HIV-AIDS STIGMA & DISCRIMINATION

Being HIV+ in today's day & age should be relatively easy,however it isn't.Stigma & discrimination are still alive & doing well .U would think this would NOT be the case & u would be sooo wrong!As a person that goes into places of learning to tell my life story in the hopes that someone will think 2 before stickin a needle into his/her vain!Y humans have to learn by trial & error is beyound me,but thats how it is.Peoples have to find out for themselves how stuff works or dont work.getting up in front of crowds isnt the easiest thing to do for anyone,let out someone's life mistakes in the hopes that others will learn from it -i am thinking that ther must be a better way to get the word out to others with HIV-on how to encourage other PHA's to start Blogs,vlogs & viseo's 2 is my new dream.Maybe i can turn HIV blogging into a short course for PHA's to take & become empowered to do more.So many good peoples R doing great work in helping beat back stigma & discrimination that abounds in society today.Many folks R just trying to get by doing the best they can with what they have,repeating the same thing daily,as most folks like to stay in their comfort zones,this is where true leaders shine,as they encourage others to press ever onwards *& upwards ,to strive to be better persons in society,to help our fellow man,to love one another,as we were comanded to do by our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ so long ago.We R learning things faster then they can be typed & added to our ever growing knowledge banks.We R growing too fast & i fear we R heading to world crisis situatuations.So many peoples R dyeing in africa that they R losing a small city each day,=6,000 lives lost just because of water,& poverty.We PHAs must stand up & start to do anything we can to help change this!PEACE N LOVE NOT WARS N WALLS EH FOKLKS!PS. As i am single & live alone,taking it day by day ,i try to understand Y & how we can allow others to remain in poverty?Water in everywhere in Canada,& the thought of a water shortage is furthest from canadian men & womans minds.We have become complacent,we turn the tap & water comes out so we take it for granted that it will always be there working the way it was designed to work.GOD,our creator,& His Son Jesus Christ,have only our best interests at heart,& i pray that GOD's will be done & NOT man 's.We R 2 bent on killing each other,or taking wat is not our's.Like the Virus in me,we R spreading about the earth like a cancer,stripping the earth bare of life,& sucking all the minerals & anything else we think of.We must evolve into better peoples,more earth friendly & think GREEN & keep CLEAN!!!

MOM SLOWLY DIEING IN PLUMMER HOSPITAL IN SSM,

as i gaze at the full moon,shining yellow tonight,i am alone ,all my brothers have girlfriends or wife to help them deal with this,&,like always,its late at night when i am all alone lyeing in bed-a huge bed with no one but myself ,making it feel all the more blatent-being single has had its good points mind...still,nothing cam replace the warm touch of a female that cares for you,or holding her hand when your walking watching the sun set slowly.I am off to SSM this friday as theres to be a family meeting with the Dr. at 130 on sat.Jehova GOD grant be the perserverence to overcome,in Jesus Christ's name i pray ,Amen!!!PEACE N LOVE NOT WARS N WALLS !~!~TODAY HAS BEEN ROUGH SO I STAYED INSIDE ALL DAY-NERVES R NOT GOOD=STRESS CAN HAVE A NEG AFFECT ON HEALTH & IMMUNE SYSTEMS,SO I AM TRYING NOT TO STRESS OUT TOO MUCH BUT WHAT CAN I SAY MY MOM IS SLOWLY DYEING IN SSM HOSP. & WE SHOULD GET THERE ASAP AND TO MAKE THINGS EVEN WORSE I LOST MY CAM-CORDER THAT HAS MOM SAYING SHE LOVES GARY,RON,STEVE,MIKE,JOEY, & THIS WILL BE VALUABLE TO THE BOYS! i HOPE SOMEONE AT THE HOSP IS HONEST ENOUGH TO TURN IT OVER.A GUARD IS CHECKIN IT OUT NOW BUT I HAVE A SINKING FEELING THAT A;LL OS LOST NOT ONLY WITH THE CAM-C0RDER BUT MY MOM AS WELL.DEPRESSION IS TRYING TO BRING ME DOWN BIGTIME & I TRY TURNING THE TV ONTO COMEDY OR LEARNING CHANNEL.BRO SAYS MOM SMILES WHEN SOMEONE WALKS INTO THE ROOM,SO ,SHE STILL CAN DO A FEW THINGS,ALTHOUGH NOT MUCH AND SO IF GOD IS WITH FOLKS THAT R DOWN & DEPRESSED AND PEOPLES CLOSE TO DEATH,THEN SURELY THOU ART WITH ME & MY FAMILY,WE ALL PLACE OUR TRUST ON THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY,CREATOR OS THE HEAVENS & THE EARTHS,AND THE HELLS AS WELL,RULAR OF THE UNIVERSES KNOWN & UNKNOWNS,& HIS SON ,JESUS THE CHRIST,MAN'S LORD & SAVIOUR,GIVE ME PERSERVERENCE TO OVERCOME THIS TIME OF TROUBLES,THIS END TIMES.MAY GOD'S WILL BE DONE & NOT MAN'S WILL,IN JESUS THE CHRIST;S NAME I PRAY TODAY,THURSDAY,FEB 21 2008 7:50 PMshe knows we love her,but she is worried about me i think-as i am hiv+ i dont have anyone like the rest of the boys do.And its at night,when its the hardest,as i have no one to hold me or someone that i could hold so close & so tight,i dont think i would ever let them go again!!!loljk!~but i digress...this is a tough time for me-toughest i have had to face yet & i am failing i think.I cannot help it & the tears seems to come & go of their own violition,as i am now unable to control them anymore....i thought the so many deaths of close loved ones woulda prepared me for this life altering event but nay,it didst not & has had the effect as a hammer striking my chest full,leaving me gasping for air-that will not come-even though i am now blue in colour and everything is starting to close in...i am falling...splash!!!time to wake up eh folks!!!life sucks & then life is great-u have to catch it when its in the middle to enjoy it.PEACE N LOVE NOT WARS N WALLS & JESUS SAVES SO BELIEVE & BE SAVED EH FOLKS~!~!
Posted by james(joey)gough

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COURT STRIKES DOWN REG ON AMOUNT POT GROWERS CAN GROW!ABOOT TIME EH!!!

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COURT STRIKES DOWN REG. ON POT GROWERS=ABOOT TIME EH~~~!!!!VOTE NDP & LETS LEGALIZE WEED!!!


strikes down regulation limiting growers of medical marijuana
Last Updated: Friday, January 11, 2008 | 12:45 AM ET
CBC News
Canadians who are prescribed marijuana to treat their illnesses will no longer be forced to rely on the federal government as a supplier following a Federal Court ruling that struck down a key restriction in Ottawa's controversial medical marijuana program.


The decision by Judge Barry Strayer, released late Thursday, essentially grants medical marijuana users more freedom in picking their own grower and allows growers to supply the drug to more than one patient.


It's also another blow to the federal government, whose attempts to tightly control access to medical marijuana have prompted numerous court challenges.


Currently, medical users can grow their own pot but growers can't supply the drug to more than one user at a time.


Lawyers for medical users argued that restriction effectively established Health Canada as the country's sole legal provider of medical marijuana.


They also said the restriction was unfair, and that it prevented seriously ill Canadians from obtaining the drug they needed to treat their debilitating illnesses.


In his decision, Strayer called the provision unconstitutional and arbitrary, as it "caused individuals a major difficulty with access…"

Ottawa must also reconsider requests made by a group of medical users who brought the matter to court to have a single outside supplier as their designated producer, Strayer said in his 23-page decision.

While the government has argued that medical users who can't grow their own marijuana can obtain it from its contract manufacturer, fewer than 20 per cent of patients actually use the government's supply, Strayer wrote.


"In my view it is not tenable for the government, consistently with the right established in other courts for qualified medical users to have reasonable access to marijuana, to force them either to buy from the government contractor, grow their own or be limited to the unnecessarily restrictive system of designated producers," he wrote.

Ron Marzel, a Toronto lawyer representing the group of medical users who brought the matter before the Federal Court, called the decision a "great remedy" for his clients.


"All this means is that the limit — the one-to-one ratio — it's the last nail in the coffin for that ratio," he said in an interview.


"The court has said, 'Look, unequivocally, this is unconstitutional, it's arbitrary. All the reasons you've provided us with so far for this one-to-one ratio, they don't pass muster. We don't buy it, we don't accept it."'

The provision had been struck down by the courts before, but was reinstated by the government who contracted Prairie Plant Systems Inc. in Flin Flon, Man., to provide the drug to patients./As a PHA that has to use pot in order to eat- i face RED TAPE & beaurocratic BS. by Drs the refuse to help,politicians throw their hands in the air & do nothing!!! i think the CAS should mandate that 1)pot access for patients, & subsidizing $ spent on medical pot-or reimbursing us at tax time~~!!!Housing is another big issue that need attention.PEACE N LOVE NOT WARS N WALLS EH FOLKS!!!!

HAART Treatment CUTS RISK of Transmission BY 80% in HIV+ & hiv- COUPLES-study finds

HIV treatment dramatically cuts risk of HIV transmission in steady heterosexual
Michael Carter, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Effective anti-HIV treatment has significantly reduced the sexual transmission of HIV amongst steady heterosexual couples, according to the results of a Spanish study published in the September 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The investigators found that HIV prevalence amongst the initially HIV-negative partners fell from 10% before potent HIV therapy became available to 2% after the introduction of effective antiretroviral treatment. In addition, the investigators also noted that not a single case of HIV transmission occurred in a couple where the HIV-positive partner was taking a powerful combination of anti-HIV drugs.

Even though the study demonstrated the ability of HIV therapy to reduce heterosexual transmission by 80%, the investigators caution that even a small increase in sexual risk-taking could cancel this out and emphasise “the main preventative measure for HIV sexual transmission remains the avoidance of risky sexual practices.”

It is well known that a number of factors can influence the risk of HIV being transmitted during sex. These include sexual practices, stage of HIV infection, the presence of sexually transmitted infections, and the HIV viral load in the infected partner.

Antiretroviral therapy has the potential to dramatically reduce viral load, and the ability of anti-HIV treatment to reduce the infectiousness of HIV-positive individuals has been demonstrated by the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The potential for antiretroviral drugs to reduce the risk of sexual transmission of HIV has not been well studied. Therefore investigators from Madrid designed a study looking at HIV prevalence amongst first-time HIV testers whose only risk factor for infection was having a steady heterosexual HIV-positive partner. The investigators compared HIV prevalence amongst individuals recruited before effective anti-HIV treatment became available and those who entered the study when potent HIV therapy was being used.

Since 1987 a specialist clinic in Madrid has been offering counselling and HIV testing for serodiscordant couples. A total of 393 couples using this clinic were included in a prospective observational study to determine HIV transmission risks. Couples were recruited between 1991 and 2003.

Social, demographic and sexual histories were obtained from both partners during structured interviews. Blood tests were performed on the HIV-positive partner to determine CD4 cell count and viral load.

Depending on their date of recruitment, the couples were allocated into one of three groups (1991 - 1995, pre-HAART; 1996 - 1998, early-HAART; 1999 onwards, late-HAART).

In the period before effective anti-HIV therapy became available, the HIV prevalence rate amongst the partners of the patient initially testing HIV-positive was 11%. This fell to 7% in the two years after potent anti-HIV treatment first became available, falling to 2% from 1999 onwards. This fall was statistically significant (p = 0.025).

The investigators found that HIV was only transmitted by patients who were not taking anti-HIV therapy. Not a single partner of an HIV-positive patient taking anti-HIV therapy became infected with HIV.

Other factors associated with HIV transmission were unprotected sex within the past six months (p = 0.048) and a CD4 cell count below 350 cells/mm3 in the HIV-positive partner (p = 0.025).

The prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in the partner who was initially diagnosed with HIV fell from 10% in the pre-HAART era to 1% between 1999 and 2003, and the presence of a sexually transmitted infection was not found to have a statistically significant association with the risks of HIV transmission.

The investigators conclude, “after the introduction of HAART, an important decrease in HIV transmission has been observed in a thoroughly studied group of steady heterosexual couples, irrespective of any changes in other factors that could affect transmission. These results strongly suggest that combined antiretroviral treatments applied according to current guidelines have a great potential for preventing HIV transmission.” The suggest that “accessibility to HAART...as long as it is not accompanied by a relaxation in other prevention measures, could greatly contribute to controlling the spread of HIV”.

BEST ANSWER TOQ=WHATS YOUR JOB & DO U LIKE IT?

I am on disability pension but do HIV-AIDS Education & Awareness & Living with HIV Talks at local places of education & i do out-reach work at night.I am always happy to do the talks,afterwords is cool as 9/10 all the students will come up & continue to ask Q ,saying how it takes guts to stand in front of a class & tell your life story & to keep up the great work on staying clean off of coke heroin & speed.(3 yrs) & so where i once was part of the problem i am now part of the solution.My faith in GOD & Jesus was not misplaced,& so i take 1 day at a time.i forgot to mention that i did have hep-c but found out recntly that i am no longer hep-c +!!!i Thank GOD EVERYDAY!!

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Source(s):
me,myself & i,gratefull recovering coke,heroin&speed addict with 3 yrs clean.HIV+ 2001,ohya cured of hep-c in 07!

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thanks for all the reply's .......they all sound interesting .......but i have 2 choose this answer .......cause i couldnt do this job knowing i had hiv ............you are braver than i would be tc xxx

SELENIUM CHEAP SUPPLEMENT THAT WORKS SLOWING DOWN HIV VIRUS-STUDY FINDS!

Selenium supplementation slows HIV progression
November 1, 2007

This study looked specifically at selenium supplementation and how it affects progression of HIV. (As usual, the scientific evidence builds up over time: earlier research had already produced some findings about the role of selenium in immune system function, and its potential benefit for people with HIV.)

The 2007 finding: a daily supplement of selenium can “suppress the progression of HIV-1 viral burden and provide indirect improvement of CD4 count.” And the study results “support the use of selenium as a simple, inexpensive, and safe adjunct therapy in HIV spectrum disease.”

Interestingly, the study found that selenium supplementation was beneficial regardless of factors such as past drug use, time since HIV diagnosis, adherence to antiretroviral medication, and infection with hepatitis C. So–a very general usefulness for this supplement for slowing progression of HIV.


“Suppression of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Viral Load With Selenium Supplementation.”
Barry E. Hurwitz; Johanna R. Klaus; Maria M. Llabre; Alex Gonzalez; Peter J. Lawrence; Kevin J. Maher; Jeffrey M. Greeson; Marianna K. Baum; Gail Shor- Posner; Jay S. Skyler; Neil Schneiderman.
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:148-154.

MEDICAL POT NEEDS EASIER ACCESS,SUDBURY NEEDS COMPASSION CLUB!

CANCER 7 HIV PAIENTS NEED A COMPASION CLUB HERE IN THE SUDBURY AREA,BIGTIME.AFTER ALL WE DO HAVE THE ONLY CANCER TRTEATMENT CENTRE IN THER NORTH EH!

Hopfully pot will be on the nect election agenda

Most of us are timred of heari8ng about this so called war on ourselves=drugs are bad yes,but,like anything it casn ber abused if usded into acfcess,well sorry about the speeling mistaked iots late and i am tired ,peace al;l!~~

Just for today,I am clean and sober!!yahoo!!

So here we are its Dec.5 and only 20 days untill xmas,but i don't like how commercialized xmas has become and therefore i dont like celebratinbg it at all.I think its just for kids,and its a time to be with faMILY AND FRIENDS.sO,THAT SHITHEAD PREMIER HARRIS/HARPER THEY ARE BOTH THE SAME ,THEY CONTINUE TO GIVE TAX BREAKS TO THOSE WHO RUN BIG BUISNESS.IT SEEMS THEW RICH GET RICHER & THE POOR GET POORER.WELL I CANT WAIT FOR THE SECOIND COMEING AND IT WILL BE SOONER THEN MOST PEOP[LES THINK,I THINK.WELL JUST LOOK AT ALL THE BULLSHIT GOING ON IN THE WORLD AND THEN TELL ME WE ARE not LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS.yoU CANNOT CAUSE WE ARE!PEACE ALL!