Brad, the key is taking your med(s) every day as dosing requires. I take Biktarvy and I’m done for the day. I am 71 and been HIV+ since at least 2000. For me, the experience has been mindblowingly real, because I stopped taking Atripla and was med free(holiday) for almost 10 yrs. I wound up in hospital for 7 days with PCJ and almost died. Afterwards, Biktarvy has made me now U = U since 2021. I learned my lesson. This disease is unforgiving. It does not discriminate. I am type 2 diabetic, but I am genetically predisposed, so I cannot point fingers. Mild neuropathy but nothing unmanageable. I work part time, still. My mindset is I know what to do and I stick to it. Diet, exercise and a strong will should be guidelines for anyone. There are so many things Drs.won’t talk about when it comes to med side effects, etc. Big Pharna consequences I would think.
Take care of yourself and be well.

It's also pretty easy to lay all blame for what is otherwise natural aging on the worst that we have.

I also think because it's invisible, we are given less compassion and sympathy than other diagnosis. We don't look sick, most of us, so to them I believe they think the pain is in our heads. A mental manifestation of how we deal with the diagnosis.

Most of our med care is discussions about medical adherence, talks about how good we are doing about our viral load suppression or how 'bad' we are. Our labs are monitored and tracked nationwide without our permission or knowledge and most of us are left in the dark about all of that also.

HIV and the monitoring and medications that come along with it can also help you make some positive changes in your life that you may not have made otherwise. After you go through the period where you feel hopeless and like you have nothing to live for. You definitely have something to live for, YOU! This is the one life that you have been given. It is your most priceless gift, and you should value it above all else. Whatever you have to do to come to that realization, hop to it! Find your own happiness, whatever it is. Don't worry about anything else until you do. The purpose of life is to be happy. All else flows from that well of energy, Brad.

Indeed @A myHIVteam Member once we have one big disease, it is pretty easy to attribute every woe following to that one. Was I lucky to get infected so late in life? Maybe. So many of the conditions of aging had already started before. And so much of what I read here sounds more like the things I was used to before my infection.

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