Gobble, gobble! Happy Thanksgiving

Guys! I have been so busy these past couple of months and didn't have the time to even update this blog. Anyhow, it's Thanksgiving break/holiday and I thought I'd revisit this blog.

Thanksgiving here in the US is a big deal. This is even bigger than Christmas or New Year. A lot of people travel back to their hometown or to the states where they grew up to be with their families and friends. Thanksgiving is also synonymous with turkeys and cranberry sauce and stuffing. This is one holiday that almost everyone eat like there's no other day. This is also the time where most of American love to shopping. Yes, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving day.

But the real meaning of this holiday is actually to give thanks to whatever good or bad things we received the past year. I myself have a lot of stuff to be grateful for. The biggest thing that I am grateful for is the support that I get for my meds. Without my meds, I might not be writing this blog anymore. Thankful for waking up everyday and seeing the sun rays enter my window blinds.

On a lighter note, since this is sort of an update. I just would like to mention again two internet sites that I closely watch and they are slowly growing: The No Day But Today Project and The Love Yourself Project. Please support these two groups in anyway you can. They aim to create awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines. So I beg to my 6 followers to spread the word.

The Love Yourself Project

Recently advocacy group started popping up in the Philippines. This is in response to the alarming increase of HIV/AIDS related deaths that has been happening recently. I another advocacy group several months ago in this blog, now I would like to introduce you to The Love Yourself Project. In brief, according to their website, "their aim is to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among the youth and the Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) sector in the Philippines, primarily through education and counseling. It is the first project by the VINN Advocacy group."

The group was formed by Ronivin (Vinn) Garcia Pagtakhan and his close friends who were concerned by the increasing demand and queries by LGBT-MSM. The core group were all professionals, most of them are registered nurses or in the medical field and one life coach.

So if any of you reading this blog and would want to get involved with this group, you can contact them directly via email at TLYproject@gmail.com and you can also like their facebook page here.

Let us support all these advocacy groups, the only way we can create awareness about HIV/AIDS is thru education and these advocacy groups are in the forefront of these campaigns.

A Story from "The No Day but Today Project"

I came across this page recently on Facebook and from the moment I discovered this page, I have been a follower. I check this almost every day if not twice or 3X a day. Learned about the HIV/AIDS situation in the Philippines which is for all of you who just stumbled upon my blog is my beloved country. One story that caught my attention was that of Jake who is probably the creator of this page and Miguel who might be his friend on Facebook. Apparently for no obvious reasons, Miguel attacked Jake because the latter was fighting for a cause which is awareness about HIV/AIDS in the Philippines.

You can read the whole story after the jump.....

Filipino debuted in Guys With iPhone

He is known as Hotwetspeedo in the chatworld. He made a big debut in the internet world today. His picture was posted in one of the famous sites for iPhone pictures...the Guys With iPhone website.

Click here for his g-rated picture and his x-rated picture here. Update!! New picture here.

Truvada - one of my ARVs

Truvada one of my antiretroviral medications is said to have been found to reduce the odds of getting HIV from an infected person. Study shows that if a person is sexually active and choose to take Truvada as part of his daily regimen, most likely this man has a 73% chance of not getting infected.

In my humble opinion, safe sex or using condoms is still the best preventive measure against HIV/AIDS. Let's not put our trust to one drug. There is still a lot of testing to do. Although this is a result of a scientific study which means it has undergone testing and have been proven in the scientific community, let us not forget that there are number of strands of HIV, so in short...just put the rubber and enjoy safe sex.

Read the entire blog after the jump.....

HIV Treatments Prevent Transmission

The United States National Institutes of Health announced today that the results of a new study shows that if an HIV positive person adheres to an effective antiretroviral therapy regimen, the risk of transmitting the virus to their uninfected sexual partner can be reduced by astounding 96%.

read the entire story after the jump.....

Dustin Zito of Real World

He said and insisted that he did not have any sex with another man during his stint at Frat Pad. Dustin Zito is Spencer in Frat Pad and recently he was confronted by his roomies on the Real World about his past.

Well I guess you guys will be the judge if he said this is not having sex with another man. Send him a message at @dustinzito on his twitter account.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

NEWSFLASH: HIV Classified as Disability

I dont know if I will be happy or not about this. Recently the US Equal Employement Commission classified HIV as disability. I haven't heard any comments yet as this is very new and fresh. We'll probably hear more about this soon.

IMHO, I think this will just add up to the stigma that HIV+ men and women experience right now. I mean if they consider this a disability they might as well also consider cancer or diabetes a disability. I guess this should be hardly thought off before throwing it out in the band wagon.

Find the short snipet of the news here: HIV CLASSIFIED DISABILITY BY EEOC

Elizabeth Taylor the Legend

Liz Taylor as known in the industry, died at 79. She is a fierce supporter of gay rights and HIV/AIDS charities. She is a legend. She's one of the most beautiful women of the world. She brought classic hollywood glamour to her time, something that isn't there today anymore. She will forever be the one, the only Elizabeth Taylor.

So What is Grindr?

When I learned about Grindr it was only available on iPod Touch/iPhone, now it is available on different platforms. Recently Android released it, currently RIM Blackberry is having it on beta testing. So what is really Grindr. Well it is a gay hook up site. Yes, it is where men who likes to have sex with men start their search for a potential sex partner. Sorry to be very straightforward but that is the truth. In Grindr's information advert, it say GPS blah blah trying to loop around the sex thing, but it all boils down to a hook up site. Technically, Grindr uses GPS or cellular site position to locate the possible sex mate in the vicinity of the user. It triangulates those position and gives off the approximate location of the user or the one looking for a hook up. Now sometimes, the approximate distance of how far the user is from his potential mate depends on the number of GPS or cell site available. Of course the more GPS/cell site, the more.accurate the location. So what's inside Grindr. Lots of semi-naked men. Showing their pecs or six-pack abs. Most of the men are headless, few men show their faces, some are old, some are not even 18! Oh yeah, Grindr has a policy too that you can't have a butt shot even when you're wearing a clothes but you can post an almost naked picture. Ironic. Any chance of hooking up on this site, Yes and No. Yes, maybe hook up with a troll who hides behind a picture of a model's torso. And No, just some of the men are picky even though they don't look good themselves. Warning: there is no way to know if the person is HIV positive or negative. Hook up at your own risk. But you can always practice safe sex.

First test blog from my phone

I have been trying to look for a way to blog from my phone. Blogger doesn't have an app yet (not that I know off) for Blackberry but I know Wordpress have one. Anyhow, I'm testing it right now, if the mail-to-blogger will work. The only downside to this that I can think of right now is that you have to open your email client from your Blackberry, which I'd rather want to use an app instead of my email. So we'll see right now if this will post including the picture attachement. I also wanted to see how this will look like in the actual blog. Good luck to me.

I have been recently reading the Manila Gay Guy blog again. It brings me memories back when I was still in the Philippines. Miggs is so lucky to be able to go home as much as we want. So when he blogs about the Philippines especially Manila, I really get into reading it from start to finish.

Anyways, I came across the story of Jake and I would like to post this link because I can feel what Jake was feeling when he discovered he was POSITIVE. It happened to me once. I felt so alone and reading his ordeal brought me back to that moment when the doctor broke the news to me that I am POZ.

Just to update you guys, since I know I haven't been active on this blog for a long time, I have been well for the past three years now. I am undetectable for two years now and been doing very well health-wise. My HIV doctor was very pleased with the results of my test and so far I have been his example to his other HIV patients. He even brags about me and all the stuff that I am doing here i.e., doing my research, attending conferences, presenting scientific papers, getting cited for my articles, etc. Sometimes, I am the one who feels shy about all the stuff he says to his interns.

So that's my life here. Busy with work and research. Again i will say that I will try to keep this blog updated but don't count on it. LOL Research comes first and facebook, but if there are some significant news about HIV, be sure to check my blog. I keep my self abrest when it comes to this disease.

This blog is OPEN Again...

This blog have re-opened its doors. It's been a while since the last entry. I transferred blog to positibo007 but somebody hacked that account and it already belongs to another person. Oh well, at least I still have this one which is really the original blog that I created when I discovered that I was positive. I have to go through all the emails that I used just to be able to revive this blog. I am positively hoping that this blog won't be hacked this time.

This blog is CLOSED...

and I transferred everything to http://positiboo007.blogspot.com/, I am reviving this blog thru this new address and I hope to see you guys there.

Finally...my meds arrived!

Last week i had an appointment with my doctor. He was finally able to prescribe me the best medicine that would work on me after considering all the results of the laboratory exams that we did. The pill is called ATRIPLA. It is one pill with three HIV medicines in it. I am copying and pasting some of the important facts about the pill here in my blog.

ATRIPLA is a combination of three HIV medicines: SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), EMTRIVA® (emtricitabine) and VIREAD® (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate).

How Does ATRIPLA Work?
ATRIPLA contains three HIV medicines in one pill: SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), EMTRIVA® (emtricitabine) and VIREAD® (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate). This combination works to lower the amount of HIV in the blood (called "viral load") by interfering with the way HIV makes copies of itself (called "viral replication"). Lowering the amount of HIV in the blood may also help increase the number of T cells (also called "CD4+ cells"). CD4+ cells are an important part of your immune system, because they help the body fight infections.

For many patients, ATRIPLA may be a complete regimen, with three medicines from two different "classes," or types of drug, in one pill. For some patients, ATRIPLA may be taken with other HIV medicines. ATRIPLA contains two NRTIs (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and one NNRTI (efavirenz). Regimens that combine HIV medicines from different classes are effective because they help to slow HIV multiplication during several stages of the process.

ATRIPLA does not cure HIV and has not been shown to prevent passing HIV to others.

Ask your doctor if ATRIPLA is right for you, and see your healthcare provider regularly. Individual results may vary. Please click here for Important Safety Information, including information on lactic acidosis, serious liver problems, and flare-ups of hepatitis B (HBV).

Next post will be about the side effects of the pill and if I am experiencing them....and the answer is yes..that's why I have to hit the bed now.

I love my "Family"

I was talking to my sister one night in the instant messenger. We were kinda catching up of what's happening to her. She said she was dating someone and that she really really like this person but there is one catch. This person is also poz. At that moment I felt cold and numb. So I started to educate her about HIV and I was pretty sure at that very moment she was wondering why I knew some facts about HIV, but she didn't ask. We just continued on talking, telling her that HIV isn't bad that she could still live a normal life even if the person has the virus. They could still even have sex if that's what they want to do. And so the conversation went on until, I couldn't any longer keep my secret. I was thinking at that time that maybe this is the sign for me to open up my situation to my "family". So I told her. At first she wasn't really taking me seriously, but I told her that it's true and then started the story behind why I knew I had the virus. She was very supportive, I asked her to call my other sisters and so that I could tell them and they were also very supportive. Of course, there's the worry about how I was doing here now that I have this, or if Im feeling ok. I told them that nothing has changed in me, except for my lifestyle. On their part, they told me that nothing has changed, I am still their sister that they knew, that they love so much and that they're always there whenever the time comes for me to go....drama!

Sya mga lola!! tama na nga! See you next post!

Trivial Pursuit.....some facts.

Just a few notes for some people very important to me...yung mga nagcocomment sa blog ko. Thank you so much for all the encouraging words na pinopost nyo. I am happy that in some ways, this blog helps to educate people. I would like to answer your questions in this particular post. Minsan kse sa sobrang work, I lost track of the people who ask me questions kaya iisahin ko na lang to answer those which I can remember.

When you get into meds, and bumaba masyado ang count ng CD4 cells mo, then you get the AIDS na, but if you are way above the line, then you are just HIV+. If you get sick, it doesn't mean you can't go back to being healthy again. Kaya lang iniiwasan magkasakit especially if you are HIV+ is because there could be complications and these complications could have fatal effect in your organs, and it could even cost your life. Yeah you are HIV+ but you died of pneumonia naman. So that's why people with HIV should always be in top shape. Pag nagkasakit ka, then you have to treat that sakit before going back to your normal routine like going to the gym or partying (but i dont recommend this). Make sure you dont have the ailment and then you can do your stuff again. Meds become part of your life. My doctor told me you have to be concious when to take it, if your medication time is 2am, you have to get up at 2am and drink your tabs.

So i guess this also answers the question that its not true na walang gamot for HIV/AIDS, my doctor said that 20 years from now, pwedeng may cure na for AIDS and HIV is almost equivalent na lang sa cancer. In fact mas fatal pa nga daw ang cancer. The mortality rate for cancer is even higher than the mortality rate of AIDS. You may not even die of HIV/AIDS nowadays, so ingat ako lagi sa pagtawid sa kalsada because that could possibly be a reason for an early death for me...LOL.

UPDATE: this march I will start my meds. I have a lot of lab tests to do before I could start on meds. The doctor wanted to have a baseline of where I am really in terms of infection. He will give me triplets. It's a concoction of three meds in one capsule. I dont know if my feeling is right but Im excited. Maybe because I really wanted to keep my self in top shape. I am healthy right now, in fact my doctor was surprised because coming from a very different place, a tropical country and coming to US with very different weather, di daw nagsusuffer ang health ko. In fact almost all the people who have been living here in the US nagkasakit na because of the really worst weather we are having now (because of Global Warming), ako hindi pa (knock on wood). And i am very thankful for that, aside from mahal ang magkasakit dito, I am sure im still in good shape considering I have a new boarder in my body.

I might have more interesting post in the future. Thanks for reading my blog.

after a long wait.....

I finally had the chance to see my doctor last week. The doctor was assigned to me by my case manager. My manager asked me if I wanted a female or male doctor, but no offense to female doctor, I chose a male doctor. You see, it's different talking to a male doctor instead of a female one, especially if you're talking about sex, and not just straight sex but gay sex. I had my shares of misadventures with the female species before, although two of my best friends are female but they are one-of-a-kind. One I could not forget was from my former officemate, we were talking one day about relationships and out of nowhere, she was lashing out gay men and telling me, "kayong mga bading salot sa ming mga babae". Duh?!? Even she was joking about it, I really really was offended by her remark and from then on I choose the stuff that I discussed with her. Now, I heard she had a bad incident with another gay employee in the office and worse was this gay employee was taking his rebuttal to the big boss.

Anyway back to my visit to the doctor, I had a very informative talk with him. He just again strengthen my belief that I could still live a normal life and do what normal people or gay people would do. He even told me that I could have sex again after he gives me a "clean bill of health" which just mean that he was able to establish my baseline viral load and CD4 cells count. Next plan is I will have my blood drawn again before I start on pills. He said he will give me a single capsule with three medicines in it. It's called the triplet, a concoction of three medicines in one. He warned me already that if I misses dosage in my other meds, then this shouldn't happen with the triplets. I should really follow the time religiously. After hearing that, I remember the RENT musical, and they have a scene there where everybody's beeper sounded all at the same time, and it just signals the characters that they need to pop a pill. I dont think Ill have one of those gadgets, it might just catch attention.

I also met the nurse assigned to me and she was a lovely old lady. She helped me thru the pre-exam preparation and she told me that the doctor who's coming to check me is one of the best in US right now. I am really lucky to be here, best doctor in the US for free to treat me. Yeah unfortunately of HIV/AIDS. Sigh. But yeah, I guess there's a purpose why I am here now.

Gotto leave you guys for now, Ill keep this blog as updated as it can be but I also have to work to make a living. So just check from time to time. By the way, the good news is with the meds now, I have 20-30 more years to live and by the time I reach 60, with the advancement happening, I'd get another 20 years. That's the good news!

Not so Happy New Year

Yeap, my new year isn't so happy at all. But still, I want to greet everyone a Happy New Year and wishing you the best in 2008.

I got my lab results finally. My CD4 cells are below normal and if goes down further I would be classified as an AIDS patient. My viral load or the HIV in my system is typically low. The lower viral load you have the better for your health. So how come my HIV is low and at the same time my CD4 is low. The most ideal situation is that when your CD4 is above normal, your HIV load is low....but in my case they are both low. The doctor gave me an explanation, and that its possible that I have HIV for quite some time already which means that most of the CD4 cells have already been eaten up by the virus. My immune system is just strong enough to fight the infections and when my immune system went down, then that was the time the HIV attacked.

Pretty bad news for me but that's the reality, we have to deal with it one way or another.

Which Skiviez are you?

I was doing some online shopping when an ad popped out of my screen. It says in the ad Skiviez Shop. Being new here in the US, I dunno what the hell is a skiviez! so out of curiousity I clicked the ad and lo and behold...this is a skiviez.

So I clicked some more and not bad....i actually enjoyed the site . Here's another photo from this site. This is the back view of the previews photo.

Okei, I know you're all heated up now by these photos, if you're gonna "do" someone, always be careful, be safer. Stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Visit this site Skiviez Shop for more selection of skiviez and more choices of men.