Can we start a HAART heart attack/stroke counter bulletin board somewhere public?
In the past 2 weeks alone I have heard of a 30-year guy (HIV+ on ARV therapy for many years) drop dead of a heart attack (myocardial infarction in the biz)-- in Utah no less-- and then just now, a very good friend of mine is being admitted to St. Luke's-Roosevelt after having suffered a light stroke (cerebrovascular accident).
I would need the hands and feet of an octopus to count all the other cases I have heard of--and this is just friends and friends of friends--over the past couple of years.
Yes, the debate about "Is it the 'chronic inflammation' caused by HIV itself or is it the drugs?" can continue on ad infinitum, but the truth is that people are dropping like flies. (Okay, not flies exactly, but suddenly and inexplicably and all too frequently!) And, let me tell you, it's not the LTNPs or those who took destiny in their own hands and have done on again/off again ARV rx to limit the long-term effects of these otherwise 'life-saving' medicines. (Totally unscientific conjecture here, I realize, but I will provide data to support it ASAP.) No, it's the folks who believed that all they had to do was start taking meds, take them with religious devotion, and everything would be alright. Their "chronic, manageable illness" would be managed and their life expectancy would be miraculously returned to normal.
My rant for the afternoon. But I am scared and angry.
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