Everyone here is correct. We all are bio individuals. That means that everything reacts differently with each person's genetics. HIV medication is not friendly to our kidneys or liver, so staying away from anything that contains Naproxen is essential. Naproxen is in a class of drugs called NSAIDs.

I feel the same way. I like to call myself a legend, AKA long-term survivor, someone with 20 plus more years living with HIV. I had four spine fusions in my lower back, and I am now fused from L3 down to SI joints. And in 02/24, I had to have a c7 spine fusion in my neck. I do believe HIV plays a considerable part; the reason I say that is because, beyond having HIV, I am a healthy individual.

For years, I have been on a low dose of Duloxetine and Hydrocodone. Duloxetine is used to treat depression in adults and generalized anxiety disorder, but at a lower dose, it works on Nerve pain. Duloxetine at 60 milligrams is effective; anything higher than it goes in the treatment of depression and anxiety.

The one thing I do not see us talking about is what is giving you back pain. We are talking about masking; we're dealing with the pain. Our conversation should be about what is causing the pain when it comes to illnesses like a cold or chronic disease like HIV. The natural response of other bodies is to produce inflammation. Each one of us lives with chronic inflammation from having HIV, regardless of the medication controlling the virus. The doctors here in the West do not like to get to the root of the problem.

I can say that I had to start looking on my own. The more I looked into things, the more I could not believe what I saw—eating superfoods like color greens, kale, and turmeric. Could it help? I was like, no way. So I have started to do that. It's only been about a month, and I am working on making it a way of life. I can tell you this: I take fewer pain meds and have less back pain. My CD4 went up to 985. My Cd4 has never been above 750. I feel great—just my thoughts.

Take what ever helps you no matter what you take will mess with your kidneys and liver

This question would be best answered by a doctor or a pharmacist and that is my suggestion to reach out to either of them because they are professionals

Gentle hugs to you. Same problem here with the medication causing severe osteoporosis. Despite years on very extreme treatment by drs at USC my bone density is still not where it's supposed to be. I had Osteonecrosis in my right hip and had to have it replaced twice. It still hurts. The discs in my spine are disintegrating & causing pain. Tylenol doesn't do much for my pain and I take coated aspirin which still doesn't protect my stomach because I have chronic gastritis and ulcers. In February this year I was given famotidine for my ulcers. At that time my T cells were in the 800s. After a few months they had dropped down to the 300s. That is a side effect of the famotidine counteracting with my Atazanavir. I stopped taking famotidine. I do some meditation and journaling and cooking and gardening and those seem to take my mind off of what's going on negatively in my tired old body. I was part of a longitudinal study (by UCLA & CDC) of gay men beginning in 1984 and at that point I was already HIV positive. Keep up the Hope. ❤️

I presume we are all discussing this with our HIV docs right?