Depression and HIV

I recently have a talk to one pozzie who said that he has depression from taking Efavirenz. His doctor almost prescribed him with an anti-depressant however, he said that he doesn’t want to be dependent on it so he declined it. I told him that the power of the mind is strong especially when we have HIV. We think about a lot of things. But we all have to fight this way of thinking. Instead we should do more productive things and boost up our egos. We should also learn how to relax our minds and think of positive things through meditation...

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May 2012: New HIV/AIDS Cases

The Philippine Department of Health - National Epidemiology Center has recently released its update on the number of new HIV and AIDS cases in the Philippines for May 2012. In the report, it said that in May 2012, there were 273 HIV Ab sero-positive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL). It also said that this figure was 48% higher compared to the same period of last year. From the report, it said that most of the cases are still males which comprise 96% of the cases with median age of 27 years old.  The...

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Love Fund: June Report

The Love Fund has been helping HIV patients. Ms. Maram Bartolome of RITM-ARG just sent me the list of patients and how they have been helped by the fund. 1. HIV with Pulmonary TB: PTB medicines  2. HIV with Breast Cancer: medicine (cream ointment) for her wound  3. HIV: no fare to go home  4. HIV with Oral Candidiasis: medicine (fluconazole) for 7 days 5. New HIV patient: registration fee (orange card) 6. HIV patient with hypersensitivity reaction with nevirapine: prophylaxic antibiotic 7. HIV with Herpes Zoster: medicine  8....

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HIV Travel Restrictions

A lot of my new acquaintances seemed depressed after finding out that they are positive with HIV. The reason is that their dream of working abroad has been shattered. ...

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Sex Re-Education

Let’s talk about sex here. I need to open this up because most blogs don’t discuss it.  It is my fault why I got this dreaded disease. I was promiscuous. I had multiple sex with unknown partners. I had both protected and unprotected sex. Tag and I had an open relationship (sounds familiar to couples?) before. I hooked up with people from the internet. It was all fun and I wasn’t careful. Even though I knew about STD’s and HIV, it came to a point that I didn’t care. What I knew before was it was really fun to have sex. Now, look...

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Numbers!

"You look fine, you don't look sick at all", said Dr. Saniel as she motherly patted my thigh when she first saw me in TMC last October when my SGPT (ALT) shot up to 328. I was asked by Dr. B to see her because of my SGPT concerns and at that time Dr. T was in a US conference. Dr. Mediadora C. Saniel is a renowned infectious disease doctor who is a member of The Medical City's Board of Directors. She is also the Director of Proser Health Services, Inc, President of the University of the Philippines Medical Foundation, Inc., and the Director of...

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Email 18

I received this email and I thought that this would enlighten everybody about the topic that I wrote in my blog: Be Accountable! I deleted some pertinent information to conceal his identity and the people he was talking about.. The reason for posting his letter is for people to know that there are courageous people who know how to be "accountable" for their past actions and that there is still a way for all of us to help those who we had sexual contact with before, by telling them to get themselves tested before it is too late. I hope...

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Prophylaxis with Low CD4

Today, Dr. Ditangco discontinued both my prophylaxis because my CD4 is now 487. I’ve been taking cotrimoxazole (bactrim) 800 mg, daily and azithromycin (zithromax), 1250 mg once a week for 8 months now. From what I researched before, if one has low CD4 like below 200 (or 250), the HIV specialist would recommend prophylaxis treatment as prevention of the major opportunistic infections. I am so happy that at last I can stop taking them. They cost me P3,000 a month. For the benefit of my readers, I researched on the different conditions...

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P.E.P.

Somebody emailed me about this and I asked Dr. Ditangco about this weeks ago. So what really is PEP? I researched about it and I found this from the WHO website. What it is Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is short-term antiretroviral treatment to reduce the likelihood of HIV infection after potential exposure, either occupationally or through sexual intercourse. Within the health sector, PEP should be provided as part of a comprehensive universal precautions package that reduces staff exposure to infectious hazards at work. Why it...

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Increasing Patients in Hubs

Wow! Yesterday a pozzie that I was assisting, stayed and waited for his lab results in RITM-ARG. He texted me that there were more than 45 patients waiting for their consultations and ARV refill there. On another hub, I read a tweet that yesterday in San Lazaro Hospital, there were more than 80 patients waiting for consultation, CD4 test and ARV refill. Unfortunately, I don't have figures from UP-PGH SAGIP, but I bet that their patient number also increased by a lot. Now that the patient number is increasing, I do hope that our government...

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Please Help!

An HIV patient who has gone blind because of CMV is needing financial support. His medicines cost P4,000 per day so I am asking everyone who is reading my blog to support the The Love Fund. Any amount will do. Please help out. If you are going to RITM-ARG, please look for Ms. Maram Bartolome or Ellen Domingo and you can directly donate any amount for The Love Fund. Thank you so much! ...

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Boost Your Own Immune System!

People have been asking me what I’ve been doing to help boost my immune system. Yesterday my CD4 count shot up to 487 from 70 in 8 months. Even my 4 other doctors were shocked when they heard about it. They said that when the CD4 is so low, the CD4 can’t get up that fast like mine. I’ve read that too before but being an optimistic person, I really don’t care about counts because what is important for me is that I don’t ever get sick at all! So...

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Up By 696%

Yesterday, I went to RITM-ARG for my 2nd CD4 count test. I missed it two months ago because of procrastination but then last Saturday, I decided to go there. It has been 8 months since I got my initial CD4 count of 70. I told myself that no matter what the result is, I will still stay strong. There is an avid follower of my blog who I have been texting for quite sometime who will be going there too, so I told him to meet me there. I texted Ranz that in case I will be late, to please assist him. I told the new poz that everything is free (lab...

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How to go to RITM-ARG?

I've been receiving a lot of emails on how to go to RITM-ARG. Most of them are first timers and some just want to switch hubs. So I am making one entry just for this. I hope this could be of help to all who are interested. Here are the maps of RITM-ARG Private car:  When coming from QC, Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong and Pasay take the South Expressway-Skyway and exit Alabang, then turn left on Filinvest Avenue. If coming from...

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This is for YOU!

It is your first time to take your ARV's. Your journey will just commence. Your life will change for the better. Scared? Don't be! Always remember that your ARV's are the way for your immune system to rebound back to almost normal levels. Be glad then! Here are some tips that might be useful for you: 1. Believe in the ARV's. Believe in your heart that your immune system will be stronger when you take them. 2. Proper scheduling is important....

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Free for First Timers!

I recently assisted a new poz, "Believer" to get all his lab tests and CD4 done in RITM-ARG. At first, I thought that he had to pay for everything. I asked Ms. Maram how much money he should bring for all the tests and she said around P8,000 is enough for all the tests, except for the viral load. Well, I told Believer to bring P10,000 just in case. We were communicating that day he went there. I made him look for Ms. Maram or Ate Ellen or Ranz. Maram was out so Ranz assisted him. Believer said that Ranz even looked for him. Around lunch time,...

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Seborrheic Dermatitis

Well, I thought it was dandruff even though I frequently take a shower. But this has been happening to my scalp since last year. I really thought it was dandruff and I enjoy removing the scales with my fingers. Then this year I had small patches of dried skin beside my nostrils and sometime on the bridge of my nose in between my eyebrows. Good thing I have several tinactin and trosyd at home so I just liberally apply them when they appear. They subside but if I stop using them, the scaling recurs. Frequent washing of the face also helps to...

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Email 17

I received another email yesterday. "Hi Pozzie, How are you? i happen to read your blog and decided that i would send you a message and inquiry. I would like to know if it's free to have a cd4 test at viral load at RITM? I paid 2k for cd4 and 6k for viral load at SLH.  I want to have a 2nd opinion at RITM have HIV test redone again...are the other test like tuberculosis, cd4 etc. are for free? how can i avail the free? or just for the first time clients at RITM.  Where will i go if i am in RITM and...

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