Question
What is your life expectancy if treatment is not an option?
16 January 2009. Related: All topics, Living with HIV long-term.
If you have a CD4 of 90 and VL 839000 and have been on and off treatment for years, what is the life expectancy if treatment is not an option?
Answer
This situation is fairly difficult.
The chances for good and long-term good health are dependent on access to treatment and then taking that treatment.
Nobody can say what the exact life expectancy in a situation like this are, as there are too many factors that can play a role.
What I cannot understand is why treatment is not an option? Is it because you do not have an access to it or because of any other reason? Please send us a comment on that.
Even if you developed resistance to some drugs there should still be a combination that might work for you.
If this is the case, your life expectancy then becomes very good.
Currently, the majority of guidelines say that the person should start when his/her CD4 count is about 350. Your reading is higher than that. In addition, starting treatment should be considered if the viral load is consistently high-above 100 000 and/or if you have AIDS-defining infections, regardless of the CD4 count.
Some people use selenium and alpha lipoic acid to increase their CD4 count. Some doctors and counsellors, however, think that it is perhaps better to use those when you are already on ARVs, as before that you may be fuelling the replication of the virus.
My CD4 is 420. At what point should I start ARVs and is it possible to know what herbs and supplements can get my CD4 up? HIV patient in Nigeria.