Blogger

AIDS Activists Cry Foul as Drug Companies Push Prices to Record LevelsPosted Topic Health The following was released by AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition: A steady onslaught of “unreasonable, unacceptable, and unjustified” increases in the price of therapies to treat HIV has caused activists in the US to accuse drugmakers of artificially inflating the market at […]

Salvage Therapies – New drugs offer hope to patients with multiple-drug resistance HIV virus. By Nelson VergelI have been HIV positive since 1983 and tested in 1986. Like many long- term survivors who started nucleoside monotherapy (AZT, D4T, DDI) in the late ’80s/early ’90s, I have developed multi-drug resistance. Over 40 of my friends have

From Treatment IssuesIt’s Time to Face the Zerit ProblemTreatment Issues: Newsletter of Experimental AIDS Therapies – Volume 17, Number 3, March 2003Nelson VergelWhen I give lectures on how to manage the side effects of HIV medications, I am constantly reminded of how widespread the “sunken cheek” look has become. Many if not most of the

SurvivorTreatment Advocate Nelson Vergel Wants the Experimental Drug Pipeline Opened Up for Patients Like Himself Who Are in Need of Salvage TherapyBy By Benjamin RyanNelson Vergel is trapped in medical limbo. The 46-year-old treatment advocate expects to remain there for the next two or three years unless he can successfully use his activist chops to

You guys may want to read this really good article about steroids and HIV wasting…For some, steroid use builds hopeTreatment: Doctors find medical value in the drugs to restore muscle patients lose to diseases The Baltimore SunBy Erika NiedowskiFebruary 20, 2005 A few years after his HIV diagnosis, Nelson Vergel began wasting away. No matter

Nelson Vergel’s Vitamin and Mineral Supplement RegimenAugust 2001This is the second installment in our series “What Supplements I Take and Why.” This article looks at the supplement regimen taken by Nelson Vergel. Nelson, a native of Venezuela and 17-year survivor of HIV, is a leading treatment advocate for HIV-related wasting, lipodystrophy, and wellness in HIV

Title: 9th Annual POZ Cruise Wellness RetreatCity: Los AngelesState: CACountry: United StatesDates: 10/21/2006 – 10/29/2006Event Type: Special EventSubject: Peer Support; Persons with HIV/AIDS; Support GroupsDescription: This eight-day cruise aboard the Norwegian Star is a retreat for the HIV community, either straight or gay, and their friends and family. The group will be confidential and provide

I’ve been positive since 1983, and like many other long-term survivors, I took each new drug as soon as it became available. Even after combo therapy arrived, I often mixed one new med that worked with others that were already failing. The practice proved to be a recipe for resistance. In the past two years,

New Drugs Can Save Lives; AIDS Activists Urge Tibotec to Be Compassionate Towards HIV Salvage PatientsHOUSTON, March 8 /PRNewswire/ — AIDS Activists, seeking to expand access to new drugs for people living with HIV who have run out of treatment options, are urging Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, to provide compassionate access

Well, this will be a good experiment. It seems easy enough. I hope it serves a purpose somehow. I have been HIV positive for 21 years and have developed resistance to all available drugs. I look great, actually…I look much better than I usually feel. Fatigue is common in my life. But I have learned