Content Overview 
- Summary
- Be a person living with HIV - not one dying of it.
- Commit yourself to doing everything you can to keep the virus in check.
- Look for a doctor who is a specialist with a large HIV practice who is connected with a quality hospital. Learn how to maximize your time with doctors.
- HIV. Basics
- If lab or other tests are unexpectedly bad or good, ask for them to be done again - preferably by a different lab.
- Decide whether to start treatment. If so, choose a treatment that fits your life.
- Once you choose a treatment, follow the prescribed regimen. Learn to be wise about purchasing, living with, storing and disposing of drugs. Free drugs may be available.
- Non-Western treatments should be complementary, not instead of Western treatments. If needed, cutting edge treatments are available through clinical trials.
- Decide who to tell about your HIV status, and when.
- Tell every doctor and other medical professional about your HIV status and drugs.
- Think of family and friends as part of your health care team. Ask for help when you need it. Family roles may change as your needs change.
- Share your emotions. Seek someone who is going through the same thing you are. Consider joining a support group.
- Examine your insurance and financial situation to determine how to pay for medical care and drugs or access them for free if you don't have the resources. If you don't have health insurance, do what you can to get it. You still can.
- Pay attention to your financial basics. Start improving your financial resources. Do what you can to get rid of or minimize existing debt. Refine your investment strategy. Keep track of medical expenses.
- When debt is under control, start working on your goals.
- If you work: Learn how to navigate the potential mine field.
- If you are not able to work, learn the best way to apply for disability income benefits. If you receive a disability benefit, learn how to keep it.
- If you are returning to work or changing jobs, a new employer cannot ask about your health condition.
- Self employed and business owners
- Be sure your legal affairs are in order, including Advance Care Directives. HIV only makes this need more urgent. It will help you feel in control.
- Learn about the HIV resources in your community.
- Drugs do not work in a vacuum. Live a healthy lifestyle. It helps make drugs and other treatments most effective.
- If you have a pet, learn how to live with it safely. If you don't have a pet, consider getting one. A pet is good for your health.
- Although a major source of transmission of HIV is through bodily contact, you can still be physically intimate with people. Learn how to avoid transmitting HIV to other people.
- Watch for depression. Depression, and all other side effects, can be treated.
- Learn About Other Diseases That Can Show Up When Living With HIV, How To Help Prevent Them And Symptoms To Watch For.
Living With HIV
HIV. Basics
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Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS. Thanks to medical breakthroughs, HIV is basically a treatable chronic condition.
HIV attacks your immune system. Immune systems are made up of cells that fight infection and disease. One of the most important of these cells that fights infection is called the CD4 cell. It is also called the "T-helper cell" or T-cell.
- Once HIV is in the body, it infects CD4 (T-cell) cells and makes copies of itself in these cells. This makes new viruses. These new viruses are let out into the blood and infect other CD4 (T-cell) cells. This process kills the CD4 (T-cell) cells and the CD4 (T-cell) count goes down.
- As CD4 (T-cell) cells are lost, the immune system becomes weak. This makes it harder for your body to fight certain conditions that do not affect most healthy people. These include opportunistic infections (OIs) such as pneumonia, herpes, tuberculosis, and cancers such as lymphoma and cervical cancer.
Currently there is no known cure for HIV. However, there is a variety of drugs which can usually keep HIV in check.
If left untreated, HIV disease is usually fatal. Once HIV enters the blood stream, it lives in a person's cells. If HIV disease progresses to a certain point, it is known as AIDS. For example, if immune system T cells go below 200 as a result of the HIV infection or the person gets an illness generally associated with AIDS such as Kaposi Sarcoma.
For the stages of HIV disease, see: http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/hiv_disease.html 
For information on how HIV damages the immune system, see: http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/virology.html
If you do medical research about HIV/AIDS and read grim facts, keep in mind that:
- Statistical information about HIV disease is most likely out of date thanks to ongoing medical advances, including what are known as salvage therapies (therapies to use when first line therapies don't work).
- By their nature, statistics only provide a general guide so you can prepare in case the "what ifs" occur. Statistics do not predict what will happen to any individual. .
- Doing medical research can provoke anxiety and possibly even depression.
Expect to hear lots of advice and stories from friends. Keep in mind that information about what happened to other people is "anecdotal." It is not scientific. What happens to other people is frequently irrelevant to your own experience.
For more information, see:
- Medical Research ( and how to do it)
- Medical Research Services (that will do the research for you)
- Anxiety - and How To Cope With It
- Depression 101 (including how to recognize it and what to do about it)
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