In the early years of the HIV/Aids pandemic, no treatment meant people went
into action and sought out alternative therapies and supplements and created a
network. Many of those infected have lived the last 20 years or more without HIV
drugs and dealt with it well due to nutritional supplements, alternative and complementary
therapies.
We may have jumped the gun and put all our efforts into pharmaceuticals when it
comes to fighting Aids.
For over 18 years, I have been living with HIV. I have gone without drug treatments
for 13 of those years using alternative and complementary therapies instead. While
on drug medications, I have included alternative therapies and have been able
to decrease my viral load to undetectable! Creating a healthy environment for
the body can be addressed in many ways, incorporating nutrition, exercise, controlling
stress, alternative therapies, herbal, botanical and dietary supplements which
contribute to its well being. There are many who cannot tolerate or have not taken
any anti viral drugs, who are living long and healthy lives, totally alive, full
of vitality without them!
BRADFORD MCINTYRE, VANCOUVER, CANADA.
Email: bradford@vancouverbc.net
I picked up the February 2003 issue of Positive Nation this week while on a
little shopping trip in Soho. I found your publication interesting, the articles
thought provoking and the World News section enlightening, especially the article
on 'S. Africa: No drugs to live & nowhere to die'.
Being South African myself, I was nevertheless still shocked and astounded by
the sheer ignorance prevailing within the South African government on HIV and
AIDS.
Positive Nation is a truly remarkable publication, which has given me a great
deal of food for thought.
DEON NEWBRONNER, LONDON.
I read Laurence Gibson's article about Patient Involvement
(February 2003) with interest. It is true that the Patient Involvement processes
now being implemented in the NHS represent an important opportunity for people
living with HIV to have a say in the way that services are managed and provided.
An engagement at all levels in this process can only improve our services. The
unique experience of people living with HIV can make a very significant contribution
to service improvement in the NHS as a whole. Am I alone in noticing how much
better my experiences with specialist HIV services are than those with any other
set of NHS services? But I would like to take issue with Laurence in his discussion
of the Expert Patients Programme. This government programme follows on from experience
of self-management in the wider voluntary sector. It offers a chance for people
with any long-term condition to explore the similarities between their experiences
and to gain the confidence to adopt healthier behaviours. Although the courses
are only six weeks long they act as a catalyst for individual change.
I'm also sorry that Cass Mann doesn't think the programme works. I can only say
it has worked for me and for many other people with HIV with whom I have worked
with as a course leader. Some of them have gone on to become trained course leaders
themselves and I hope that they will gain as much as I have from sharing their
experience with people with a range of long term conditions. For me this has been
the major benefit from involvement - a realisation that we share most problems
with other people with long term conditions. For myself this has been a spur to
wider involvement and I was recently appointed to the Commission for Public and
Patient Involvement in Health - not just as a person with HIV but also as a representative
of a wider community of people with long term conditions.
IAN HAYES, by email.
Ruth Webb ('Speak
Up', March 2003) is right to be angry and her challenge needs to be heard
by faith communities. Time and again people living with HIV are marginalised (at
best) and demonised (at worst) by institutionalised power structures like the
NHS or the Churches. But since the early days of the epidemic there have been
individuals within those power structures working for change and speaking out
prophetically. I remember with gratitude gay HIV positive priests like David Randall
and the continuing work of CARA, which he founded. I'm sure Ruth herself has Christian
friends who do their bit to change attitudes and really do practise what they
preach.
But it's much harder to crack the big nuts, the denominations, like the one I
work for. Much of my work is and will be focussed on supporting partner churches
overseas in prevention and care initiatives. It's a daunting task - I'm one person
in a large organisation. I would be grateful for all the help I can get from Christians
like Ruth who are ready to be out about their HIV status and their faith. Their
stories and concerns need to be heard. I'd be glad to hear them.
NIGEL POUNDE, THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, Email: npounde@cofscotland.org.uk
(also see news on page 10 - ed.)
I have just heard from one of my members of "Limelight On Liza UK", which I
have been running for 30 years now, that Liza Minnelli was recently featured in
Positive Nation. I felt very embarrassed as I did not know and as a gay man, I
feel quite ashamed.
ALAN RICE, LINDFORD, HAMPSHIRE.
