Treatment for HIV
Currently, there are no known vaccines or cures for HIV. However, there are medicines available that can control the virus.
If the HIV infection is left untreated, it will destroy your immune system. When your immune system is too weak, you develop AIDS. This is when you will get very sick from infections that you should have been easily able to fight off if you had a healthy immune system.
Also, since your immune system also protects you from cancers, you may also start to develop different sorts of cancers.
However, with current modern medicines for HIV, we can keep the infection under control such that you may never develop AIDS. In fact, current evidence shows that people living with HIV and under treatment can live just as long as someone without HIV.
People living with HIV can lead very healthy and productive lives. This is very different from 30 years ago when HIV was a death sentence. Nowadays, HIV is treated more like a chronic disease like Diabetes.
Now every who is diagnosed with HIV need to start taking medicines immediately. Usually Doctors will wait till your immune system is weaker before starting you on medicines.
How strong or weak your immune system is is determined by your CD4 cell count. However, there are also instances where starting treatment early has benefits. You need to discuss this with your doctor.
Once your Doctor decides that you need to start treatment, you will be given tablets. Most HIV patients will need to take at least 3 different medicines to keep their infection under control.
These medicines are called ARTs (Anti-Retroviral Therapy).
However, since tablets these days can combine up to 4 different medicines into a single tablet, you may just end up having to take only 1 or 2 tablets per day. Once you start on these medicines, you will have to take them for long term maybe even for life.
These medicines suppress the HIV virus and allows your immune system to recover. If your immune system is already very weak when you see your doctor, you may be given special antibiotics to protect you from infection while your immune system recovers.
Most patients who are living with HIV and are on treatment lead very healthy and productive lives.
