Viral load and heart disease
There are higher rates of cardiovascular disease like heart attacks and strokes in people with HIV than in the general population.
A number of reasons have been suggested for this. It had been thought that HIV treatment was a cause. This is because some anti-HIV drugs can increase levels of blood fats.
However, it is now known that HIV-positive people who aren’t taking HIV treatment are more likely to have a heart attack than people who are taking anti-HIV drugs. This is because of the inflammation that HIV itself can cause.
An international team of researchers has found further evidence that viral load can cause changes that show a person may have an increase risk of heart disease.
The research involved people taking part in a treatment interruptions study. Some people were taking their HIV treatment all the time, and others interrupted their treatment.
The researchers looked for subtle changes in the chemistry of the blood that can be a warning sign that a person has an increased risk of heart disease and they examined whether these were related to viral load.
In people taking and interrupting HIV treatment viral load was associated with inflammatory markers linked to an increased risk of heart disease.
It is currently recommended that HIV treatment should be started when your CD4 cell count is around 350. Starting treatment at this time reduces the risk of developing HIV-related illnesses as well as other health problems. The goal of HIV treatment is an undetectable viral load and thanks to the availability of new, more powerful anti-HIV drugs, most people are able to achieve this outcome.
Sourced from hivweekly@nam.org.uk
Sexual problems in gay men with HIV
Roughly 50% of HIV- Positive gay men have multiple sexual problem, Australian researchers have found.
They conducted a study involving approximately 550 gay men. A total of 40% of these men were HIV-positive.
Men with HIV were much more likely than HIV-negative men to report a range of sexual problems, for example difficulty obtaining and maintaining an erection, premature or delayed ejaculation, loss of sexual desire, lack of pleasure from sex, anxiety over sexual performance and pain during sex.
Overall 81% of HIV-positive gay men reported a single sexual problem (compared to 67% of HIV-negative men). Furthermore, 48% of men with HIV reported multiple problems (compared to a third of HIV-negative men).
Depression was associated with sexual problems for gay men regardless of their HIV status.
The researchers also found that taking antidepressants, poor coping strategies, and unprotected sex with casual partners were all associated with sexual problems for HIV-positive men.
Sourced from hivweekly@nam.org.uk
How to Come Out to Your Husband
You are married to a man and realize that you are attracted to women. The feelings aren’t going away and you realize you’re going to have to tell your husband. Everything that you’re feeling inside is affecting your relationship with him and whether you’re having an affair with a woman or not, he deserves to know what’s been going on for you. Here are some things to consider before coming out to your husband as lesbian or bisexual.
Your husband may be a great guy. You may still love him. He may be the father of your children and your partner in everything in life. Chances are he’s noticed the change in you. He may be blaming himself for the distance he feels from you. When you decide the time is right to tell him, here are some tips to go about it.
The Timing
Coming out to your husband is not going to be easy. Make sure you plan to tell him during a period that you know you will have the time and space to process it. Don’t do it over a holiday or your anniversary. If you have children, you might want to see if you can get someone to watch them for a day.
His Reaction
There’s no telling how he’s going to react. He may become angry. He may get sad. He may ask you to leave right away. Or he may wonder if there is anyway you can work things out with him.
What Do You Want?
Before you come out to him, you should have a good understanding of what you want for your relationship with your husband. You may not know, but one thing is certain, he’s going to want to know. Do you want to leave? Do you want to try and stay, acknowledge your feelings for women and not act on them? Do you want to become non-sexual partners with him and pursue affairs with women? Do you want an open relationship where you continue to be lovers with him, but date women also? These are all options. He may or may not agree with any of them, but you can have a sense of what you desire before you come out to him.
Are you In Love with Another Woman?
For many women, coming out is not an intellectual thing that they figure out, but rather it hits them smack in the face when they fall in love with another woman. Here are some things to keep in mind if this is you: If this is your first time with a woman, the newness and intensity of it all may throw you off-balance.
A new affair is a heady thing. The excitement and sexual attraction cannot compare to the everyday routine of a long-term relationship. Try to keep this in mind as you sort out your feelings.
Oftentimes married women fall in love with other married women. You may wonder, is it just this person or am I a lesbian or bisexual? Sometimes you just KNOW, for others, it takes some time to figure out. Be patient with yourself.
And if you are in love with someone who has no intention of leaving her husband, this can cause its own set of unique challenges. Some women in this situation decide not to come out to their husbands and continue to have an affair. This is not something I recommend because it has the potential to destroy both relationships. The jealousy, lies and covering up will slowly eat away at you. Eventually you will want to come clean.
Are you Questioning Your Sexual Orientation?
You may not know yet if you are actually a lesbian, but you may be questioning it. It is okay to share your confusion and doubt with your husband. I have heard many stories of men who just want their wives to have a happy and fulfilling life, even if it is without them. Your husband may be the guy who stands by your side while you figure it out. He may surprise you. If you are married and can;t figure out if you are lesbian, bisexual or straight, it might be a good idea to see the help of a professional therapist to help you sor things out.
How to Come Out to Your Husband
You don’t have to have everything perfectly planned out, but here are some tips for how to tell your husband you are lesbian or bisexual:
- Tell the truth.
- Speak for yourself using I statement.
- If you have been having problems with him, try to keep those issues separate from what is going on inside you.
- Let him know it’s not his fault. That nothing he did caused you to be this way.
- You don’t have to tell him everything. You may want to spare him any details of your sexual experiences with others, but if you’ve put him at risk of any sexually transmitted diseases, you should let him know that.
- Remember this is your first conversation about this and his initial reaction will not be his lasting one.
- Don’t come out to him in anger.
- Don’t expect him to be your primary support in this.
- Be honest. Don’t give him false hope for your relationship if there is none.
- Do seek the assistance of a relationship counselor. She can help you work it out, or break up in an amicable way.
- Encourage him to find his own support
Treatment for facial fat loss
HIV treatment can cause a collection of side-effects known as lipodystrophy. This is a disturbance in the way that the body processes and stores fat. It can involve fat gain, often around the stomach, and fat loss from the face, buttocks and limbs.
The causes of lipodystrophy still aren’t fully understood, but there is good evidence to suggest that some older anti-HIV drugs can be a key cause.
Fat loss has been particularly associated with AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir, also in the combination pills Combivir and Trizivir) and d4T (stavudine, Zerit). For this reason, their use is no longer recommended in the UK if other drugs are available.
Although fat loss doesn’t seem to be medically dangerous, it can be distressing and stigmatising, especially fat loss from the face.
The only effective treatment for fat loss from the face is cosmetic, involving injections with synthetic substances. The most commonly used treatment in the UK is New Fill (polylactic acid). It can safely and effectively restore a normal facial appearance. This treatment is available for free, paid for by the NHS, at many NHS treatment centres.
They followed 145 patients who had the treatment for four years. Serious side-effects were extremely rare. Only one patient developed a local infection where he had the injections and this was successfully treated with antibiotics.
In all 89% of patients said that they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the results of their treatment.
A repeat course of injections was needed in 9% of people, and 17% said that they still had some mild fat loss after the completion of treatment.
For more information please visit – http://www.aidsmap.com/
Source: HIV weekly update 30th April 2009
HIV treatment
HIV treatment works equally well against the most common strains (or subtypes) of HIV in the UK.
There are many different HIV subtypes. The most common HIV subtype in the UK and US is HIV subtype B, but most HIV infections around the world involve other HIV subtypes. For example, subtype C predominates in southern Africa and accounts for 48% of all HIV infections globally.
Most of the information we have about the effectiveness of HIV treatment comes from research conducted in countries like the UK, and involved people with HIV subtype B. Therefore, researchers in the UK wanted to see how well treatment worked in people with other HIV subtypes.
Their research involved over 2000 people. As expected, most people were infected with subtype B, but 13% had subtype C and 14% were infected with other subtypes such as A, D, G, F, I and J.
All the people in the study were starting HIV treatment for the first time. The researchers found that there was no real difference between subtypes in the number of people whose viral load became undetectable. Nor was there any difference in the proportion of people whose viral load remained undetectable. Results of the study also showed that CD4 cell counts increased at a similar rate regardless of subtype.
Sourced from hivweekly@nam.org.uk
Lesbians Need Smear Tests Too!
Jade Goody’s tragic story has brought the issue of smear tests to the forefront of national media. Jade discovered she had cervical cancer, which rapidly spread and within a period of months she was dead. What adds to this tragedy is that she was only 27. Jade’s cancer battle has seen an increase in the number of women going for cervical screenings with some experts referring to it as the ‘Jade effect’. Prior to this, the number of women under 35 having cervical smear tests had been falling for a decade, with only two thirds of women aged 25-29 turning up for their screening last year.
Around 2800 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. It is the most preventable form of cancer but the second biggest killer of women in their thirties in the UK. Early detection through a cervical screening programme is vital in order to save lives.
Cervical Cancer is a real and significant risk for many lesbian women and in particular, their risk of exposure to two particular strains of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). These two strains of HPV can be transmitted through sex between men and women as well as between women. However, additional factors, such as when an individual also has some history of sexual intercourse with men, multiple partners, has had sexual intercourse at a young age, has engaged in unprotected sex, and has experience of inadequate or delayed access to health care, are all associated with an increased risk of cervical cancer.
A supplementary report for South Central produced from the Stonewall survey in 2007 showed the following results for Portsmouth Primary Care:
- l 56% of Lesbian/bisexual women had never been tested for STI’s or any other vaginal conditions.
- l 21% had never had a smear test. 10% had not had a smear test in 10 years.
- l 39% of women identifying as bisexual are having sexual intercourse with both men and women.
- l 85% of total respondents report having had sexual intercourse with men at some point in their sexual history.
Add that to the 54% of respondents who have had a negative experience of PCT healthcare the issue of smear testing amongst lesbian and bisexual women is an important one.
Food for thought
If you diet is poor and you do become infected with HPV, it is more likely that your body will be unable to fight the virus. Try to eat a balanced diet that includes protein, carbohydrates, essential fats and plenty of fruit and vegetables to keep your immunity strong. If you would like more information on healthy eating then The Rainbow Café has regular features on diet.
Better off knowing?
Increases in sexually transmitted infections in the Portsmouth and South East Hampshire area show that many people are still engaging in unprotected sexual activity.
If you show any symptoms or believe you have put yourself at risk of contracting an STI, it’s time to consider having a sexual health checkup at your GUM (Genito Urinary Medicine) clinic.
Inscape recommend regular sexual health checkups for all men and women who are sexually active, no matter what your age. For further information or support, contact a worker on 02392 298950 to discuss your options.
Inscape welcomes a new female outreach support worker
Inscape congratulates Liz on her success at taking on her new role as female outeach support worker.
Liz will be working for you for a 6 month contract initially, providing one-to-one support, training, group work and much more.
Many of you will know or recognise Liz from previous contact with Inscape.
We wish her luck in her new role.
To contact Liz, either ring 02392 298950 or drop in on a Wednesday evening between 4.30 – 7.30pm, when she will be available at the Inscape centre.
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