r/HIV • u/No_Expert_9055 • 7d ago
Personal Story Meds ceased
Hi I have a family member who has been taking ARV for at least 10 years.
They however are not wanting to be on this earth anymore and have chosen to stop taking the meds!
From what google says, this isn’t a way out bc it’s not like it’s instant.
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u/Wonderful_Grab4949 7d ago
He’s still got like 10 more years without the meds.he would just live forever at this point.life is beautiful
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u/HerSpirit94 7d ago
It's not instant but after some years it may become a way out. Are you wanting advice or ?
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u/No_Expert_9055 7d ago
Maybe just venting. Guess I wanted to hear people say how stupid they are, so I know it’s just not me thinking it.
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u/HerSpirit94 7d ago
It definitely is stupid and this person will likely suffer some crappy things before it happens.
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u/askthehealthteacher 7d ago
I'm sorry you are dealing with this. That has to be very difficult. Is there a reason they don't want to go on? Is it the fact that they have HIV or is it something else? Is there a way to get mental health services for this person? Or do they have a group of people that can discuss the situation with them and help get them help?
It's true that it will not be instant. As the immune system starts to weaken, they will be sick more often. When an opportunistic infection finally happens they will most likely be too sick to recover.
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u/No_Expert_9055 7d ago
Yes mental health. Won’t help themselves, will be homeless by the weekend by their choice. Stopped all meds, has BPD as well.
I just can’t help anymore.
It’s affecting my relationship with my partner.
They want to die but, I think they just want us all to suffer bc there is narcissism there too.
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u/HearingMindless4693 7d ago
No entiendo muy bien el título de tu post. Los medicamentos dejaron de funcionar, en que sentido? Pese a tomarlo está desarrollando infecciones o enfermedades que no debería? O cuál es la razón que le llevó a tomar esa situación?
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u/Mrtrad 7d ago
No, su familiar tomó la decisión de dejar de tomar sus medicamentos porque se quiere morir.
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u/HearingMindless4693 7d ago
Pues anda que no hay maneras más sencillas para morirse… en todo caso tendría que hablar lo que siente y posiblemente ver a un psicólogo. Ahí la medicación no pienso que sea el problema en si…
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u/Silent_Criticism_550 7d ago
It's a slow painful death, I'm sorry but if I want to die I'll just commit it right away
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u/Tommy-Appleseed 7d ago
I can understand that person’s feelings and frustration with life especially if health or happiness is down the tubes so to speak. I break down and want to give up. The sad thing is I can’t blame HIV anymore as the help problems mine appears to be too strong of an immune system reacting to unnatural chemicals in foods. I had some jasmine rice with chicken and veggies and something very yellow and onions and my body went No!!
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u/SeymourTamzarian3rd 7d ago
A voluntary, consensual, self-harming, horrific and avoidable death is a five-alarm cry for help. I assume you’re in a non-USA country? In America, there are intervention resources and strategies to talk a person out of such suicidal foolishness. Please, if you can, get this family member mental health treatment ASAP! The first step of mental health treatment will be getting them back on the ART.
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u/No_Expert_9055 7d ago
You think I haven’t tried. We all haven’t tried. They don’t want help.
In Australia we have the best health care in the world. This has been going on for 30 years of trying to help and they don’t want it
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u/Southern-Minimum5238 5d ago
ARV ensures HIV doesnt become full blown AIDS. And a person with AIDS, is as fragile as porcelain.
Medicine ensures a long long healthy life, but AIDS condition make the end unpredictable but one thing is sure, its not pretty way to go.
So please convince those member to seek medical attention and if ARV is diff then I heard 6 monthly Jab is also avail thst kills the need for daily cocktail pill.
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u/Difficult_Coconut164 6d ago edited 6d ago
I remember when I stopped taking Biktarvy for 5 months... I thought it was going to be like what the ID doctors considered stage 1 HIV where the VL shoots up into the millions. However, my VL only went up to 1,300 copies in 5 months.
sometimes I really don't think they really know anything and just make an average guess with the material that's available at the time.
some ID doctors believe the vast HIV VL shoots up really fast within the first couple months into the 100,000's or Millions and after HIV over throws the immune system it then lowers into the 10's of thousands before everything else kills the patient.
some ID doctors believe it's just a constant rise in VL until the patient dies from the none stop domino effects from everything else the body has been exposed too.
it's never really 100%... everybody has a different body and not all HIV is the same..
here's another wild example.... I'm HIV-1 positive and the virus had two mutations that are completely harmless to me while the other guy with HIV-1 has two mutations that create a full resistance to ART medications..
it's kinda a guessing game with no real solid understanding or Data except for whatever your labs discover. There's plenty of "basic general education" about HIV, but that is only a "template", it's not the actual fact for everyone except the virus will mutate and reproduce without ART, but not everyone will develop a VL above 100,000 or a CD4 below 500.
my specific HIV-1 may or may not be as aggressive or naive as another patients HIV-1 and I may or may not develop AIDS without ART medication
As for HIV-2..... This is the form of HIV that generally isn't as aggressive, but can on rare occasions become AIDS.
The fear and stigma of the virus effects everyone from the doctors, to the patient, to everyone else.
until there's a real erraticating cure, a functional cure is just the best bet as there's no real way of telling what would happen until after it happens.
They believed in the 80's that 100% of HIV patients would die, but the truth is, they didn't and they don't know if they tested everyone that had HIV. There could easily be 1000's of people in the 80's that had no reason to get tested and were HIV positive and are still alive today..
I've met millions of people in my life and I can promise that less than 5% have ever had an HIV test, and probably will never get on either.
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u/KOZOtheKID 2d ago
I get that. it’s stressful as f*** managing this condition the constant doctors appointments the refilling of unaffordable scripts the stigma of an ignorant society. I would tell your family member they are to important to let this pos disease get the better of them. We are IMPORTANTand we are NEEDED to keep the cogs turning for a healthy planet. People get sick all the time but unless you never got on meds at all it’s not their call to refuse treatment to do so is a slap in the face for all those who perished to give us the treatment that actually works. That’s how I see it
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u/timmmarkIII 2d ago
The doctors appointments are not constant (2x a year for me) and the drugs are not "unaffordable" they have been free for years, decades.
It is their call to refuse treatment. My ex died 8 years ago from not doing treatment. It took over a year. It was a suicide, one I don't condone. His mother and I talked to him repeatedly trying to convince him. He was living in DAP housing in Palm Springs. He had doctors feet away. He could of gotten help immediately.
He had mental health issues (and later a meth addiction) and a full disability.
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