Hi<\/p>\n
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\u00a0advanced.<\/p>\n
Using ARV treatment (ART) as soon as possible is important. ART will reduce the serious risk of HIV-related health complications.<\/p>\n
The medicines\u00a0will still work for you. There are many reasons to be hopeful and optimistic.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0new symptoms over the next months.<\/p>\n
Also, please be\u00a0very careful not to miss any doses of your meds. This is called good adherence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Your doctor should also give you\u00a0antibiotics to protect you from other infections. This is usually cotrimoxazole (often also called Septrin or Bactrim) which is a combination of \u00a0trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. This treatment should continue until your CD4 count gets much higher (at least above 200, maybe above 350).<\/p>\n While your CD4 count is still below 50, including now, your doctor should also examine your eyes. This is to check whether\u00a0a viral infection called CMV is affecting your eyes. CMV can cause serious and permanent vision loss.<\/p>\n For more information see this guide to starting treatment, called Introduction to ART<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n These two links might help:<\/p>\n Just diagnosed:
\nhttps:\/\/i-base.info\/just-found-out<\/a><\/p>\n