Question
Can my son gain weight again?
27 June 2016. Related: All topics, Complications and coinfections, Life expectancy, Living with HIV long-term, Opportunistic infections.
My son is HIV positive and he is 24 years old. He was very thin and he was taking many medication specially a medicine for his HIV.I just want to know if my son will live long? Can my son gain weight again?
Answer
I’m sorry your son has been so ill.
Before HIV treatment (ART) people who were HIV positive lost weight for many reasons.
Some of the reasons why are: feeling sick, diarrhoea, poor absorption of food, fevers, and loss of appetite generally. These symptoms are largely related to having a low CD4 count and not being on ART.
Now that your son is on ART his CD4 count should start to recover. This can help to his immune system to recover, and that can help him to gain weight and get stronger.
The good news is that with the treatments available today people with HIV can have near normal life expectancy and a good quality of life.
Please let me know if you have other questions.
Best wishes,
Roy
Hi Ponny,
Weight loss can be due to a number of things one of which is body type. Is this something you’ve discussed with your doctor? Are you also on medication?
Since I gave birth in 2015 I’ve found it really hard to gain weight. I’m really skinny, what can I do?