Over the years while treating HIV patients, there are many questions which come up in first discussion and this question that how long I will live with HIV always come. At the time of diagnosis, every HIV positive person thinks that he/she is going to die very soon as HIV is considered as a virtual death sentence. Whatever knowledge is there about HIV in public domain, it explicitly says that HIV positive patients do not live longer and have very painful deaths. All information about HIV is full of confusion and lead patients into more despair and pain.
When I first started treating HIV, twenty years back HIV, my main focus was on treating opportunistic infections which invariable comes as HIV infection progresses in body. There were very few medicines available for its treatment. Medicines at that time had lot of side effects and were very expensive and were not easily available in India.
With relentless efforts researchers had developed very effective medicines against HIV. As on today people taking treatment with qualified and experienced HIV AIDS specialist are having normal life spans. In fact when I write first prescription then from that time itself, I have to plan for various possible scenarios and plans which we may encounter during treatment over coming years. We think in terms of all life events like having a very active professional and personal life, getting married, having baby and old age related issues from first day of treatment and plan treatment accordingly.
So the question how long one can live with HIV, is well settled now and I will once again reiterate that with a good doctor any person living with HIV can have normal life span. So get in touch with a good HIV expert and reclaim your life.
With you always
Your HIV Dost
Dr Alok Vashishtha