Enquiry

[SparkStar29]

Hello . I am hiv positive and it's been 6 months am taking pills and good care of my health. I wanna know which food can increase my cd4 count and also I wanna get out the guilt that I have inside me .

I also wanna know that its very recent that I got infected as I used to work in gulf . May be in a year I got infected so I had to leave my job and come back to my country .

I wanna work abroad again so wanna know which country allows hiv poz to work and live freely with Visa and also with medication facilities. Please let me know which country I should approach to apply for work Visa without chaos .

[Griffon]

Hi Sparky !

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis , but as you have probably already found out , so long as you are on treatment you have nothing to worry about . The vitally important thing is to strictly adhere to any medication program you are put on .

CD4 levels take a long time to recover at very roughly 100 per year , so a good deal depends how low your count is when you started treatment . Anything at 500 or above is considered good for long term health . There is no food as such that will help increase CD levels , but good healthy diet will help your overall health .

As regard to visas to work abroad , that is something you will have to look into on a country by country basis .

[SparkStar29 in reply to Griffon]

Thank you so much . And regards to my cd4 count it was around 261 and I am hoping it will increase as it's been 6 months and sooner I shall have my blood check up again and hoping it gets increase and being hopefull.

Does mental stress effects the cd4 count

[Griffon in reply to SparkStar29]

A CD4 count of 260 is on the low side and suggests that you have been HIV positive for some years , as the count drops about 100 per year untreated from an average of 800 - 1,000 ( variable according to gender and race ) . There are no figures I have been able to find giving an expected rate of increase after treatment is started , but in my own case 50 - 100 per year is a rough guideline .

Stress is bad for your overall health and as such may not directly affect a CD increase , it could slow it down if you are not as vigorous as you should be .

[SparkStar29 in reply to Griffon]

Am sure it's not from years. A year may be I can consider as every year I used to have medical test in gulf . And last time had was last April and was negative and this time I has was March. So what ever happened was in this 1 year itself . Anyways am not stressing and trying my best to take care of my health . I.hope it increases by gods grace

[Griffon in reply to SparkStar29]

I'm only saying what I have found out for myself , and only you know your circumstances !

260 is a low CD4 count , but not seriously low , there have been people made good recovery who's counts were in double figures ( think I read an account of someone as low as 14 ) , so you should be alright now you are on treatment . Do you know if your viral count is down to undetectable level yet ? Once undetectable your CD4 will start to rise , but it takes time .

So long as you absolutely stick to your medication regime by taking your meds. at the same time every day you can pretty much forget that you have HIV and enjoy your life . Obviously it is a good idea to look after yourself and eat well , avoid drink and drugs etc. ( I'm not saying that you use them ! )

[SparkStar29 in reply to Griffon]

That's really kind and helpful of you and ur replies . I appreciate that . I used to smoke which I quit and drinks I have to quit am.just doing once in a month, which eventually am gonna quit .

After 3 days I have my test again after 6 months of medication so I shall know my cd4 count aswell viral load if its undetectable.

Am just hoping for best and being hopefull

[Griffon in reply to SparkStar29]

You are going to be just fine if you look after yourself .

One other thing , have you been checked out for other STI's , as HIV infection often occurs in conjunction with another infection ?

[SparkStar29 in reply to Griffon]

In the hospital they did all related tests and everything is fine .

It's just am hiv positive and with cd4 261 .

[Whitetounge in reply to SparkStar29]

Griffin is wrong there is food proven to raise cd4 counts. The reshi mushroom was scientifically proven to increase cd4 levels. You can buy this as a powdered supplement. I blend mine with coffee, it gives it a real nutty flavor.

[Whitetounge in reply to Whitetounge]

Also stress does effect cd4 count. Pretty much everything Griffin said is wrong. Cd4 levels can also be very low during acute onset, they tend to rebound after sometime then gradually drop again at no specific rate. Infected People can remain at normal levels for a very long time while others cd4 counts will drop very rapidly.