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Living With AIDS: HIV Dating, Relationships, Physician Care And Support Groups
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Published: August 2, 2007
For many years after its initial discovery, AIDS was considered a death sentence. Effective treatments had not been developed and the disease carried with it both a sense of mystery and a powerful social stigma. Due to remarkable mass ignorance and a steadily growing paranoia, those who found themselves infected with HIV did not only suffer the long, slow pains of the virus, but also found themselves ostracized within their communities and often their homes.
However, progress has been made, and the concept of living with AIDS is no longer an unthinkable endeavor. Rather, living with AIDS has become a difficult yet manageable burden due to better medications and wide spread education.
In the 80s and early 90s, one of the biggest challenges those with AIDS faced was an inability to treat the disease effectively with medicine. The AIDS virus possesses a lethal effectiveness because of its ability to shut down the human immune system. During its early stages as HIV, the virus spreads throughout the body, commandeering the immunity cell CD4 and rapidly reproducing through it. As the virus increases, growing in severity, it becomes AIDS. At this point, the body is more susceptible to other diseases as the immune system struggles to combat both the AIDS virus and new infections. AIDS medications work by slowing the reproduction of the virus, and though it is not a cure, it allows those living with AIDS to have a sense of relative normalcy in their lives. It is important that those living with AIDS have constant physician care to monitor their disease and ensure that they are not reaching fatal numbers of the virus in their bloodstream. However, physician care and the cost of medications are still very expensive, and effective treatment requires an exceptional commitment which often makes the decisions for one living with AIDS problematic.
Drugs that keep the virus in check certainly help those living with AIDS, but a large part of their ability to cope is in a changing attitude towards the disease. Instead of becoming social pariahs, people living with AIDS are beginning to find a greater sense of humanity and community due to the increase in education about the virus in the United States and other developed countries. Now, those living with AIDS can attempt dating and even serious relationships, almost the same as they would had they not been afflicted by the virus. Of course, living with AIDS presents many challenges in these areas as well. Despite wide spread attempts to inform people about AIDS, many still harbor old prejudices and misconceptions. While the dating game is a profoundly troublesome game for nearly anyone to play, people living with AIDS who try to begin dating will find that their chances of rejection, abandonment, and harsh negative reactions are higher than others. Many people aren't comfortable with the idea of maintaining relationships with HIV carriers, and it is yet another obstacle those living with AIDS must face.
Perhaps the one good thing for those living with AIDS that doesn't seem to have any strings attached is the availability of support groups. Support groups are designed to help those afflicted by HIV or AIDS deal with their problems in safe, open settings. By sharing and talking to those similarly diagnosed, many are able to find comfort that their problems are not unlike those that other people living with AIDS are experiencing. Support groups provide advice, information, and opportunities to open up that can be emotionally important and therapeutic to AIDS patients. While those living with AIDS certainly need to pay close attention to the virus, it is also imperative that they additionally be afforded mental stability and emotional well being.
The AIDS virus is still considered to be an epidemic, and while lifestyles are improving for those living with AIDS in the United States and other advanced nations, there is still much work to be done. A cure is really nowhere in sight, and while control-oriented treatments and better AIDS education are steps in the right direction, a great deal of hardships still await even those lucky few who do effectively subdue the virus. Many brave individuals living with AIDS continue to go on with their jobs, with their relationships, and with their lives despite the adversity. They deserve both our admiration and our respect.
Sources:
Bullers, Anne Christiansen. “Living With Aids-- 20 Years Later.” FDA Consumer. 2001. US Food and Drug Administration. 25 July 2007. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/601_aids.htm l
What Steps to Take. MyHIVLife.com. Gilead. 2007. Gilead Sciences, Inc.. 25 July 2007. http://www.myhivlife.com/120WhatSteps.aspx
Chichocki, Mark. “HIV and Dating.” About.com: AIDS. 6 Dec. 2006. About, Inc. 25 July 2007. http://aids.about.com/od/legalissues/a/hivdating_2 .htm
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In the 80s and early 90s, one of the biggest challenges those with AIDS faced was an inability to treat the disease effectively with medicine. The AIDS virus possesses a lethal effectiveness because of its ability to shut down the human immune system. During its early stages as HIV, the virus spreads throughout the body, commandeering the immunity cell CD4 and rapidly reproducing through it. As the virus increases, growing in severity, it becomes AIDS. At this point, the body is more susceptible to other diseases as the immune system struggles to combat both the AIDS virus and new infections. AIDS medications work by slowing the reproduction of the virus, and though it is not a cure, it allows those living with AIDS to have a sense of relative normalcy in their lives. It is important that those living with AIDS have constant physician care to monitor their disease and ensure that they are not reaching fatal numbers of the virus in their bloodstream. However, physician care and the cost of medications are still very expensive, and effective treatment requires an exceptional commitment which often makes the decisions for one living with AIDS problematic.
Drugs that keep the virus in check certainly help those living with AIDS, but a large part of their ability to cope is in a changing attitude towards the disease. Instead of becoming social pariahs, people living with AIDS are beginning to find a greater sense of humanity and community due to the increase in education about the virus in the United States and other developed countries. Now, those living with AIDS can attempt dating and even serious relationships, almost the same as they would had they not been afflicted by the virus. Of course, living with AIDS presents many challenges in these areas as well. Despite wide spread attempts to inform people about AIDS, many still harbor old prejudices and misconceptions. While the dating game is a profoundly troublesome game for nearly anyone to play, people living with AIDS who try to begin dating will find that their chances of rejection, abandonment, and harsh negative reactions are higher than others. Many people aren't comfortable with the idea of maintaining relationships with HIV carriers, and it is yet another obstacle those living with AIDS must face.
Perhaps the one good thing for those living with AIDS that doesn't seem to have any strings attached is the availability of support groups. Support groups are designed to help those afflicted by HIV or AIDS deal with their problems in safe, open settings. By sharing and talking to those similarly diagnosed, many are able to find comfort that their problems are not unlike those that other people living with AIDS are experiencing. Support groups provide advice, information, and opportunities to open up that can be emotionally important and therapeutic to AIDS patients. While those living with AIDS certainly need to pay close attention to the virus, it is also imperative that they additionally be afforded mental stability and emotional well being.
The AIDS virus is still considered to be an epidemic, and while lifestyles are improving for those living with AIDS in the United States and other advanced nations, there is still much work to be done. A cure is really nowhere in sight, and while control-oriented treatments and better AIDS education are steps in the right direction, a great deal of hardships still await even those lucky few who do effectively subdue the virus. Many brave individuals living with AIDS continue to go on with their jobs, with their relationships, and with their lives despite the adversity. They deserve both our admiration and our respect.
Sources:
Bullers, Anne Christiansen. “Living With Aids-- 20 Years Later.” FDA Consumer. 2001. US Food and Drug Administration. 25 July 2007. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/601_aids.htm l
What Steps to Take. MyHIVLife.com. Gilead. 2007. Gilead Sciences, Inc.. 25 July 2007. http://www.myhivlife.com/120WhatSteps.aspx
Chichocki, Mark. “HIV and Dating.” About.com: AIDS. 6 Dec. 2006. About, Inc. 25 July 2007. http://aids.about.com/od/legalissues/a/hivdating_2 .htm
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