When I went through chemotherapy for lymphoma 20 yrs ago, I technically fell into what the CDC classifies as AIDS. My t-cells bottomed out to 0. Although since than my numbers have rebounded. So technically I have AIDS diagnosis but all my numbers are pre cancer levels when I was considered HIV+.

Ernie is correct, not everybody who is HIV positive eventually progresses to AIDS. Some people never have any side effects. Some people don't even take medications but other people progress to AIDS and die from complications associated to AIDS. It's an individual situation .
as the years progress, with inflammation on our internal organs and our immune system fighting the virus on a 24 hour basis ....it depletes our defenses, which is why cancer is the number one cause of death among H IV Patients.

From what I understand as long as you are taking arvs and your cd 4 count is higher then 200 you are not considered to have aids. My doctor tells me he doesn’t use the aids term because arvs are so effective now a days. That almost everyone who takes there meds will not get to the point where your immune system can no longer be controlled . His favorite line to me is take your damm pill and you will be fine 🥹

I don't think it happens for everyone not everybody gets opportunist to infections. Some people get the luxury of staying positive what others dropping into aids.

To be considered as having AIDS you have to have a CD4 count of less than 200 or have acquired an opportunistic infection, which can happen when the CD4 count is low and your immune system is severely compromised (although not everybody does pick up such an infection even with their low count).
Nowadays we take ARVs to stop our CD4 count going into such decline so fortunately there aren’t the casualties of years ago. So someone can live a full life, taking their pills, and never reach this point, dying from another illness which can be totally unrelated.