, thanks to the LOVELY diarrhea side effect I also get to add a morning and nighttime Immodium to my new routine (that’s now four pills in the AM, four in the PM)! I have always had a stomach of steel so stomach issues kill me. I could eat the spiciest, greasiest foods you could find and not flinch. Now I run the other direction (except the rare occasions that I feel like punishing myself).
You may wonder why I don’t talk to my ID doctor about changing regimens, truth is that I know what to expect with this one. I have it semi under control. There is no telling what the next medication will do to me. Plus I only have a little less than 5 months to go before I can go back to my beloved Atripla…
Even though I have it MOSTLY under control through diet and medicine, there are days that my stomach just revolts. There is not much that makes me more uncomfortable than having diarrhea when I share a bathroom with probably 20 other people. A lot of times I would REALLY rather stay home and suffer without an audience but since I miss enough time being sick I just have to live with the discomfort.
Yeah, one of the things I hate the most about being HIV positive is my body suddenly betraying me…
Please sign the ATC Salvage Therapy Petition Join us in asking Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswomen Maxine Waters to send a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, asking for the federal facilitation of apricitabine (ATC). ATC is a phase III nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) that has been shown to be safe and effective in treating people with HIV. It works against viruses that are resistant to several other nukes and could ...
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced today at CROI2013 the discovery of the first infant functionally cured of HIV. The baby, a female now two and a half years old, received 3 HIV medications when brought to the hospital at 30 hours old. Viral load tests were performed during the first few weeks that showed a rapidly decreasing viral load which reached ...
At the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington D.C., the CDC reported that only 1 out of 4 HIV patients in the U.S. have HIV under control, which is defined as complete viral suppression. Warning bells should be ringing in the scientific and HIV advocacy communities. While much progress has been made in the last three decades in the treatment of HIV, tens of thousands of people living with HIV (PLWH) are currently struggling to construct viable treat...
Paige Rawl is 17 and HIV positive, but while her life has been shaped by HIV it isn't ruled by it. When Paige Rawl starts her senior year at Indianapolis’s Herron High School next month, she'll be cheer captain and a member of the student government and prom committee. This summer, the 17-year-old held down a part-time job at Hollister, hawking the popular Southern California-inspired clothing brand. The all-American girl — who happens to be HIV positive. Paige was in...
The HIV community has been abuzz with the August FDA approval of what had been termed “the Quad”, the second one-pill-once-a-day combination antiretroviral drug. Marketed by Gilead under the name Stribild, the drug contains two NRTIs (tenofovir and emtricitabine), an integrase inhibitor (elvitegravir) and an integrase booster (cobicistat) and is approved for use in treatment naïve patients with either drug resistant or wild type virus. In comparison to Atripla, the first...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), including dosing recommendations for...
California and other states would be pressured to amend or repeal criminal laws that single out HIV-positive people under a bipartisan bill co-authored and introduced this week by Rep. Barbara...
Mission Statement
At HIV Haven we wish to provide our readers with vital cutting edge information to help expand HIV knowledge and promote activism, particularly that which works towards an end to the HIV pandemic. It is our desire to bring to you the scientific, medical and social advances that given the appropriate attention and support, could change the course of the HIV pandemic, lessen the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, better the quality and quantity of life for people living with HIV and even yield an eventual end to the HIV pandemic. We also provide the basics of HIV transmission and treatment.
We will focus on issues such as innovative drug development, strategic activist campaigns, HIV relationships and novel HIV and HIV cure research. We also will bring you advances in Hepatitis C (HCV), a common HIV co-infection. Whether you are living with HIV/AIDS, HIV and HCV, love someone who is, are an activist, advocate, researcher, physician or just an interested party, we hope here at HIV Haven we can help you find what you are looking for.
HIV Haven is kindly hosted by 
Clearance of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, compared with never having HPV infection, predicted subsequent HIV infection among heterosexual men enrolled in the circumcision trial in Rakai,...
There are no statistics on the number of people suffering from fistula because many of them conceal their illness and shy away from the public, a Ministry of Health official has said. Dr Anicet...
The Gauteng Department of Health has, for the first time in a decade, recorded no over expenditure in its finances by the end of the 2012/13 financial year which ended in 31 March 2013. This is...
International AIDS Advocates Demand China Give $1 Billion to Global Fund DC Press Conference: Friday, May 24, 10:30am, National Press Club Noting that the world’s second-largest economy received...
Mr Dong, a 37-year-old man from Hanoi, has been living with HIV for a number of years. He is in good health thanks to the antiretroviral treatment that is provided free of charge in Viet Nam and...
Cambodia is on track to become one of the few countries in the world to successfully reverse its HIV epidemic and may eliminate new infections by 2020, the World Health Organization said Friday....
In recent years, the countries of Central Asia have experienced some of the fastest growing rates of HIV infection in the world. One of the key populations at risk is men who have sex with men...
HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust has announced a range of exclusive bar offers for participants in this year’s ‘Really Wild’ themed Walk for Life event on 16th June. This year...
HIV patients who are forced to report to hospital every month for a prescription could be forced into a situation where they have to reveal their condition to an employer. HIV patients who are...
Seventy per cent of Italian HIV specialists who answered an online survey would prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to people in their care who ask for it, at least in some circumstances, a...
Liver transplants to treat a common type of liver cancer are a viable option for people infected with HIV, according to new research. The Italian study, published May 10 in the journal The...
Despite hepatitis B virus suppression provided by current drugs, many patients coinfected with hepatitis B and HIV have advanced liver fibrosis, according to new research. "Of the patients we had...
Accessing much-needed dental care is no longer like pulling teeth for HIV-positive patients in San Gabriel Valley. A new dental clinic that recently opened in Pasadena fills a major health care...
Canadian Blood Services has received approval from Health Canada to reduce the current men who have sex with men (MSM) deferral period from indefinite to five years from last MSM activity. The...
A new discovery at Oregon Health & Science University highlights an ingenious method to ensure the body effectively reacts when infected with the highly evasive HIV virus that causes AIDS. The...
In 2009, the federal government took HIV-positive and AIDS off the list of communicable diseases that can make a person ineligible for a green card Q: I’ve tested HIV-positive. Will that keep me...
AUSTRALIA is way behind the US and Europe in protecting medical workers from sharp objects, says a former US nurse who contracted HIV and hepatitis C through a needle injury. Dr Karen Daley, in...
Background: The resurgence of infectious syphilis in men who have sex with men (MSM) has been documented worldwide; however, HIV coinfection and syphilis reinfections in MSM in inner Sydney have not...
'Your Body Blueprint', a new campaign for people living with HIV has just been launched by AFAO. Based around an interactive website, the campaign is designed to encourage and support people...
DESPACHO GERAL, a Santos-based custom clearance agency for over twenty years, has successfully navigated the protocols for shipping the Spirit of Malabo to New York. The vessel departs today on...
Venezuelan professionals are working in investigations to establish the molecular panorama of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, and hepatitis, specialized sources said.According...
Until a few years ago there was no talk of curing HIV. Research focused on making anti-HIV drugs better, trying to find a vaccine or understanding why they didn’t seem to be working. Another area...
Top AIDS scientists are in Paris to mark the 30th anniversary of the detection of HIV. One of them is Sharon Lewin. Her work on latent HIV cells could lead to a cure, but she warns it's a "tough...
There was no fanfare on May 20, 1983 when Science published what is undoubtedly among the most important medical papers of the 20th century. In the usual dry prose, researchers from the Institut...
Research by the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota indicates that regular consumption of coffee is associated with a reduced risk of a liver disease known as primary sclerosing cholangitis...
Health insurance premiums for Covered California, the state-run marketplace, are lower than expected. Amid anxiety over rising costs from the federal healthcare law, California received...
Bottling up emotions is thought to harm both mind and body, but a new study suggests that the opposite extreme may be no better. In a study of thousands of heart attack patients, those who...
