19 and HIV+

[Guest guest]

Hi there! In my city, there's an organization for positive youth. I

suggest you contact one of your local AIDS Organizations to learn if

you have a positive youth organization for support and (largely

conventional) information. There is likely to be a significant

amount of peer pressure to take medications du jour. Since you

connected with Alternative Medicine Forum, you're likely open to

using natural medicines of various sorts. If you have no

opportunistic infections to deal with, you should be able to begin to

look at what is available to you locally, and via the internet. I

have to give a hearty endorsement to , as it turned

around my health entirely. Most formulas for HIV are based on

hepatitis herbal compounds. Herbal immune support is one of the

strengths of this system of medicine. Antivirals and immune

strengthening formulas have been around much longer than Western

Medicine. The point, is to ensure that the dose and potency is

strong enough (refined & strong) to achieve good results. Ordinary

decoctions of herbs are just not strong enough to deal with HIV. A

group I was involved with, hired a doctor of TCM, and had compounds

made specifically for us in a Chinese herbal factory. It was a trial

and error system of determining how strong a compound could be and

still be tolerated without diarrhea. We did clinical trials, using

lab tests and symptomology. Results were fairly good. There were a

handful of cases of CMV, who were cured(?), but the CMV returned, to

again be cured, and we didn't learn what happened after that with

these individuals (not in our city). There are compounds available

directly from China, and can be searched through the internet. They

can be expensive, and may have value--but it's difficult to know with

certainty, except through long term use. A minimum of 6 months can

be needed to determine benefits. The formula we used is no longer

available, and I don't know about the herbal compounds offered

elsewhere. It's simply one option, among others. PWA's that do

well: self-educate, empower themselves, change lifestyle to better

directions, improve diet and take nutritional supplements, commit to

an exercise program, and get involved. They learn to make decisions

for themselves, use doctors as advisors only, learn to read their own

labwork (no mystery here!), and develop a healthy skepticism about

conventional AIDS information. My best advice? Connect with others,

get support, make your decisions with the best information you can

find, clean up your act, get involved. Good luck with the new

directions! Steve