What happens if you stop taking HIV meds ?

The side effects of the meds are pretty brutal

What happens if people in space take off their space helmets? Do they die? What about the astronauts who boast they can breathe on the moon? Do they need their space suit to keep on breathing?

[quote] What about the people who boast that they are undetectable, are they ok without meds?

It’s the meds which make them undetectable (and keeping them as healthy as they can be). HIV hasn’t changed, the improvement is in our means of treating it.

R2, is an idiot who probably has HIV related dementia

Nuthin'!

It’s got to be terrifying to have a deadly virus laying dormant in your body that you need life long meds for .

No different than diabetes, r6. And unlike diabetes, people with HIV who take meds and remain undetectable usually wind up living a normal lifespan and die of something unrelated to HIV. It's all good!

R7, that’s such an irresponsible post . HIV takes at least 10 years of life and the meds have terrible side effects. It’s SO much better to be negative

HIV meds keep the virus out of the blood, the virus remains in the marrow. If you stop taking meds the virus starts replicating and you will end up with an opportunistic infection like toxoplasmosis, KS, pneumonia or anything really because your immune system will fail. Stopping meds=certain death.

"The side effects of the meds are pretty brutal"

Completely ignorant of the contemporary reality of HIV treatment.

[quote]It's all good!

"Matt, Matt, Matt … you’re glib."

An friend/ex told me that his insurance pays $100/pill for his meds. Even if you're not the one paying, the cost to the system is immense.

[quote]The side effects of the meds are pretty brutal

R1 is writing from 1987 it seems.

Someone on here is very anti-HIV meds... He is probably anti-Covid vaccine also... I hope it is a troll and not someone who is really that ignorant. More importantly, I hope no one listens to him.

some HIV treatment has been linked to an increased risk of longer-term side-effects developing. These include bone, liver and kidney problems, heart disease and metabolic changes.

My partner takes the medication Biktarvy and there are no side effects as far as I can see.

OP is also the Monkey Pox fear troll, so take this thread with a giant grain of MARY!

I’m sorry but I’m so grateful that I am not poz. The meds ruin your looks too.

Yes, because looks are all that matter in the end R17.

It’s better to be hiv negative r18

I was being sarcastic R19

If you'd been around in the 80s, you would not be asking this question.

It was horrific ☝🏼

OP cannot expect to be taken seriously.

I'm young, hawt, and have a big dick. People like us don't have to worry about HIV.

Definitely sending some trolling at work.

Back when I was on Grindr and put that I was taking prep (don’t judge me), I had some random person message me saying that I shouldn’t take that or worry about HIV or AIDS at all because it’s some invented fantasy convicted by the drug companies. Apparently there’s a whole movement of HIV/ AIDS deniers (and most of them, you guessed it, end up up dying of AIDS).

^ *sensing some trolling, not sending.

Damn, need to proof messages behind posting

I’ve been poz for 34 years , blessed to have through the worst of things. I take BIKTARVY every day. I’m 66, healthy workout 3 X a week. Being neg would be great but HIV isn’t the end of your life anymore.

But honestly, Miss R17, you didn't have that much to work with from the beginning.

My husband is HIV positive. He’s 46, extremely attractive, smart, funny, and a much happier-go-lucky guy than I ever was. He has been on meds for 20 years. We’ve been together 8 years, I’m negative, and it was never an issue for me. Of course I wish he didn’t have HIV but like R27 said, it’s not the death sentence it used to be.

These threads always devolve into homophobic freak shows so, let’s see what happens today.

You magically turn into a winged horse, Rose, and fly off to the peak of Mount Helicon.

I have heard the hiv meds are hard on your kidneys. Is that true?

Like any serious illness, you should be asking your medical specialist. Not asking opinions over the fucking internet. It’s your life you’re asking about, and you need to be informed by people who studied medicine for years, thus have a vested interest in it rather than shooting the DL breeze.

Even if you’re just curious, ask questions to your Dr..

I sacrificed my HIV meds so my hot could take them, & I swiftly died.

HIV could mutate to deadlier drug resistant

Next up from OP, in 2022, an anxious and angry thread about BUG CHASERS!!!

A few years back, a friend of mine stopped taking his meds, or got careless with not taking them all the time. Not sure exactly why, and I never got the full story from his family.

Long story short, he died. He got that PML brain infection thing (a lot of medications seem to list this as a possible side effect), and died a painful, horrific death.

R7 no it’s not all good but you keep telling yourself that.

HIV+ 33 years here, on Biktarvy, and the only side effect is that I get to continue existing - which annoys the fuck out of all of the gay-hating gays here on DL.

What’s with the DL obsession with HIV “mutating” and “Super-AIDS”?

People have been on these meds for decades now. They don’t stop working unless you don’t take them consistently. Also, HIV mutates constantly. Antiretrovirals prevent it from mutating enough to evade the treatment. And if your viral load is undetectable, the virus basically can’t mutate at all.

[quote] The side effects of the meds are pretty brutal

No they aren’t. Most people have no side effects. It’s one pill.

[quote] I have heard the hiv meds are hard on your kidneys. Is that true?

All medication can be. That’s why you get blood work.

*one of the reasons you get blood work.

Based on the comments here , I’m assuming that they believe HIV infection is no big deal and easily manageable. Ok , then. Merry Christmas

🚫 There's one way to go find out .........

No one is saying it’s no big deal. But it is manageable and modern meds allow you to live a normal life. People on DL seem to be largely uneducated and in an unreasonable amount of fear and dread about HIV that was more or less rational (or at least understandable) 20-30 years ago but is borderline hysterical today.

R45, do you advocate unsafe sex ?

R45, look up poz face . That’s a result of the medication

Why would I advocate unsafe sex? And why is that your response to my post?

R27 good for you ❤️ glad you’re with us

☝🏼 condoms suck and limit the sexual pleasure. If hiv is not serious then why wear them .

R45, the hysterical HIV posts are coming from people who are str8, young, and/or stupid.

“Poz face” mostly doesn’t happen with today’s retrovirals.

Biktarvy has given me “old face”, though. Because thanks to Biktarvy and meds like it, I’ve been able to grow old.

R36 is that bizarre. Because VIRUSES cause PML brain infection. And you are claiming it is medication side effect.

POZ FACE ✓

NEXT UP: Crix belly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[quote]What happens if you stop taking HIV meds ? Do you die like in the old days ?

Yes.

If you're hiv+ and undetectable due to your meds, stopping them will result in your t-cells becoming infected again, more or less exactly the same way they did after becoming infected for the first time, with more or less the same rate of progression towards full blown AIDS if it remains untreated.

The big difference is, there will be a period of a few days or weeks when the lingering metabolites from the meds will continue to weakly select against susceptible hiv stains, leaving you at immense risk of developing a resistant strain that can't be adequately controlled by nice, convenient meds. Emtricitabine and lamividine, in particular, are at major risk of becoming useless for you in the future. So, don't do it. Ever.

More stupidity. HIV does not "infect t-cells". My god. THERE IS SOMETHING CALLED THE INTERNET. The public library. A health service agency. Yet you cunts proudly flaunt your complete idiocy.

I wish my post at R58 was satire. I guess it is just the codeine high I'm on. SORRY.

HIV is no fun

My husband is HIV positive. He’s 46, extremely attractive, smart, funny, and a much happier-go-lucky guy than I ever was.

clearly not that smart

Never stops taking your meds. I was a hospice nurse before I retired. Death from Aids is really horrible. I also lost my two closest friends in the 80s and they were both young.

[quote] Because VIRUSES cause PML brain infection. And you are claiming it is medication side effect.

[quote] —DUMBASS

If you see TV ads for certain medications, you will often see PML mentioned as a possible, rare side effect. I never noticed it or paid attention myself, until my friend died of PML.

"Immunosuppressive medications that have been associated with PML include cyclophosphamide, corticosteroids, mycophenolate mofetil and monoclonal antibodies including natalizumab (Tysabri), rituximab (Mabthera) and alemtuzumab (MabCampath)" (medsafe.govt.nz)

Also, you might try to be a bit nicer.

R61 Go fuck your mom,-your daddy stopped ever since you were the result.

I am deeply concerned about the cavalier attitude towards HIV / AIDS. It’s a dreadful disease and entirely preventable.

^^ Sen. Susan Collins shares her point of view.

[quote]The side effects of the meds are pretty brutal

Still on AZT?

R65 You have to keep those thoughts to yourself. A small minority gets offended.

[...]

News just in: you need to take medicine in order for medicine to work.

SMDH