A distant sunrise on the horizon?

Last time I wrote, I was pretty much an emotional wreck. That much hasn't changed, really. However, my outlook is beginning to improve. After receiving a whopping 30ccs of AIM therapy in late August, I anxiously (if not eagerly) awaited my September lab results. My hope was that my CD-4 count would climb back above 200, but my more realistic expectation was that we'd at least see some sort of course correction. More than anything, I wanted to be able to demonstrate some quantitative proof to my ID doctor that this therapy is effective. Further, I wanted to pad my rebuttal arsenal with solid evidence reinforcing my desire to delay anti-retroviral treatment. In the end, my expectation was the more reasonable.

Here are my latest lab results:

VL: 132,000 (down from 249,000 - a 53% improvement)
CD-4: 146 (up from 122 - a 17% improvement)

I completely understand that the viral load is a transient number, and that the CD-4 count is really the more telling benchmark. However, this is still progress. For the last 3-4 months, it felt like I was on an accelerated -- and decidedly downward -- spiral. Today, though, I was able to regain at least a glimmer of hope in the efficacy of the AIM protocol. No, this wasn’t the 180 turn-around I had hoped for, but perhaps we’ve finally begun to turn the corner, as it were.

Symptom wise, I’ve pretty much experienced the same ups and downs as in previous treatment cycles. Week 1: feel like crap. Week 2: feel really good. Week 3: symptoms like “vertigo” and fatigue return. Week 4: start over.

However, this time, a new symptom new cropped up – projectile diarrhea. Not fun. It was an every-other-day-type phenomenon. One day, I’d have diarrhea all day long. We're not talking your garden variety diarrhea, but urgent, if-you-gotta-run-but-you-ain't-having-fun diarrhea. Then the next day, back to normal. The next, diarrhea again. And so on. On the diarrhea days (haha, if I hadn’t lived it, this would sound very comical), I wouldn’t be able to eat much due to a general feeling of nausea. The doc says that these are sloughing-off periods. In other words, my body is detoxifying itself. On the plus side, I’ve lost five pounds in the last month (probably all water weight, though :/).

In addition, my upper sinuses seemed to be perpetually congested. What’s more, I began to detect a strange odor and taste from the constant post-nasal drip. It probably has as much to due with fall allergies as it does with AIM, but up until now, my sinuses haven’t played much of a role in my AIM experience.

So, for at least another month, my AIM experiment will continue. I am cautiously optimistic that next month’s report will establish that the September results weren’t just a statistical blip.

Until then, peace to you and yours.