Tim stay strong long term survivors give me hope

I think it's an interesting topic for discussion.
Personally, being one of those who has had HIV for over 30 years, I would have to agree with what you said about everyone being unique in how HIV affects them over the long term.
You mentioned some famous people with HIV who are doing well, and I personally have met some as well. And those people did take AZT or some of the D drugs.
I only took d4t for one year, and did not start on reyataz, truvada and norvir (HAART) until 2010, despite being diagnosed in 1991. But I have fibromyalgia. So I'm not one of those lucky ones, and I did not even take those early drugs except for the one that I mentioned for one year.
So I can only conclude that everyone is different, there is no one answer. At one point I thought it was my lifestyle when I was younger man. I drank a lot. And now I've got fibromyalgia and I'm paying the price. But it turns out that's not the case because I know of people who are doing very well, yet they we're also heavy drinkers not to mention drug users, and some still are.
It upsets me to think about it because I don't drink, I live a healthy lifestyle, I exercise, I have a good diet, I see all of my many specialists, yet it doesn't seem fair to me that I have to suffer whereas so many who have or are still leading the party life are doing just fantastic!
😩 Ugh! I'm getting myself all worked up. It just doesn't seem fair. 😥

I got hiv in 1992 and my doctor said we will wait for your t cells to fall below 200 before you start treatment. It took two years to go from 640 to 210 and when it fell it fell very and scary quickly. Its like once the virus got up to a high enough mark your tcells crash quickly. I got myself into a study of AZT and 3TC and Crixivan (protease inhibiter). My tcell jumped back up while my friend who couldn't get into the study because he was already taking AZT developed crypto and was about to die. That's when everything you eat just goes right through you. I started sharing my crixivan with him and it saved his life. In hind sight I should have started treatment right away. People talk about how our immune system is like a patchwork quilt and when it gets very low starts to miss patches and could forget how to fight off different infections. It was a difficult time, from lactic acid buid up in your leg muscles to tingling in your hands and feet and peeing out crystals in your urine that hurt. I still can't understand how people were overdosed with the meds. Still to this day you take a 300lb person and a 150lb person and give them the same dose. I would see others with really thick necks and buffalo humps on the back of their neck. I got lucky, I didn't get that but I did it because that was how you stayed alive just long enough for the next drug to come out. Now I am on Bictarvy and I don't miss a dose and all is well. Don't miss doses, I have seen people play around with their drugs by not taking them or doing drug holidays and its not pretty when they run out of options. I still try to stay one drug behind so I have an option if the drug I am on fails. Would I do it again? Heck yes its how I stayed alive but thankfully science continues to get better. Now I wish I could get into that EBT-101 study thats too far away from me and finally be done with this disease. I still have a lot of things I want to do in my life so when that times comes, "I want to be all used up and have nothing left to give."

I have many of the conditions of aging... obesity, asthma, hypertension, prediabetes, low testosterone, difficulty urinating, HSV, high cholesterol, neuropathy, opioid dependency, anxiety & depression... yet, at 60, I don't attribute this stuff to my HIV infection. It's more the consequences of the way we live. Diet, stress, and lack of exercise. Only if something cannot be explained otherwise, do I consider my 36yrs of HIV. Started full time AVT in 2012. Infected 1987.

If course we should recall that "undetectable" is not a number. It has changed over the years. It expresses the sensitivity of viral load testing and 200 at one time was "undetectable"

This last visit my doc asked me what we were going to do. As my labs are pretty good without meds I am going to wait. If I could get Biktarvy at $200 a month I would be on it now. But it will cost me six times that and I just don't have it on my retirement income.

Now perhaps I should get a second and third opinion, and I am open to that. But he isn't warning me of dire consequences waiting another nine months.

If my CD4 was dropping precipitously I would go into debt. But as it isn't we will continue monitoring. My VL continues to drop albeit not a s fast.

It also makes a difference that I am starting this at the start of my fourth quarter of life. Were I 20 expecting another 60 is not unreasonable. At 75 if I just live to my grandfather's and dad/uncles ages I have about a dozen left. Financial stability more important as I am not out shopping for careers.

IMO it really depends upon the individual. HIV does manifest in myriad ways. Aging adds it own issues.