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HIV

People's stories

Aged 46-55

Interview 16

Interview 16

Age at Interview: 52
Sex: Male
Age at Diagnosis: 44
Background: A retired solicitor in a 20 year-old relationship with another HIV positive man living in a quiet coastal town.

Brief outline:He was taking a combination of anti-virals (zidovudine, nevirapine and abacavir) with no side effects. He has less energy than he once did, but is not sure if this is due to HIV or getting older.

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With 8 years of experiences, he talks about how to reduce the impact of health problems.
Print Well simply be of good heart. I mean, nowadays it is possible to live a good life, a reasonably full life. And certainly I was working for a number of years before I was overcome by the effects. You have to expect that there will be occasional surprises and some rather unpleasant ones but I've… my experience has always been that I've always been able to overcome the nasty symptoms by simply traipsing back to the clinics and obtaining the appropriate medication. I mean the… I have been fortunate in that respect. And certainly without the medication I'd be dead, I would have died some years ago. So the nasty surprises don't have to blow you out of the water is what you are saying? No, I mean it's easier to say that than it is to actually, you know, put into effect at that time. But you, I think if you have a frame of mind whereby you're prepared for disasters, potential disasters brewing up, and then perhaps you're not prone to be quite so surprised. It's easier once it's happened once or twice to you… you know, the third or fourth time it happens you're not quite so bad. The first time or the first couple of times it can be a bit dramatic, it's true. But I mean, you just have to accept that life is going to throw up more unpleasant surprises quite by random and without any explanation and quite often without any warning. And you just have to be prepared to deal with it.

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