My personal physical fitness war against HIV/AIDS: The War.

[Gambino]

deadlift on tuesday. lower your squat reps and up the weight

 

[alanchiras]

Alanchiras
I hope things are alright for you. I would be interested to see some follow up on your story over the last year and how things have progressed; how your therapy has changed; how your mood is?

An update. I have not been at the Gym nearly enought because the AIDS agency I work for is shutting down and it's a lot of work to get everything done in time. I have a lot of naseusa and fatigue but I keep putting one foot in front of another. I'm still on Testim twice a day and am getting good results from it. My private disability insurance company for the second time is trying to cut me off of my benefits and I am fighting this as hard as I can. Am considering changing my workout routine from three days a week to five to get more in with the free time I will have soon. Thanks for asking! Alan Chiras.

 

[alanchiras]

GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU! And now, the start of a long-delayed update. This first post will go up to December of 2005. I have been going to the gym less because of the increasing bad side effects from my meds. I was still on AZT and doing well on it, but the naseua that it caused was getting so bad that my doctor had me up to four times the normal human dose of compazine to control it. I went in for a sleep study to check on my waking up tired every day. My head was shaved and they stuck about 50 wires to my head and had me go to sleep for the night with taking my regular meds witch included Sustiva. They determined that from my brain waves, that the Sustiva was actually doing my sleep good, but I seemed to have sleep apena. The next night, they hooked me up again and put me on a CPAP machine, and I had one of the best night's sleep that I have had in a LONG while. So I was given a CPAP machine, and have had better sleep ever since. However, even though my viral load was still suppressed, my t-cell count was slowly decreasing and I had no energy for working out much. I was also developing initial signs of Parkinson's Syndrome and saw a Neuro specialist about this. After about four months, she put things together and determined that the shaking was drug caused by the hyper doses of my naseua medicine. She changed my naseua medicine to Zofran at 8MG three times a day. Zofran costs $26.00 PER PILL!!!! In November and December, my MassHealth completely picked up the costs of the Zofran at a cost of $2,340.00 per month - more than the cost of all of my anti-retrovirals COMBINED. My shaking quickly decreased and I had much less naseua and could eat more and start going to the gym again.

Then came Medicare part D - But that will be for another posting in the near future. Thanks! Alan Chiras.

 

[alanchiras]

January 2006 - everything changed because of Medicare part D. The Zofran that helped me with nausea from AZT was all of a sudden cut back to 12 pills A MONTH! That was just not going to do, so even though I was NOT resistant to AZT, my Triple dose therapy changed to reduce the nausea so I could get along with less expensive nausea meds. I was switched from Combivir(AZT+3TC) & Sustiva - to Sustiva, Viread, & FTC. Once I was removed from AZT, something amazing happened - I got my life back!!! I was not lying on the couch ten hours a day on top of my sleep. My private disability "caught me" doing landscaping around the house and kicked me off of private disability - A $400 a month decrease just because I had a little life to me again.

I was told by many PCP's when I was diagnosed that I would not live to age 40, so prepare to die soon. Well, at 45 years of age, I did what most people around me said that I would never be able to do. In May of 2006 I graduated from college - only the second person in my extended family to do so (BTW the only other person in my family graduated from the same college as I did - Quinsigamond Community College) My dad had died by then, but my mother and what was left of my family went to the ceremony and there was some press there for the event. There was a huge graduation party for me that evening where over 100 people came to see me (I was so tired from the events of the day, I was back on the sofa to greet the guests.) I am typing this right now on the new Ti-book that I bought from the gifts I received - many thank to all.

Well, I had beat the doctors predictions by a mile and had the rest of my life ahead of me...but after 12 years of being on SSDI and retired, what was I supposed to do with the now real chance that I was going to grow into being an old man someday? My first days doing real work will be for the next chapter towards the end of 2006 - but that's for another time.

A footnote. Now that I live in the Caribbean (even though Key West is part of the US) I would love to meet any of you in person here if you come down here for vacation or more. You don't have to be a Gay male for this - I would love to meet you all and show you the more interesting side of Key West that the tourists never see. Please comment, e-mail, or ask any questions about this part that I might have missed. My next update will be very soon.

I now truly live in Paradise, and I am truly happy.

Thanks! Alan Chiras.

 

[Douggie]

Hi all, not sure if this is the right place to post this, I'm totally new to this whole forum thing.

Well the reason for this post is due to 2 weeks ago me discovering I’m HIV positive, it came as a big shock and is still fresh but I’ve been through some shit in my life and have decided I’m gonna waste as little time as possible being depressed about it and start battling this thing so I can enjoy the best quality of life as possible.

At 21 I was a heroin addict and crack dealer, I got arrested and sent to prison and served 18 months, it was the best thing that ever happened to me!
In prison I got myself on a rehab program and found a passion for fitness and, I went inside an 11 stone messed up kid and came out a 13 and a half stone strong minded man.

I’m 26 and have been clean ever since, have a good job, good friends and a good life. I continued to weight train, used supplements and experimented with small amounts of Deca and Dianbol to good effect, without steroids I maintain around the 14 stone mark.

Due to a new job and working lots of hours I almost completely stopped training the last six months, then about 5 weeks ago I got ill, really ill, I’d couldn’t eat, felt dizzy, muscle stiffness, I lost a lot of weight, well you now what came next.

So it looks like I’ve been infected for about five years, I feel much better now although having slight digestion problems, lots of gas and bloated, but that’s not what I’m hear to talk about.
I read a few post and one thing that’s stood out was the comment about “lean body mass being money in the bank for a rainy day”

So that’s it, I’m getting back in the gym and I fully intend to use Steroids!
Now it looks like you guys in America can get a lot from your doctors but I have no clue what can be prescribed from UK doctors.
As an ex drug addict my doctor wouldn’t even prescribe me Diazpain for a bad trapped never ever after telling me that’s what I needed, so I kind of want to hit my doctor with some facts to show I’ve done some serious research and am not just “drug seeking”

So if you’re living in the UK and have experience of HIV and steroids I would greatly appreciate your counsel.
And for the rest of you guys around the world, any general advice on living healthy and weight training with HIV would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you can help

Douggie

 

[alanchiras]

Hi all, not sure if this is the right place to post this, I'm totally new to this whole forum thing.

Well the reason for this post is due to 2 weeks ago me discovering I’m HIV positive, it came as a big shock and is still fresh but I’ve been through some shit in my life and have decided I’m gonna waste as little time as possible being depressed about it and start battling this thing so I can enjoy the best quality of life as possible.

At 21 I was a heroin addict and crack dealer, I got arrested and sent to prison and served 18 months, it was the best thing that ever happened to me!
In prison I got myself on a rehab program and found a passion for fitness and, I went inside an 11 stone messed up kid and came out a 13 and a half stone strong minded man.

I’m 26 and have been clean ever since, have a good job, good friends and a good life. I continued to weight train, used supplements and experimented with small amounts of Deca and Dianbol to good effect, without steroids I maintain around the 14 stone mark.

Due to a new job and working lots of hours I almost completely stopped training the last six months, then about 5 weeks ago I got ill, really ill, I’d couldn’t eat, felt dizzy, muscle stiffness, I lost a lot of weight, well you now what came next.

So it looks like I’ve been infected for about five years, I feel much better now although having slight digestion problems, lots of gas and bloated, but that’s not what I’m hear to talk about.
I read a few post and one thing that’s stood out was the comment about “lean body mass being money in the bank for a rainy day”

So that’s it, I’m getting back in the gym and I fully intend to use Steroids!
Now it looks like you guys in America can get a lot from your doctors but I have no clue what can be prescribed from UK doctors.
As an ex drug addict my doctor wouldn’t even prescribe me Diazpain for a bad trapped never ever after telling me that’s what I needed, so I kind of want to hit my doctor with some facts to show I’ve done some serious research and am not just “drug seeking”

So if you’re living in the UK and have experience of HIV and steroids I would greatly appreciate your counsel.
And for the rest of you guys around the world, any general advice on living healthy and weight training with HIV would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you can help

Douggie

Hey Douggie! Did you get the help and info you needed in the U.K. It should be much easied to access quality medical care for being HIV than here in The States. Could you start another thread on the HIV board here so we can answer more of your questions???

Hope all is well. Alan Chiras.

 

[breetai21303]

Thanks for all the info guys. I really, really appreciate it. NorCalBdyBldr/Alanchris - thanks man for the long write up. Full of information. I'm starting to notice as I enter my 4th year my weight has changed, but my lean body mass is certainly going down. Thankfully age/genetics has prevented my qual of life from being significantly affected. However, I know that's only going to change with time. I'm getting back into a workout cycle again and had been strong a couple of years ago. I'm looking to get back to that and increase lean body mass. Do you have advice for someone just starting it up again. My greatest concern is the stress level on my liver. I'm on Lexiva (unboosted) and Truvada. I tolerate both really well but it's clear even with being non-detect, lean mass is on the decline. And when you guys go post cycle, how do you get away with detox that doesn't clean out the meds from your system (increasing the possibility of increasing viral load/mutation)?

Any advice guys?

Thanks!!!

 

[BrasilMinnesota]

Hey: I'm new to this so hear me out. I'm 52 years old. I've been poz since late 1982. Been going to the doc since Sept 83. One thing that keeps me sane is the gym. My current Free Test level is 37.5. Normal for someone my age is in the mid 20s. Let me say that I've been working my ass of at the gym lately and with the 1ml of testosterone, 2/3ml of deca and 1 10mg of Oxandrin a day, my doc thinks my test level is too high. He's canceling my Oxandrin and I've agreed to stop the deca. I wanted to ask if my doctor is being unreasonable? I do. Is 37 too damn high and if it is what health risks am I facing?

Thanks in advance,
BrasilMinnesota

 

[CheapPinz]

I don't know much about hiv but its inspiring you're taking your fitness seriously. So many healthy people let themselves become fat, sedentary slobs, so bravo to you. I wish you well. I won't even claim to know the physical and mental bridges you are crossing, but the first thing I think of when I hear aids/hiv is Magic Johnson. He's had it for what ....12 years now? The only man I've ever seen get heavier with hiv. His medical protocol would be really interesting to know..

 

[alanchiras]

Hey: I'm new to this so hear me out. I'm 52 years old. I've been poz since late 1982. Been going to the doc since Sept 83. One thing that keeps me sane is the gym. My current Free Test level is 37.5. Normal for someone my age is in the mid 20s. Let me say that I've been working my ass of at the gym lately and with the 1ml of testosterone, 2/3ml of deca and 1 10mg of Oxandrin a day, my doc thinks my test level is too high. He's canceling my Oxandrin and I've agreed to stop the deca. I wanted to ask if my doctor is being unreasonable? I do. Is 37 too damn high and if it is what health risks am I facing?

Thanks in advance,
BrasilMinnesota

Brasil, I wonder if you are taking you AAS properly - meaning in cycles and not in a steady amount as prescribed (doctors CANNOT prescribe a cycle on your script.) You need to be washed out when you get your blood labs done and time them right. Remember that low normal is NOT enough for PWA's according to studies. Go on an injection that washes out of your system faster than Deca.
Try that!

(_)> Cheers! Alan Chiras.