Content Overview 
- Overview
- Take time to breathe. You are a person living with HIV - not a person dying of it. Whatever happened, happened. There is no use dwelling on it.
- HIV Basics
- Commit yourself to doing everything you can to keep the virus in check. Don't make any major decisions that you don't have to make right now.
- Look for a doctor with a large HIV practice who is connected with a quality hospital, in a different locale if necessary. Learn how to maximize your time with doctors.
- Decide whether to start treatment. If so, choose a treatment that fits your life. If you have any question about which treatment to take, get a second opinion.
- Learn to be wise about purchasing, living with, storing and disposing of drugs. Free drugs may be available.
- Non-Western treatments should be complementary, not instead of Western treatments. Cutting edge treatments are available if needed through clinical trials.
- Decide who to tell about your HIV status, and when. Your answers may be different for family and friends, children and work. If not before, tell your children about your diagnosis if you have symptoms.
- Think of family and friends as part of your health care team. Ask for help when you need it.
- Share your emotions. Seek someone to talk with who is going through the same thing you are. Consider joining a support group.
- Start examining your insurance and financial situation to determine how to pay for medical care and drugs or access them for free if you don't have the resources. If you don't have health coverage, get it. You still can.
- Pay attention to your financial basics such as paying your rent on mortgage on time. Keep track of medical expenses. They may be deductible.
- Don't go on a spending spree.
- If you work, learn about your legal rights and benefits, consider who to tell or not, negotiate an accommodation if you need one. Look for an advisor. If you are unable to work, learn how to apply for SSDI/SSI.
- Start getting your legal affairs in order - not because you're going to die from HIV but because the diagnosis can be a trigger to action. It will help you feel in control and help keep you busy.
- Learn about the HIV resources in your community.
- Drugs do not work in a vacuum. Start to think of the food you eat, the exercise you get, rest/sleep and even proper care of your mouth as steps you can take to make drugs and treatments most effective.
- Although a major source of transmission of HIV is through bodily contact, you can still be physically intimate with people. Learn how to avoid transmitting HIV to other people.
- If you have a pet, learn what you need to know to keep both of you healthy.
- Watch for mental conditions that affect your life. Depression, anxiety and other emotional side effects, can be treated.
Newly Diagnosed With HIV
HIV Basics
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Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS. Thanks to medical breakthroughs, HIV is basically a treatable chronic condition.
HIV attacks your immune system. Immune systems are made up of cells that fight infection and disease. One of the most important of these cells that fights infection is called the CD4 cell. It is also called the "T-helper cell" or T-cell.
- Once HIV is in the body, it infects CD4 (T-cell) cells and makes copies of itself in these cells. This makes new viruses. These new viruses are let out into the blood and infect other CD4 (T-cell) cells. This process kills the CD4 (T-cell) cells and the CD4 (T-cell) count goes down.
- As CD4 (T-cell) cells are lost, the immune system becomes weak. This makes it harder for your body to fight certain conditions that do not affect most healthy people. These include opportunistic infections (OIs) such as pneumonia, herpes, tuberculosis, and cancers such as lymphoma and cervical cancer.
Currently there is no known cure for HIV. However, there is a variety of drugs which can usually keep HIV in check.
If left untreated, HIV disease is usually fatal. Once HIV enters the blood stream, it lives in a person's cells. If HIV disease progresses to a certain point, it is known as AIDS. For example, if immune system T cells go below 200 as a result of the HIV infection or the person gets an illness generally associated with AIDS such as Kaposi Sarcoma.
For the stages of HIV disease, see: http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/hiv_disease.html 
For information on how HIV damages the immune system, see: http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/virology.html
If you do medical research about HIV/AIDS and read grim facts, keep in mind that:
- Statistical information about HIV disease is most likely out of date thanks to ongoing medical advances, including what are known as salvage therapies (therapies to use when first line therapies don't work).
- By their nature, statistics only provide a general guide so you can prepare in case the "what ifs" occur. Statistics do not predict what will happen to any individual. .
- Doing medical research can provoke anxiety and possibly even depression.
Expect to hear lots of advice and stories from friends. Keep in mind that information about what happened to other people is "anecdotal." It is not scientific. What happens to other people is frequently irrelevant to your own experience.
For more information, see:
- Medical Research ( and how to do it)
- Medical Research Services (that will do the research for you)
- Anxiety - and How To Cope With It
- Depression 101 (including how to recognize it and what to do about it)
Please share how this information is useful to you.
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