This is a current article from POZ tells the amazing journey of this young man, one who has endured such obstacles yet pulled himsef up and is now creating a platform and team to help end the stigma of HIV. Really inspired me.
He brings up a point in the article about his ordeal with HIV related wasting syndrome. I've suffered that through many of the years I have been positive. From what I understand it the drug Zerit is a main contributor to the problem. Anyone else dealing with wasting… read more
Sounds like a drug to avoid. Thank you all for sharing your stories about it
I took zerit for about one month and then broke out in shingles and after that I was givin a medication change
I was on Zerit for a very long time. It was one of the drugs given to me from the study I was in and was in the study for 3 years even though it was a 2 year study but because I was the first to join the study and everything they were looking for was happening to me so the doctor pleaded with me to stay on a extra year, so I did. When the study ended the ID that I had kept me on all the medications I was on during the study that were the real drug and not any that were placebo. I was on those meds for another 4 years when they had to change my meds because of health issues I was dealing with at the time and those drugs no longer seemed to work for me. So many drugs can do our bodies harm and this is why they keep such good looking at our blood work to make sure damage to any of our internal organs is not happening. I have had so many different problems that the doctors say was caused because of my HIV treatment yet they know I have to be on them or I will die within 12 to 18 months after I stop HIV treatment because of all the health issues and some will just get worse fast if I stop treatment, so I just have to try and live my life one day at a time for God has not promised me a tomorrow.
I was on Zerit from 96 to 2000 and it did horrible damage to my nervous system and I had chronic wasting and took Marinol all the way until 2014. I suffered two strokes attributed to this drug but because I signed that I knew it was experimental could never seek damages. I was in a coma in 2001 on life support taken off 9/11/2001 and miraculously woke up to the destruction of the world trade centers on TV, Including losing all my teeth, and a mesentery aneurism 11/2011, attributed to destruction of the vessel by Zerit. I suffer till this day from this drug. My neuro pain was so bad that from 2000 to 2014 I was on large doses of morphine and hydrocodone, finally got off in 2014 with God's help. I spent 1/2013 in a care center first in hospice weighed only 106 lbs now 175 then with no use of my body waist down finally learned to walk in 9/2013 with braces and two arm crutches which I used until 8/2018. When I had a right knee replacement and repair to my left knee and almost a year of PT. I saw the orthopedist yesterday and start PT today for both shoulders, she said damage was done by all the years using my arms to walk and now have sever osteoarthritis in both shoulders and probably will need surgery on both soon. Trying Celebrex and PT first. Pastor David
@A myHIVteam Member. I know what its like having shingles, and it is not fun for sure. I had it on my right shoulder and it went all the way down my right arm. It was so bad with the pain my doctor had to put me into the hospital to help control the pain. Had a pain doctor who came in and he gave me a shot right into that area where I was broke out and said I could still get shingles again during my life but it would not be in that right shoulder and right arm area... Needless to say even though he gave me that shot he was wrong because when I got the shingles again about 2 years later it came right back to the right shoulder and down the right arm, but this time it also went down about half way down my back on the right side. I then got it a third time, but this time it was on my left back and left side from about arm pit area down to about half way. Soon after that they came out with the better shingles shot and I got that and luckly I have not had the shingles again,,,,,knock on wood.. I hope that you don't get the shingles again but if you have not gotten the newest protection shot I would recommend getting it but I hope you have already gotten it.