Living with HIV in the Philippines: PLHIV Story: Living a Life With Purpose

Hi PozziePinoy,

I was inspired by your blog and decided to give it a shot and share my story.

Hope you can publish it in your blog. I don't mind if you indicate my email address just in case I can be of help to anyone. Thanks.

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It was several years ago when I was offered a job overseas. I was a little hesitant but was excited about the said opportunity. So I resigned from my job back then and completed the pre-employment requirements - part of it was the medical exams. I was advised to go to a clinic in Quezon City and the test includes HIV screening. It was then that I found out that I was HIV+. Two weeks later, I was informed that the Confirmatory test showed that I’m indeed positive. For the longest time, only my partner knows about my status.

From time to time, I would research about HIV/AIDS. Not knowing much about it, my first instinct was to check my life expectancy. I also checked out treatment options and read some blogs of people living with HIV/AIDS to know more about the disease. However, I got so busy with work and just moved on.

A few years later, I started noticing that I’m getting rashes all over my body. Antihistamines became part of my daily routine. I have myself checked with a dermatologist and I was advised that I may have skin asthma. In the same year, I was also diagnosed with pneumonia. I have it treated and even took the pneumonia shots to ensure it will not recur.

I was at the peak of my career and was assigned to work on a project that requires me to travel a lot. In 2012, I was out on a business trip and decided to cut my trip short as I was so sick and decided to come back to have myself checked. I was not feeling very well, I lost so much weight, I had diarrhea, I had trouble sleeping – and the list goes on... Initially, the doctor advised me to take some well-deserved rest as they thought it was all triggered by stress. A few weeks later, I was rushed to The Medical City as my temperature won’t go down and I’m coughing non-stop. I also started hallucinating at that time. I was confined at that time when unconsciously, I disclosed to the attending physician that I have HIV. I was asked to sign a consent form to get myself tested and I was later on diagnosed with AIDS as my CD4 count is down to 17. I spent several weeks in the hospital but I’m just fortunate to have been attended to by the most compassionate and very competent doctors.

As I look back, it was never an easy journey. I had to endure so much pain physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But having a great support group such as my family, best friends, my doctors, and the TMC’s i-REACT facility played a very big role in my road to recovery.

It is my hope that people will be more educated in HIV prevention and the treatment options. Having gone through it myself and having lost my partner and a close family friend from the same disease along the way, I’m looking forward to being an instrument to help others who are fighting the same battle. I will commit to living a life with a purpose and will make this my advocacy!

(email: positivelyJM@gmail.com)