Q and A

Question

My CD4 is 172, how long do I have to live?

I was just diagnosed and I have cd4 count of 172….how many years do i have with medication?

Answer

Thanks for getting in touch.

Everyone worries about how long they will live. This is especially common is you are HIV positive.

The good news is that HIV meds (ARVs) dramatically extend your life. Are you currently taking ARVs? If you are, when did you begin?

Unless you have other serious complications, no doctor can say how long anyone will live.

A CD4 count of 172 is still good enough to protect you from lots of HIV-related problems.  If you are on meds then the CD4 count should also get steadily higher.

There is a lot about life expectancy on the i-Base website. Please see answers to similar questions at this link:
https://i-base.info/qa/?s=life+expectancy

8 comments

  1. Lisa Thorley

    Hi Deepak,

    Are you on medication, so ARVs? If you are then please see Q10 here: http://i-base.info/qa/ If you aren’t on medication, you’re going to need to start. Once on medication your HIV will start to become controlled.

  2. Deepak

    Sir my CD4 Cell is 166. How much days I have?

  3. Roy Trevelion

    Hi Geeta,

    I’m sorry, this sounds very tough for you.

    But what does the doctor say about your throat infection? You could ask if there’s treatment for it.

    What ARVs are you taking at the moment? And do you have access to your CD4 count and viral load? Please let us know.

    I’m sorry that you don’t sound well. But it’s important that you talk to a doctor about all your symptoms. You can ask them to check if your ARVs are still working well.

    Please let us know how you get on.

  4. Geeta

    Sir, I am HIV the day I got married ion 20 May 1994 but came to know after a year during 7 months of my pregnancy. My husband had passed away on 14 Feb 1998. My doctor suggested not to start medicine because I was perfectly fit. In 2007 I started ART medicine and was many problems faced due to this HIV ghost mental, physical body pain but took treatment like ayurvedic massage and healthy food and was recovered. But now too much pus cells cough in throat. Tuberculosis also tested but it’s negative, even then I can’t eat food. Have to eat very soft which can be swallow easily. My medicine is continuing bronchitis tablets plus art. My cough is not stopping and due to cough throat is swelling body pain, ribs pain. Please help me in recovery.

  5. Roy Trevelion

    Hi Smitha,

    Has your Mother started HIV treatment (ART)? Sometimes HIV positive people do start ART at low CD4 counts. But the good thing is that ART can reduce HIV so that it can’t be detected in the blood test.

    Once this happens the CD4 count gets the chance to recover. But this is usually slower than the drop in HIV in the blood test.

    Does your mother have access to her viral load result? And what HIV meds is she taking?

  6. Smitha

    Hi. My mother has cd4count 77.will it increase.? How many days need to increase? Will she be fine with her health?

  7. Roy Trevelion

    Dear Srrr Ruuu,
    What HIV treatment are you taking? And was your CD4 count very low when you started two months ago? It would be good to find out more about your meds. Please let us know.

  8. Srrr Ruuu

    Sir my cd4 count is 52 how long i live my treatment is start 2months complete help me

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