My CD4 Has At Or Near 200 For Years,I Have A Low Viral Load But Never Undetectable.Doc Says Not To Worry. Anyone Else Getting The Same Advic
My friend not any of what you said makes any sense. First of all prestige only comes with the awards and acclimates and if he has those meaning 20 plus years of experience in the world of AIDS starting from the 1980s then we can talk. But he is young and probably self entitled. All I have to say to you from a fellow cannabis user and someone who just had spinal surgery change your doctor. Get yourself to the undetectable stage and get your surgery as soon as possible. That's my best advice.
I'm not sure why he says being detectable is okay. You should be undetectable by now.
Yes, I have been on Truvada & Atripla in the past and there was another one (I'll need to look up the name from the list I've been keeping over the years). Those never got me to undetectable either.
Thank you everyone for the support and guidance. There's actually more to my situation and I hope you folks can keep giving me advice; I'll explain in a moment.
My doctor is a member of a very prestigious medical university, although this physician is young. I've told myself that they have modern/recent knowledge that maybe others are seeing and that might be why they are less concerned. Therefore, I've been trusting him, however I have had my doubts that's why I'm asking here.
Now for... the rest of the story (folks over 50yo will get that reference to Paul Harvey). My HIV doc has said there are no worries and these are adequate numbers and all medical treatments are allowable and safe. However, I have new back problems that are causing chronic pain. I need surgery. The back doctors I've seen (which is more than two) said they will not touch me; no surgery, no shots due to the infection risk for an AIDS patient, me. (Historically I've had number as low as 75 which put me permanently in the AIDS category, as I understand it). I'm dealing with doctors that won't agree on moving forward. I'm taking legal cannabis to keep the pain in check, and that's fine for now. But the current situation means no treatment for the back due to bad numbers, in the view of my back specialists, but my HIV doc says to stay the course and I can have back surgery and shots for treatment.
I sense your advice as a whole is to change my HIV doc. However, his prestige and the idea that he is a modern specialist in it has kept me trusting him for now.
Thoughts?
Thank you so much for your help everyone.
@A myHIVteam Member ask for change to your HIV meds or treatment or change doctors. You are essentially limited what you can do, remaining detectable. It's ridiculous for your doctor to say "don't worry about it" sounds dismissive to me. Bad bedside manner. You deserve better, take control of your care with assertiveness. Good Luck brother, You have got this, just do it!
Undetectable But Low Cd4 Count
Undetectable 🧐
What Was Your Last CD4 Count?