Question
Will diet and exercise increase my CD4 count?
26 March 2012. Related: CD4 and viral load, Starting treatment.
My last cd4 count, taken 05/2011 was 453,and my most recent one taken last month came back as 280.
Now this has come as an extreme shock to me and hard to accept. I am not ready to start meds.
Can I re-take a cd4 test just for reassurance?
All my other previous ones have been above 500. Yes my diet has been beyond poor but what could be the main/possible cause for such a drastic drop?
Also need to know if I can boost it up by getting back on track with my diet and exercise?
Answer
I can appreciate your concern about the drop in your CD4 count. This is not uncommon as the change could be due to any number of factors. Firstly, CD4 counts do generally tend to drop over time, especially if someone has not started treatment. CD4 counts also fluctuate (vary) depending on lots of other factors including lab errors and the time of day the test was done. There is, therefore, certainly no harm in re-taking the test for reassurance.
Your second question was whether you could boost your CD4 count through diet and exercise. Staying healthy by eating a nutritious balanced diet, excercising regularly, reducing stress levels, etc, can all help to maintain a healthy immune system. However, this will not necessarily increase your CD4 count.
In general, the only way you can increase your CD4 count is by taking ARVs (antiretrovial treatment for HIV). ARVs are the only proven way of increasing and maintaining a good CD4 count.
You mentioned that you are not yet ready to start treatment. The WHO (World Health Organisation) treatment guidelines recommend starting treatment with a CD4 count of 350 or less. Even if your confirmatory test indicates that you do not need to start treatment straightaway, you may find it helpful to start preparing for when you will need to start treatment in the future. Our guide to An introduction to combination therapy answers a lot of questions you may have around starting treatment.
Good luck with the test.
The only way to increase your CD4 count is to take HIV treatment (ART). ART reduces the amount of HIV in your blood, and the test for this gives your viral load.
Once your viral load gets to undetectable levels CD4 counts start to rise.
You can find out more about CD4 counts and viral load tests here:
http://i-base.info/guides/starting/two-essential-blood-tests
Please help me to increase my CD4 count
swollen lumph nodes can be caused by lots of things. Sometiems this is just a normal immune response to an infection. The glands then reduce bynaturally after the infection is over. A doctor needs to diagnose enlarge lymph glands though in case these are a symptom of something more serious.
What is the cure of swollen glands,and if they are removed permanantly does this means the pain will go away for good
Hi Prity, please talk to your uncle about your concerns. He should be able to give you more information. He may already be on treatment. This is important to help protect his CD4 count and hopefully to help it get to higher and safer levels.
My uncle is aids patients nd his cd4 is 82 now what doing???
At the moment there is no cure for HIV. Scientists are working on this though.
You can find a more detailed answer to a similar question here:
http://i-base.info/qa/106
Is there any cure treatment in the world for the HIV or any trials, is there a for cure of HIV?
Hi Yirgalem,
A CD4 count increase from 73 to 272 is very good. This shows that your treatment is working well and your immune system is much stronger than when you were diagnosed.
CD4 counts increase gradually and not by 100 copies a day. You can see an average of CD4 count increases after starting treatment in this graph.
Continuing to take your treatment everyday is the only way to increase or maintain your CD4 count. No other foods, medicines or alternative treatments will have an effect on the CD4 count.
Dear sir
I appreciate your dedication to help Hiv Patients.
I discover that i was hiv positive when I tried to get treatment for dermatology in 2012.
then the doctor sent me to check my cd4 count and it it was only 73.then i started the treatment.after a year my cd4 count is 272.after a year. I read that cd4 can increase or decrease by 100 with in a day is that true?
If it is true why didnt my cd4 count increase only about 200 with in a year
what measures should i take to increase my cd4 count?
I am male and 52 years old.
regards