When there is no cure, you treat to relieve suffering and to preserve human dignity. You have been told your HIV test is positive. You have the human immunodeficiency virus coursing through your veins. You are told there is no cure. You are also told that there is hope. There are new treatments for AIDS that have been shown to improve your expected quality of life. You are told that you must make adjustments in your life as part of your AIDS management. You must tell your family, friends and those you have had close contact with that you are HIV positive. You need to find out about the disease that now invades your body. You need to learn how to monitor your immune system's response to this viral attack. You need to decide what to do about your disease and how to go about controlling what it is doing to your body; instead of letting it control you.
Your first step to managing your disease is to learn as much as you can about it. Your doctor or health care provider can answer some of your questions and give you information during your office visit. Your doctor can also direct you to other resources: Websites, organizations, books, groups, and your local health department. Be sure that if you look around on your own for information that you check to see where the information is coming from; what source was used to gather the information – is it accurate? Let the medical team treating you know what you are reading or viewing and they can validate if the information is reliable. You do not want to waste your time on inaccurate information.
You will be seeing your doctor or health care provider (depending on your medical coverage) on a regular basis. You will need to have regular blood tests drawn that will monitor the progress of your disease. These tests are called: the viral load test and the CD4 cell (used to be called t4). The viral load test tells your medical team the amount of HIV in your blood. The lower the levels in your bloodstream the better. The medical professionals will use this data to determine when it is the right time to start you on antiretroviral medications (ARVs). Blood tests also tell them when the medications they are giving you are working and when to change medications.
The CD4 cell test is used to find out how strong your immune system is and how many white blood cells you have. The white blood cells are the fighting armies of your blood steam that fights off invading infections. You may hear different names for this particular kind of white blood cells (T-4, T-cell or T-helper cells). When your test reveals that your CD4 count is low than that means that your body is ripe for the development of what is called a "opportunistic infection". Your doctor will use this test to decide when to start using ARVs or other medications that will help prevent opportunistic infections. You and your doctor will decide based on the test results how often to repeat these tests and when to start medications. If the CD4 cell count is high and stays that way and your viral load test stays low then treatment may be delayed. Blood tests will continue approximately every 3 to 6 months and your levels monitored closely.
