Do people really know how nasty HIV and AIDS is?

Question

I work in a hospital and on occasion there are AIDs patients and a few HIV patients. It seems that with the PC campaign about the disease, I think people have forgotten how cruel that disease can be. People with HIV have to make frequent trips to the hospital, take loads of medication, and it is expensive. AIDs is another story. I wouldn't wish advanced stages on my worst enemy.

No, I meant nasty. Difficult is not the right word in my opinion. Cruel and ruthless are good words too.

Answer 1

HIV infection/ AIDS are really nasty; the HIV destroys our immune system, making us easy prey for all kinds of opportunistic diseases [Kaposi's sarcoma, Pneumocystis, Toxoplasmosis, to mention just a few]. As cruel as the disease is, cruelest are those who make HIV/AIDS patients feel that they are to blame for being sick [ "he/she deserved it because was a IV drug junkie"; "it's his/her fault for having had unprotected sex"; "hope that AIDS kills all the homosexuals/prostitutes/heroin junkies in this world" ]. These expressions aren't product of my invention; these are comments I've heard with my own ears. I'm Hepatitis C positive; I contracted the virus by sharing contaminated needles and other drug paraphernalia with infected IV drug users, way back when I was a homeless heroin junkie. Now I'm recovered from my addiction. I tested negative to HIV, and keep on getting tested 3 times a year with negative results everytime so far. My doctor told me I needed treatment for the Hepatitis C before it damaged my liver. The cost of treatment is about $3,800 a month for six months, not covered by my medical insurance. I approached my dear father and my dear grandma for monetary help in getting treatment; I knew they could very well afford it. My father's response: "it's YOUR fault you got sick; now, YOU live with YOUR disease, and YOU DIE WITH IT". My grandma's response: " if it was (my brother's name here) who was sick, I'd take a mortgage on the house so he could get all the treatment he needed...". This is cruelest of all, because I'm the only female of my generation in our family. Cruelest still, to hear these words coming from the mouths of my first degree relatives. Back then, my dad didn't know he was to be struck by prostate cancer a few months later. My grandma never imagined she'd be diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the skin within a year, and it was ME, not her beloved grandson, who would take care of her on her deathbed [feeding, bathing, wiping her butt and giving her the morphine injections she so desperately needed]. As for me, the Hepatitis C viral load decreased from 13,452,000 to 162,000 WITHOUT MEDICAL TREATMENT within a period of 18 months; as long as this levels remain at less than 2,000,000, treatment is not recomended or necessary. Maybe Someone up there was listening that day and made justice.

Answer 2

People really don't know until they see it first hand or have it we that work in the health care Field see it and can understand a little more (this goes for any type of disease). People will never understand completely unless the deal with it first hand that goes for HIV, aids, herpes, diabetes, cancer, liver disease i can go on and on .

Answer 3

i think the user didn't mean nasty in the same context as ..dirty or filth, i think the user used the word nasty as in it's an extremely harsh disease, and he's right, HIV/AIDS is..not something you want to have, i feel horrible for those who acquired the disease, and i do hope there's a cure for it soon, i know scientists are working hard on it, and i hope they come up with a cure sometime in the very near future, but please, everybody needs to becareful, and always use protection.

Answer 4

Perhaps Nasty was an inappropriate word to use? I think the word you're looking for is Difficult

Answer 5

Seems we dont...unless we are or a patient or a specialist in the disease, and we sort of feel we wont get it...or we hope we never do, its idea scares us.