ONE STEP AT A TIME

Somehow I ended up on this blog----
It seems like a change in my life, so maybe it's the right time.

Deciding tomorrow to change HIV medications.
I went on a research study several months ago after failing pretty much all of the available drugs out there. I've been HIV positive since, I figure 1986, although I didn't have the courage to go through the test until 1988 -- and I got the result back as it happened, the day of my 30th birthday. In 1993, my T-cells plummited, and I ended up on therapy -- AZT monotherapy to be exact. Those were the days when you took a high dose of AZT several times a day, and became violently ill for several months, as your body tried to tolerate the drug. From there, I added the drug DDI, then so on, until, wahlah!, pretty advanced resistence. (At one time, I was on a seven med combo). Luckily, I was able to stay on a cominbation that included Kelatra for 6 years, enough time to buy myself a few more drug options. But last winter, my t-cells again started to plummet, unit by May they were down to about 100. I had been "saving" the drug Fuseon, and with the study, went on TMC114, with a 50/50 chance of getting TMC125, and adding in Truvada and DDI for good measure. I acheived undetectable faster than anyone else on the study, after only 2 months, but when the 3 month test came, my viral load was 1200. We've just retested it, and it is now 2000. I'm afraid of loosing Fuseon and TMC114, so tomorrow, I will probably go back on my old regimen, and wait for the Inegrase Inhibitor from Merck to go into expanded access (fingers-crossed) in a few months. One more chance to reach undetected, and maybe start to worry once again about the normal things in life, not just surviving.

Gregory Fowler