Fw: Hot Topics at The Body's "Ask the Experts" Forums

---

From: "News at The Body" <update@news.thebody.com>

Date: 31 Jan 2012 16:52:12 -0500

To: <nelsonvergel@yahoo.com>

ReplyTo: "News at The Body" <update@news.thebody.com>

Subject: Hot Topics at The Body's "Ask the Experts" Forums

If you have trouble reading this e-mail, you can see the online version at: www.thebody.com/topics.html

January 31, 2012 Visit the Forums "Hot Topics" Library Change/Update Subscription
Living With HIV/AIDS Body Shape Changes & HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS Treatment Other Health Issues & HIV/AIDS HIV Transmission LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS  Could Exercise Cause Excessive Inflammation? I do two heavy trainings and two light trainings at the gym each week, and I play golf on the weekends. I also have a viral load of 300 and a CD4 count of 1,340, though I don't take HIV meds yet. My doctor is worried that my gym sessions and related fat burn will cause unnecessary inflammation, and encourages me to exchange my gym sessions for just swimming or walking. I'm a little confused about my doctor's advice. What do you know about exercise and inflammation? Nelson Vergel responds in the "Nutrition and Exercise" forum  How Do I Tell My Loved Ones I'm HIV Positive? I was just diagnosed, and I haven't told anyone. I was diagnosed within four months of exposure and I'm in good shape, with good insurance and a good job. Things seem in my favor as much as they can be. My biggest stressor is the thought of telling my family, who all live out of state. I'm the "rock" who always helps them, and I can't imagine delivering news that will devastate them. At the same time I feel not telling is a betrayal. Right now they help me without knowing because when I talk to them it's the only time I'm not thinking about this disease. Once they know I fear I'll have no escape. Do you have any advice? David Fawcett, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., responds in the "Mental Health and HIV" forum  Do I Have to Go on Medicare When I Reach 65? I'm 59 years old. In six years my company's insurance will drop me because my company requires I go on Medicare when I'm 65. Is this legal? My excellent HIV doctor doesn't take Medicare. I'm already anxious. What can I do to prepare for this? Jacques Chambers, C.L.U., responds in the "Workplace and Insurance Issues" forum Detail from: "Sheer Gucci Underwear," 1998 Edurado Mirales Visit the January 2012 Visual AIDS Web Gallery to view our latest collection of art by HIV-positive artists! This month's gallery, entitled "If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry," is curated by Stuart Sandford. BODY SHAPE CHANGES & HIV/AIDS  What Diet Do You Suggest to Slow Weight Gain? I'm on Sustiva (efavirenz, Stocrin) and Truvada (tenofovir/FTC) and I've been gaining weight around my belly. Can you recommend an eating plan that might help reduce this fattening? Gerald Pierone, M.D., responds in the "Facial Wasting" forum HIV/AIDS TREATMENT  Can I Go Off Meds to See if My Virus Is Gone? I'm 54 years old. I've been HIV positive for 18 years and I've been taking HIV meds since I seroconverted. My viral load is undetectable and my CD4 count is 602. I want to do some sort of test to see whether HIV is lying dormant anywhere in my body, and if it can't be found I want to stop taking HIV meds for a while -- not because of any health issues or side effects, but because I dislike taking them. Do you have any experience with people who have tried something like this? What effect could going off meds have on my sex life with my partner, who's HIV negative? David Wohl, M.D., responds in the "Safe Sex and HIV Prevention" forum  Will My HIV Regimen Still Work After a 2-Month Break? I had a hysterectomy in November 2011. I was so sick I couldn't take my HIV meds for two months. Now that I'm better, will my HIV meds still be effective or should I change medications? Keith Henry, M.D., responds in the "Managing Side Effects of HIV Treatment" forum  Do I Have to Start HIV Meds if I'm Treating My Hepatitis C? I'm HIV positive but not on meds. My viral load is low and my CD4 count is above 500. I was diagnosed with hepatitis C and it seems I'll be starting meds for that. My doc mentioned briefly that I should start HIV meds as well, but I feel that treating hep C first is the way to go. Am I correct not to want to start HIV meds while I'm still doing well HIV-wise? Barbara McGovern, M.D., responds in the "Hepatitis and HIV Coinfection" forum How Can I Stay Healthy Before I Start HIV Meds? (A recent post from the "Treatment & Side Effects" board) I got my first labs in today: My CD4 count is 1,040 and my viral load is 9,095. Not considering HIV meds right now. I will evaluate after my next test in three months. However I was wondering what I can do NOW to prepare my body. One of my big concerns is the damage all of the unnatural chemicals in the meds will do to my body. Any advice? What can I do or take -- herbs, etc. -- to offset that before I start? What have others out there done? -- TheGoodLife Click here to join this discussion, or to start your own! To do this, you'll need to register with TheBody.com's bulletin boards if you're a new user. Registration is quick and anonymous (all you need is an e-mail address) -- click here to get started! OTHER HEALTH ISSUES & HIV/AIDS  What if Surgeons Won't Operate on Me Because I'm HIV Positive? I was given an AIDS diagnosis six years ago. I've started taking Atripla (efavirenz/tenofovir/FTC), and having good results. My CD4 count is 364 and my viral load is undetectable (up from less than 50, and down from 260,000, when I began). I've now been diagnosed with avascular necrosis in both hips, and urgently need a hip replacement on one of them. I've been to two orthopedic surgeons who've refused to take my case, and it's obvious from what they both said that it's because neither of them wants an HIV-positive patient. I know this is not legal, and I wouldn't want a doctor who was prejudiced against me anyway. But how can I find the help I need without going through this discriminatory process over and over again? Jacques Chambers, C.L.U., responds in the "Workplace and Insurance Issues" forum  Do Immunizations Patch the "Holes" in Our Immune Systems Left by HIV? I've been HIV positive for over 24 years. A long time ago, my doc told me that upon initial infection with HIV, it pokes "holes" in your immune system that are presumably permanent. He used an analogy like: if you remove the letter Z from the alphabet, you can't spell "zebra" any longer, but you can still describe it. If this "hole" theory is correct, are immunizations the thing to make up for these vulnerabilities? Keith Henry, M.D., responds in the "Managing Side Effects of HIV Treatment" forum HIV TRANSMISSION  HIV Transmission Through Sharing a Crack Pipe: What's the Risk? I have never smoked crack before but one night, when I was very depressed, I was looking for cocaine and could only find crack, so I shared a pipe or two. I didn't have any open cuts in the beginning or end of the night, but when I woke up, I saw dried blood on my lip. What are the chances that I contracted HIV from the pipe? What other kinds of HIV risks come with smoking crack? David Fawcett, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., responds in the "Substance Use and HIV" forum  Could My Lesbian Partner Have Put Me at Risk for HIV? I am a lesbian and have been dating a close female friend for a few months. Recently it came to light that she has never been HIV tested before, as she for some reason thought it was part of routine blood tests. She had unprotected vaginal and anal sex one time with a man she met at a bar back in 2008. He did not ejaculate inside of her. I'm concerned that she may have been exposed to HIV during her one-night stand because he obviously didn't care about using condoms. Could she be HIV positive, and could I have been exposed to HIV through her vaginal fluids coming into contact with small cuts on my lips when I perform oral sex on her? Shannon R. Southall responds in the "Safe Sex and HIV Prevention" forum Worried Your Spam Filter Might Trash Our Mailings? The Body's e-mail updates are especially prone to being caught up in spam filters, since our newsletters tend to refer frequently to sex, drugs, the human anatomy and so forth. To make sure you never miss one of our mailings because anti-spam software labeled it as junk mail, add update@news.thebody.com to your address book, talk to the person who manages your e-mail security or check your anti-spam program's instructions for more information. About This E-mail This e-mail update has been sent to nelsonvergel@yahoo.com. Want to change your subscription? Click here or send us a message at updates@thebody.com. Missed an update? Our archive of past updates will keep you in the loop. Have any other questions or comments, and don't want to send an e-mail? Feel free to snail-mail us at: The Body's E-Mail Updates Remedy Health Media, LLC 250 West 57th Street New York, NY 10107	Young AIDS Activists! Apply for C2EA's 2012 Youth Action Institute -- June 10 - 16, 2012  Ohioans Living With HIV/AIDS Need Our Help!  Activists Launch New Survey to Help Speed HIV Cure Research  Demand Hershey Reverse Decision on HIV+ Student and Dismiss School Officials  Count HIV+ Women In! PWN Launches National Campaign on World AIDS Day  African American HIV University Community Mobilization College: Apply Today!

Fw: Smoking, Not HIV Disease, Is Most Important Lung Cancer Risk

---

From: AIDSmeds <news@aidsmeds.com>

Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:56:54 -0500

To: <nelsonvergel@yahoo.com>

Subject: Smoking, Not HIV Disease, Is Most Important Lung Cancer Risk

Treatment News January 24, 2012 Many at Risk for Hep B in U.S. Aren’t Getting Vaccinated Missed opportunities to vaccinate people at the highest risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) explain why 80,000 people continue to be infected ever year in the United States, according to a new study published online ahead of print by the journal Infection. Concerns on HIV Social Services Funds Going to Treatment Some HIV/AIDS service providers are concerned that recent breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS treatment will have a negative impact on social services, New America Media reports. January 20, 2012 Viread Approved for Children 2 and Up Viread (tenofovir), Gilead Sciences’ nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor, has been approved for children living with HIV, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement. To facilitate correct pediatric use of the drug, the agency also approved a powder formulation for children between the ages of 2 and 5 and low-dose tablets to meet pediatric dosing needs.  CDC: Fewer Americans Having Unsafe Sex The number of Americans who practice behaviors that put them at risk for HIV has declined significantly, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reported by HealthDay.  First PrEP Study for MSM in Europe to Launch The first HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) trial for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Europe is about to launch, according to a statement by ANRS (French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis).  January 19, 2012 Vitamin D May Protect Bone Health in Tenofovir Takers Vitamin D supplementation may help prevent hormonal changes that can lead to bone loss among adolescents and young adults being treated for HIV with tenofovir—found in Viread, Truvada and Atripla—according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study published online ahead of print by Clinical Infectious Diseases. An Aspirin a Day to Keep HIV-Related Cervical Cancer Away? Might an aspirin a day help keep cervical cancer away? Though there aren’t yet any studies indicating it will, researchers have uncovered a biological connection between HIV-associated inflammation and cervical cancer that may be curtailed by the affordable and widely available drug. January 18, 2012 Smoking, Not HIV Disease, Is Most Important Lung Cancer Risk Cigarette smoking, not HIV disease-specific factors, is the most important risk factor for lung cancer in people living with HIV, according to a new paper in the British Journal of Cancer reported by aidsmap. Heard in the Blogs Paul Kawata Ending the Epidemic: Look to the Beginning, Prepare for the End A young reporter recently asked me "what was like in the olden days, before Protease Inhibitors and combination therapy?" I always find it difficult to truly express what happened. Sometimes I feel like a soldier who fought in some horrible war and I wonder if I will ever be able to recover from my experiences. Many folks who fought and survived the early days of the epidemic will understand. We can't quite verbalize what that time was like, yet the epidemic continues to define our life and our relationships. Thirty years later our struggle continues. But now there is light at the end of the tunnel - maybe we can end the epidemic! Maybe we will live to see the end of this tragedy. Peter Staley How to Survive a Plague, ctd. In December, 2008, a journalist named David France came over to my Brooklyn apartment and told me about his dream of making a documentary that honored the history he witnessed of AIDS treatment activism in the late 80's and early 90's. From the heady-optimism of ACT UP's Treatment & Data Committee, to the painful split of ACT UP & TAG (the Treatment Action Group) just as the plague years were at their worst in the U.S., and finally to the remarkable research breakthroughs that made the death rate decline by 70%. Three years later, David's film is done, and will be premiering at Sundance in Park City, Utah this Sunday. I finally got to see it Tuesday afternoon at a screening with David Barr, Sam Avrett, Gregg Gonsalves, and Catherine Gund. David France and his entire crew, including Joy Tomchin, Howard Gertler, Dan Cogan, Woody, Tyler, and seemingly dozens of others, should be incredibly proud. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE honors this remarkable slice of history. Heard in the Forums I have to make a very important decision and not sure which way to go. I have been UD on Atripla for over 4yrs, but suffer from acute insomnia. I switched my dose to the morning but I still suffer every night from insomnia. I am not sure whether it is the atripla still causing my insomnia, or just that i have it regardless. Either way my dr has advised that it may be worth trying Eviplera (Complera), which has the sustiva component removed and therefore may not cause insomnia. I don't want to change or rock the boat as i am UD. I am concerned that if I do change and I don't like it, I won't be able to go back to Atripla and also may loose complera as a drug because of resistance if i come off it. —Delby's "Atripla versus Eviplera (Complera)"

---

At your request, you are subscribed as nelsonvergel@yahoo.com to the following newsletter(s): AIDSmeds Newsletter

Please remember to add news@aidsmeds.com to your e-mail address book, so that these updates aren't blocked as spam.

To change your subscription information and preferences, please visit lists.smartandstrong.com/?p=preferences

To stop receiving this newsletter, please visit lists.smartandstrong.com/?p=unsubscribe

Click this link to forward this message to a friend.

Did you receive this e-mail from a friend? Please visit lists.smartandstrong.com/?p=subscribe&id=9 to signup for your own copy.

---

Copyright 2012 Smart + Strong, 462 Seventh Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10018. All rights reserved.

Terms Of Use and Your Privacy.

powered by phplist v 2.10.17, © phpList ltd