Wednesday, August 29, 2012

PLHIV of the Week: PositHIVe


I have known PositHIVe for quite sometime now over twitter so I asked him if he could share his story to my readers. Good thing he agreed to it. 

This is his story. 


About PositHIVE

PositHIVe is a 23 year old male from Metro Manila, Philippines who is currently working as a supervisor in a company in the city. He has been living courageously with HIV for 2 years now.

The Shocking Revelation

Out of curiosity, PositHIVe together with his ex partner went to the Philippine General Hospital-STD/AIDS Guidance Intervention Prevention (PGH-SAGIP) Unit to have a second voluntary HIV test on February 2010. He had previously done this 2 months prior to his second test which turned out to be non-reactive. Then he let it go and came to the hospital 3 months later, in May 2010 to be exact. Like most, he was shocked to see that he was HIV positive. The doctor advised him to have an immediate consultation, complete his baseline  lab tests and his CD4. All by himself at that time, he courageously did everything that the SAGIP staff told him to do even though there were lots of things in his mind. He knew that he had 10 previous sexual partners and there were instances that he had unprotected sex. He was thinking that he was just 20 years old at that time, just graduated from a reputable school and then his future was starting to blur right in front of him. He spent P6,000 to complete all his baseline lab tests out of his own pocket as he was already employed at that time. Good thing the CD4 was free then as it was still subsidized by the Global Fund. The results for his baseline tests came the following day and everything was normal. He had no infections and his organ systems were working perfectly. He got his CD4 result 3 weeks later and he found out that it was 443, high enough for him not to take ARV’s yet. He was then made to come back after 6 months to repeat the CD4 again. He was told to have a healthy life style and to eat healthy food.

The ARV Experience

After 6 months, PositHIVe came back to PGH-SAGIP to do his CD4 and some lab tests again. The lab tests came the following day with good results. He had no infections and his organs were functioning very well. Once again he waited for another 3 weeks for the result of the CD4 to come in. He was shocked that it went down to 297. He was then advised to start with his ARV treatment and his doctor was good enough in explaining all about the ARV’s to him. The cocktail that was given was lamivudine, zidovudine and nevirapine for his 2 week trial period. Full of courage, without anybody from his household knowing about what was going on with him, he started taking his medicines. In a few days, his body reacted to his ARV’s as he developed rashes all over his body. He wasn’t able to complete his trail period as his cocktail was changed to lamivudine, tenofovir and efavirenz. For one month, he still had rashes but his doctor said that it was still caused by his previous cocktail. Slowly, the rashes disappeared, however he felt the dizziness caused by efavirenz for several months. Slowly everything went back to normalcy and he felt like he was just taking his ARV’s like his vitamins.

His Current Health Status

PositHIVe learned the value of taking care of himself and the importance of his ARV’s in his life. He always sees his doctor whenever necessary. His CD4 counts, following his 2nd CD4 were 334 and 326. He is currently awaiting for his next CD4 next month and his very first viral load test.

Challenges

PositHIVe’s first challenge was his own acceptance. Prior to his diagnosis, he had knowledge about HIV/AIDS. He knew how it is transmitted. So basically getting it was a shocker to him. He was 21 years old when he was diagnosed and thought of death and dying. He thought of his future, of what will happen to him. He thought about his parents. He thought about his next steps. 

He had a partner then who stood by him and even asked him to resign from work. However, it was too stressful for him financially so he went back to work eventually. At that time, only his partner knew about his status and it took him exactly 8 months before he told his mom. It was the day before his birthday that he told her. She was shocked. He wanted her to be there for him but at first she seemed distant. She would communicate to him just through text which seemed odd for him. He felt more alone than ever. Finally his doctor from SAGIP intervened and when he brought her to the clinic, his doctor talked to his mom. After the counseling, the mom started talking to him again. However, his mom requested that he should not tell his father, siblings and relatives about his status as she felt embarrassed and feared rejection. Later on, he told two of his friends about his status and they stood strong for him while he was disclosing to them, even though later on they both cried with him. At that time, he just needed some people to talk to, to unload the burden he is carrying in his heart and in his mind.

It was a blessing that everything worked with his job. There was no problem. There were no obstacles to his health. He was happy. There was no desire for him to work overseas so he knew that even with HIV he can still have a normal life at work.


From the very start, PositHIVe had been strong. He was able to disclose to some people close to him and that, in turn, gave wonders for him. He started to meet other PLHIV’s and found out and listening to their stories strengthened him. He met PLHIV’s who had very low CD4 and yet were still very functional in society. That empowered him more and made him realize that HIV can be beaten with conviction to one’s own health.

Recently he attended the Self Empowerment Training conducted by RITM. From the personal sharing and the training, he learned how to control and manage his emotions. He used to overreact to certain things and through the training, gave him a little of self control. Even though he already has a positive outlook in life, the training helped him more in becoming more optimistic about life which in turn helped him to improve his outlook about himself. 


Advocacies

PositHIVe has a blog, This Heart Is Still Beating, which initially served as an outlet for him. However as months passed, he realized that he was already inspiring other people. He created a twitter account, @positHIVe, that served as a venue for him to communicate with other PLHIV’s and even joined the monthly gathering of PLHIV’s from the social network. Slowly the group grew in the number of participants which initially was just intended for camaraderie and acquaintance. Now it has become it’s own support group wherein PLHIV’s can share their stories and ask their personal questions. He also refers PLHIV’s to both Pinoy Plus Association  and The Love Yourself Inc. for counseling. He refers new PLHIV’s to Yoga for Life to enhance their physical, emotional, mental, self discipline and stress management skills.

Lessons Learned

If only he can revert back time, PositHIVe would have opted to take precautions when having sex. He would also have not resigned from his previous job.

Even at a young age of 23 now, his convictions are pretty strong. He wants everybody to realize that there are a lot of people and group that are willing to help but everything should start from the person. He has to really help himself first before anything else. He also wants to tell everybody that depression starts at the beginning and then everything will get better sooner or later. To PositHIVe, the best way to fight back and beat HIV is by taking good care of oneself.
© Copyright. All Rights Reserved by Pozziepinoy 2012



Credits:

With permission to print by PositiHIVe; Interview by Pozziepinoy, Aug. 28, 2012
Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net