Question
I am just diagnosed with a CD4 count of 10?
7 December 2011. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Newly diagnosed, Starting treatment.
I’ve recently tested HIV+ and unfortunately my CD4 count came out at 10. I am not ill, but do i have the chance to live any longer.
Answer
Hi
As well as being HIV positive, your CD4 count is very low. Unless you were only infected very recently, this means your HIV is very advanced.
Using ARV treatment (ART) as soon as possible is important. ART will reduce the serious risk of HIV-related health complications.
The medicines will still work for you. There are many reasons to be hopeful and optimistic.
Because your CD4 count is uder 50 there is also a chance that other infections (called IRIS) might become active during the first few months of treatment. These are usuallly easy to treat, but tell your doctor about any new symptoms over the next months.
Also, please be very careful not to miss any doses of your meds. This is called good adherence.
Your doctor should also give you antibiotics to protect you from other infections. This is usually cotrimoxazole (often also called Septrin or Bactrim) which is a combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. This treatment should continue until your CD4 count gets much higher (at least above 200, maybe above 350).
While your CD4 count is still below 50, including now, your doctor should also examine your eyes. This is to check whether a viral infection called CMV is affecting your eyes. CMV can cause serious and permanent vision loss.
For more information see this guide to starting treatment, called Introduction to ART.
If you were not expecting to be HIV positive, this will take a while for the news to sink in. It will get easier – and hopefully you will get a good response from treatment.
These two links might help:
Just diagnosed:
https://i-base.info/just-found-out
Who can I talk to:
https://i-base.info/who-can-i-talk-to
Note: This answer was updated in December 2016 from a question first posted on 13 September 2011.
Hi, thanks for the comment. It is good that you are now on treatment and your CD4 count was very low. In general your CD4 count should get higher again now, but this is likely to take time. For example, it might take 6-12 months to get above 100 and another 6-12 months to get to 200. The nerve pains from the shingles might get better as your CD4 count gets stronger but this varies between people. Where on your body is the pain?
Hi there
I tested HIV + last month after I got shingles and started treatment right away. My CD4 count was 26, shingles are gone however I have nerve pains where shingles were. They’re terrible and I’m struggling to cope, Doctors only prescribe pain killers which don’t really help much. What are the chances of me recovering fully and how quick does CD4 count increase after treatment?
Im hopefully and looking forward to my full recovery.
Hi Andy,
Though a lot of work in being done with regards to developing a cure, it really isn’t possible to say if or when one will be developed. For now HIV meds are very effective. A cure may come – at least for some people – but predicting when is difficult.
Hi, you are very very well educated on HIV. What would you say is a realistic time frame of a cure for HIV. I think we are close but if you were to give us all hope what do you think 5-10 years?
Hi Mike,
You being on ART shouldn’t have any impact on the surgery that you need. Will you be given any medication for the hydronephrosis?
Hellos.
Today I am starting my medication. I have been found with CD4 count of 279 hence I will take it with septrin as prescribed. Kidney and liver functions are all OK. The problem is that I was also diagnosed with hydronephrosis and CT scan showed that I have multiple simple renal cysts filled with fluid. Next week I am going to schedule a surgery with the doctor. Will the surgery be OK given I start ART today?
Hi Sek,
i-base advocates aren’t medical doctors. Therefore, this is something that you’ll need to talk to a doctor about.
Hi. i’ve been on arvs for four months now. my cd4 count was 177 when i started, and i’m going for another test in november to check if i am progressing. the problem that stresses me the most i have an ear pain. And it is not a sharp pain, just the feeling of dry sensation. i have been to ENT and they say my ears are fine. I have been to audiologist and they said my hearing is fine. my vision is being affected, sometimes my vision is cloudy. i dnt have headache only the pain in my left ear that feels like its dry. sometimes the dryness goes to my left nose. sometimes the sensation goes in to my head. i am scared that i may have a brain tumar. But the ENT prescribed me the pain killers saying there is nothing they can do to help me and unfortunately i have to live with it. it cant be cured it is because of my chronic illness. Is it true that i wont get better?
Hi John,
Yes your CD4 count can rise. The meds will do this. You will though need to take them as prescribed. The coconut oil and black seed oil won’t help you to control your HIV. Only ARVs can do this.
I’ve been HIV positive for 17 years now, I started ARV and 3 years later I switched to second line when my cd4 count dropped to 12. I continued 2nd line treatment until about 2 years ago and just stopped taking ARV opting instead for coconut oil which I taught could cure me, but after waiting and waiting and testing I didn’t get a cure and I started experiencing symptoms, I went back to the clinic 2weeks ago and recommenced treatment, cd4 count was 12.
I was on truvada and alluvia and put on it. At a point before stopping treatment my cd4 was fluctuating between 200 and 150 and several years on 2nd line.
I discovered that it went up when I add coconut oil but dropped when I don’t use it, thus giving me the impression that the ARV was no longer good hence my foolishly stopping my ARV only to find out now that my cd4 is 16.
I have stopped the coconut oil, commenced ARV but my doctor assured me it will be fine but I know that he may just be encouraging me not to loose hope.
pls any advise for me? and s also note that I am currently on black seed oil a tbs spoon twice daily along with my second line ARV