FROM my colleagues at the body.com, I picked the following letter written by a person who has just been diagnosed with HIV and has been put on ARVs.
Hopeful, in a letter dated July 14, 2014, who is based in Los Angeles in the US, shares her experiences on the first day of taking ARVs:
I took my first dose of Complera [rilpivirine/tenofovir/FTC] just two days ago. Driving to pick up my prescription made me so nervous. I kept searching for a sign to not pick it up today.
Just a few months ago, I was negative and saying I would hate to have to take a pill every day. I’ve always been relatively healthy and rarely ever took any kind of medicine.
But, alas, I contracted HIV at some point — most likely just a couple of months ago since I had a high viral load (was just getting over the initial viral infection when initially tested), yet a negative antibody test. All my blood work showed great results and even improvements in T cells and a reduction in viral load each time (three tests within two months). So, it almost seemed too soon.
Maybe there’s hope my herbs were doing the trick. I picked up the pills with just enough time to go eat and take the pill before a first rehearsal for a play. I was kind of a mess and knew I needed to pull
myself together. The restaurant seemed to be out of everything I wanted and I had to eat a dish I normally would never eat as I was running out of time before rehearsal. I ended up sitting in my car after eating to have privacy. I opened the bottle and took out the pill and held it to my heart, closed my eyes and asked it to only do its healing function.
My body filled with a warm, affirming feeling and I swallowed the pill and drove to rehearsal. Rehearsal went great.
Two pills in now and so far so good.
What was your first pill? Whether it was AZT or Atripla, why don’t you also to tell your story and give hope to others! Write out your story (between 200 and 600 words) which can be published in this column.
Let’s encourage one another.
Before I pen off, let’s share this: The Zambia AIDS Research Foundation (ZARF) is offering a FREE HIV/AIDS SCIENCE WORKSHOP to cover the following topics:
How the Berlin patient achieved a sterilising cure , Gene therapy to functionally cure HIV, Zinc finger nuclease technology to functionally cure HIV, Cure for hepatitis C, How T cell and B cell based vaccines
work, Working of the immune system, Dealing with Diarrhoea, Zoonosis (origin of AIDS), Anatomy of HIV, viral load, CD4  percentage , ARVs with low and high genetic barrier, Drugs that can breach the Blood Brain Barrier , how HDAC inhibitors can be used to achieve a functional cure, latest developments on microbicides, Why is itharmful to boost the immune syste , How to prevent opportunistic infections, Hepatitis B as co-infection of HIV, PCR DNA/RNA testing, Importance of knowing CD8  count, CD4/CD8 ratio,  Treating people who have failed ART, How to prevent inflammatory syndrome, Modern ARVs, five classes of ARV’s, Why HIV positive mothers exclusively breast feed, Why some people never get HIV, PMTCT, Malaria – TB – HIV, four types of condoms, Scientific reasons for male circumcision, How male circumcision reduces chances of Cervical cancer, Diet and nutrition for PLWA, Window period three or six months? Effects of alcohol & smoking on PLWA, Genotypic test etc.
Visit www.aidsresearchzambia.org for videos of past workshops Target Groups:  Medical doctors, Nurses, Researchers, Work place counselors, Community health workers, NGO ’s, Church organisations,
Guidance teachers, NZP+, University students, Those seeking employment in the Health & HIV/AIDS sector, Advisors, DATF’s, Pharmaceutical companies, Pharmacists, Dentists  and Journalists.
YOU NEED TO REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE BY SENDING AN E MAIL TO
workshopzambia@gmail.com Cell : 097 4207518, 096 8283267