HIV & Social Conditions...

 

This piece asserts that intervention on social factors is as important as focusing on risk behaviors in regards to contracting HIV.  Instead of looking purely at individuals' relations with high risk behaviors, we should be looking at what got them there.

Many approaches to therapy & rehabilitation focus on correcting & modifying individual behaviors.   Even if they can "fix" the person, they then put them back into a broken environment.  Psychological, social, emotional issues & addictions don't occur in a bubble.  They are not always the issue, but just a symptom of greater problem, often external of the individual.  You can't heal the person & toss them back into a damaged life & expect them to stay healthy.

44% of people with HIV have some kind of disability and 43% have a household income at or below the poverty line. 

This article details the presence of social factors in those who are living with HIV.  "...depression, homelessness, individual and neighborhood poverty, education disparities, lack of insurance or unemployment."  It states 78% of people diagnosed with HIV were affected by 1 of these factors, 58% by 2 & 20% by 3 or more. 

These factors impacted the person's living situation & the options they felt availables to them.  They impact decision making & life choices.  Instead of just focusing on individual risk behaviors, we should be trying to better the surroundings where they live. 

There is no silver bullet, medicine alone isn't going to eradicate HIV or numerous other illnesses.  Society isn't invested in these people & they have a hard time investing in themselves.  If a healthier society is what is wanted, a lot of social leveling will have to occur.  Too bad, that will never happen.

It's a good article.  Take care.

Cya...

Not Much...

 

For the last several years, I've accepted things like  COVID & presidential BS have taken priority over people putting out good articles.  But the parade of issues has never stopped.  We're having heat waves, violence, stupid court decisions, still COVID, fires, droughts, etc...  People how much more do you need to see we're in an apocalyptic disaster movie?  The scientists & social leaders gave their warnings & were laughed off.  

I can handle less articles.  I'd really like it if we could all settle our collective asses down long enough to  get through this mess we've created.  I doubt that will happen, so I guess that's that.  I'd love to say it's been nice knowing you, but for most of you out there, it hasn't been.  There were no "good ole days" & at this rate, it's unlikely there will good  tomorrows.

Cya...

Environmental Factors...

Spring is here & that brings a host of environmental phenomenon that weren't present (or as much so) during the cooler months.  There are the obvious kinds like mowing, pollen & mold.  But there are others.

Noise is a biggy.  Mowing & weed eating raises a racket.  School's out & little child have big lungs.  I fully support a muzzle law on them.  The windows are open, making the noise seem louder.  Birds are in full chirp.  People are spending more time outside socializing.  I think most of them are deaf, because I can plainly hear the conversations over 50' away.

Smells are also a problem.  There used to be a bakery factory near us, but it shut down.  Bad for the workers, but good for us.  Every night the roomie & I'd be dying for brownies, apparently night time was brownie making time.  A little further over is an animal feed plant.  It can reek of sorghum on hot, summer nights.  

The wind brings unwanted smells & things to our home.  It rushes dust, pollen & debris to the house.  It makes a near constant noise.  Then, less than a mile a way they're working on the railroad.   Creosote covered wood stinks.  Right behind that is where the city is burning all the debris they collect.  So, add wind carried chemicals & burnt debris to the mix.

This really isn't just complaining about crap.  I'm pointing out, that at any given time there environmental factors impacting your day to day life.  Therefore affecting your health.   Right now all the burning & wind carried crap has left me with bad sinuses & a bit of a fever.  When you're +, you have to watch things like these & make sure they don't escalate to something worse.

For me, the smells may be bad, but I hate the noise more. My remote should have a mute button for children, neighbors & outdoor animals. Soon, it will be Summer & the roar of fans will cover most the outdoor noises.  It'll be too hot for the animals to make noise or the children to play.  The fire hazard will be too high for the city to burn crap.  Here's to the heat of Summer (sarcasm there, well at least a little bit).

Cya...

Back To The Bug...

Woke up today feeling a little bit like a piece of dehydrated fruit, no pun intended.  The weather has been shifting widely here lately.  Yesterday it got up to 78 F & by Wednesday our high might reach 25 F.  Two things about HIV that most doctors will never tell you.; 1)  Everything in your environment can & most likely will affect the way you feel & 2) HIV will magnify almost any pre-existing conditions you may have had like allergies, IBS, body aches, etc...


What can you do about it?  Almost nothing.  The best you can do is to control your environment as much as possible & often that isn't much at all.  Every environmental factor can alter how you feel; temperature, humidity, allergens, light levels & so on.  Many of the meds you take can make you more sensitive to light & temperature.  


Now on to the actual living with this mess.  

1. Recognize what is your "normal" for any given situation; temperature, light reaction, allergies..
2. Know your meds & your reactions to them.
3. Do your best to stay in a level environment; temperature, humidity, light...
4. Wear a hat & sunglasses outside, do your best to block direct, intense light exposure.
5. This may be the most important one, stay hydrated.
6. Have a good relationship with your pharmacist, he'll known more about your meds than anyone.
7. Remember you're sick & you won't always feel well, but it usually will pass.
8. Other ongoing illnesses must be dealt with, they & HIV can aggravate each other.
9. If symptoms don't pass or move into pain, high fever or other oddness call your doctor.
10. If something feels wrong & no one listen, keep talking & pushing until someone does.

There are things you can do, like check you meds  & symptoms on the web.  You can get some good info that way.  But remember you can also get a lot of crap info off the web.  Above all else, do not work yourself into a frenzy over this.  Going crazy will not help you or your health.


Having HIV is not easy, pretty or even civil.  It's up to you to manage your disease as best you can., no one else will do it for you.  You have to keep on top of your meds, your stress levels, your environment, well damn near everything.  It can be frustrating, even exasperating.  


I don't always write about HIV in every entry, but believe me , it is having an effect on how & what I write about.  Do I have the attention span to with it today to write something relevant or witty?  Will I just write something to write something?  I get very sick of my life being about HIV, but it is about HIV, my meds, my well-being, my doctor appointments, my trips to the lab & so on. Once you have HIV, it is your life, just accept it & try to make the best of it.  I'm sure having diabetes is no different.  So let's just suck it up & hopefully tomorrow we'll feel better.  I better, I have to go shopping.