Hello everyone,
Hope everything is well for you. Anyways this week has been full of HIV/AIDS work thanks to this class. I finished the module about the immune system and was very surprised about how advanced we are about the HIV/AIDS virus. I think that if we already know the structure and function of the virus it should not be too long before we find a way to stop it from working if not cure the virus itself. Also I finished reading my book At Risk for are assignment this week and I cried like a little baby. The last half of the book finally went into how Amanda the HIV/AIDS patient felt about the whole thing and it was the same way I would feel if I knew I was going to die. She was scared about dying and if she would be in pain, the other side, and most of all that everyone would eventually forget her. The book ended with her not dying, but getting really really sick and having to go to the hospital so one could only assume she did die. At the beginning of this week I interviewed three of my old fellow CNA students about HIV/AIDS and was in shock about how uneducated they still were about the subject. One of the questions was what stigmas they associated with HIV/AIDS and two of my friends said someone who is a sexual person, careless, and someone who abuses drugs. This was sad to me, but it just emphasizes the need for education on the subject of HIV/AIDS.
Since last week I talked about two drugs working together for a strong impact on HIV/AIDS I decided it would be best to talk about one drug that has multiple chemicals working for a strong im
pact on HIV/AIDS. EPZICOM is just that, it is one pill that contains both abacavir and lamivudine, which are two NRTIs. According to the HIV/AIDS article NRTI stands for Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor and stops the replication of HIV by interfering with the reverse transcriptase enzyme, ultimately stopping the production of HIVs viral DNA. According to EPZICOM's homepage, "68% of patients taking a regimen with EPZICOM had their viral load become undetectable in less than one year. On top of that, patients had a 93% increase in their T-cell count." Just like the Norvir combination EPZICOM works by lowering the viral load and increasing the T-cell count, but EPZICOM is more convenient due to the fact that it is just one pill. Unfortunately, HIV can develop a drug resistance and if the patient does not recognize the problem soon enough it might be too late to start a new drug regimen in time.
pact on HIV/AIDS. EPZICOM is just that, it is one pill that contains both abacavir and lamivudine, which are two NRTIs. According to the HIV/AIDS article NRTI stands for Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor and stops the replication of HIV by interfering with the reverse transcriptase enzyme, ultimately stopping the production of HIVs viral DNA. According to EPZICOM's homepage, "68% of patients taking a regimen with EPZICOM had their viral load become undetectable in less than one year. On top of that, patients had a 93% increase in their T-cell count." Just like the Norvir combination EPZICOM works by lowering the viral load and increasing the T-cell count, but EPZICOM is more convenient due to the fact that it is just one pill. Unfortunately, HIV can develop a drug resistance and if the patient does not recognize the problem soon enough it might be too late to start a new drug regimen in time.Reference
ViiV Healthcare. (2010) EPZICOM Backbone Therapy. Retrieved(Feb, 15, 2010). http://www.epzicom.com/about-epzicom/backbone-hiv-therapy.html
The New York Times Company. (2010) About.com:AIDS/HIV Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (NRTI). Retrieved(Feb, 17,2010). http://aids.about.com/od/hivaidslettern/g/nrt/.htm
Hey Jenna!
ReplyDeleteThis QOTW was difnitely an eye opener on how uneducated people can be about the disease. I actually interviewed my grandma who is in her 80's and had the worst stigma towards HIV and AIDS and I actually sat there and taught her more bout it so that she wouldn't go around preaching horrible fake facts. Hopefully because we are taking this class we will learn enough to educate others and help society slowly but surely :)
Jenna,
ReplyDeleteI also got that "careless sex/drug abuser response" when I asked my questions for the QOTW. This just shows how much proper education is needed on the subject of HIV. People are still believing the stereotypes of how HIV is contracted. People have yet to realize that HIV can be contracted by ways that have nothing to do with drugs or sex. Hopefully people will wise up...especially with classes like this one in place.
I tend to stay away from reading those kinds of books, or movies on the same theme. I suppose enough of the lived reality is enough for me. Things have changed over the years, but not in every community. There is still a lot of fear around discrimination and disclosure. This is one of the reason I live my life so publically so others can hopfully see that they can have the ability to.
ReplyDeleteI presently take a combination drug. The one problem with the once a day treatments in my view is that: 1) people now think, "OH I only have take a pill a day, that's no big deal" education needs to address those issues while balancing that for most HIV is a long-term chronic condition that can be managed, yet get the message that it is still not a great way to go. 2) If you miss a dose, you miss a dose of all your drugs. Personally I rather take a few pills it makes no difference to me. And with this one specifically, even though it is not conclusive, Abacavir has been potentially linked to heart attacks. The studies contradict each other, and there may have been a predisposition to put those with underlying CV disease on the drug, thus having a population more suceptible to heart attacks. Whatever it is, it's been enough for some doctors to switch patients to something else.
There is also a potential and life threatening hypersensitivity reaction to Abacavir, however there is a test to screen that out a head of time. I wasn't as fortunately and had to find out the old fashioned by a week of spiking very high fevers, and a sun-burned like rash from head to toe.
My daughter was on a once-a-day pill, but it played with her emotional stability we had to take her off the medication. No studies have been done on children with all these medications and sustiva apparently has a very adverse reaction with African American children. It wasn't pleasant to watch, so I'm glad she is back on twice-a-day dosing.
ReplyDelete