no more teachers' dirty looks
combination therapy, but when someone is thinking of stopping treatment we can feel helpless. Dr Mike Youle of the Royal Free Hospital
says most clients still stop treatment without discussing it with their
clinician. Yet those people are facing just as complex a decision as people
starting.
Adam stopped treatment the week before he was due to give blood. He saw
the doctor a week later and all results were good. His next appointment
would then be three months away; three months' grace.
He told me he left the hospital feeling better than he had in years. Was
it stopping or 'getting away with it' that put the spring in his step?
He still doesn't know.
He told me this three weeks after stopping. He'd arranged to see me as
he had flu and an unexplained rash but did not want to go to the hospital.
He looked as if he expected me to tell him off for being naughty. I just
asked what was going on around the time he stopped taking his medication.
He had just been dumped by his partner via a text message two days before.
If that bit of his life was out of control he just wanted to find some
control in another. People living with HIV for a long time often feel
that they have handed over control of their lives to medication and blood
results. So Adam 'dumped' his pills.
I introduced Adam to another service user who had stopped treatment recently.
They discussed the pros and cons and Adam was sure he had made the right
decision.
He got a chest x-ray (all was well) and some creams for the rash.
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His doctor was supportive about his choice to remain off treatment, though
