'MEDS' not 'HIV' - The real killer
Don't believe what the drugs companies tell you.

WITHOUT HAART 'MEDS"

“These long-term nonprogressors [Hiv+ people who remained healthy] are a
heterogeneous group with respect to viral load and HIV-1 responses…none
had been treated with antiretroviral agents.”

AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 12: 585 (1996)
– Harrer, Thomas, et al, Aids Researchers

NOT ONE USED HAART

“Subjects: homosexual men in Amsterdam. “None of the LTAs [long-term
asymptomatics–people who remained healthy]…received any antiviral drugs
during the study [7 years].”

“Ten HIV+ people; 11-15 years infected; non-progressors [i.e., healthy];
maintained stable T-cell counts above 500. “These long-term
nonprogressors…all showed the same risk factor (sexual exposure), and all
had...virus...and none had been treated with antiretroviral agents.”

AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 12: 585 (1996)
– Harrer, Thomas, et al, Aids Researchers
Journal of Infectious Diseases, 171:811 (1995)
– Hogervorst E, et al, Aids Researchers
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WITH HAART

“…Choosing between many of these [HAART] combinations is, therefore,
increasingly dependent upon knowledge of antiretroviral
toxicities...[which include] myopathy [gross muscle atrophy] (zidovudine
[AZT]), neuropathy (stavudine, didanosine, zalcitabine; hepatic steatosis
and lactic acidaemia (didanosine, stavudine, zidovudine); and possible
also peripheral lipoatrophy and pancreatitis (didanosine)...drug
hypersensitivity... lipodystrophy...[including] peripheral fat loss
(Presumed lipoatrophy in the face, limbs and buttocks) and central fat
accumulation (within the abdomen, breasts and over the dorsocervical spine
[so-called buffalo hump]...[and prevalent in] about 50% [of patients]
after 12-18 months of therapy...Metabolic features significantly
associated with lipodystrophy and protease-inhibitor therapy include
hypertriglyceridaemia, hypercholesterolaemia, insulin resistance...and
type 2 ...diabetes mellitus. Dyslipidaemia at concentrations associated
with increased cardiovascular disease occurs in about 70% of patients.
These metabolic abnormalities are more profound in those receiving
protease inhibitors...Most cases of diabetes have been identified in
recipients of protease inhibitors...Anemia and granulocytopenia affect
about 5-10% of patients who receive zidovudine...Virtually all
antiretroviral medications can cause nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea early
in therapy...Diarrhea is probably most common with protease
inhibitors...Most antiretroviral agents have been associated with hepatic
[liver] toxicity...Most protease inhibitors seem to result in increased
rates of spontaneous bleeding (bruising, haemarthrosis, and rarely
intracranial haemorrhage) in haemophiliacs... 25-35% of patients cannot
tolerate [AZT monotherapy] or triple combination therapy for 4 weeks...”

Lancet. 2000 Oct 21;356:1423-0.
– Carr A, Cooper DA, Aids Researchers

BLINDNESS

“This study was conducted to determine the likelihood of the development
of [immune recovery vitritis, IRV], which causes vision loss in AIDS
patients with cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, who respond to HAART. We
followed 30 HAART-responders…Symptomatic IRV developed in 19 (63%) of 30
patients.”

J Infect Dis. 1999 Mar;179(3):697-700

CASTLEMAN'S DISEASE

“Recently, we observed an unusual cluster of cases of rapidly progressing
multicentric Castleman’s disease. Fever, weakness, generalized enlargement
of lymph nodes, and marked polyclonal gammopathy developed in three
patients with AIDS...Two of these patients died within one week after the
diagnosis, with generalized involvement of the lymphatic system, liver,
and bone marrow at autopsy. A fourth patient with AIDS who died equally
rapidly after the diagnosis of multicentric Castleman’s disease had been
seen in our hospital 14 months earlier... symptoms…started after the
initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy in these three
patients.”

N Engl J Med. 1999 Jun 17;340(24):1923-4
– Zietz C, et al, Aids Researchers
– Karavellas MP, et al, Aids Researchers

DEATH
“…Of the 70 patients studied, 84% were still alive after the 3-month study
period...17 surviving patients (24%) had HAART regimens discontinued due
to drug intolerance and 11 (16%) expired [died] during the study
period...”
J Pain Symptom Manage. 2001 Jan;21(1):41-51

NERVE DAMAGE

“The antiretroviral drugs currently licensed in the United Kingdom [June
1996] are zidovudine (azidothymidine [AZT]), zalcitabine (ddC) and
didanosine (ddI). All three are nucleoside analogues...All are very toxic.
Suppression of bone marrow elements can occur with any of the three, as
can peripheral neuropathy [nerve damage].”

Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin. 1996 Jun;178:675-8.
– Ellis C.J., Leung D., Aids researchers

“A decrease in mtDNA [DNA of the mitochondria; the energy regulating
entities within every cell] content was found in HAART-treated
HIV-infected patients with peripheral fat wasting in comparison with
subjects in the control cohorts...Lipodystrophy with peripheral fat
wasting following treatment with NRTI [Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase
Inhibitor]-containing HAART is associated with a decrease in subcutaneous
adipose [under the skin fat] tissue.”

AIDS. 2001;15:1801-9
– Shikuma CM, Hu N, Milne C, et al, Aids Researchers

‘These drugs are as dangerous as chemotherapy,’
“7 HIV patients presenting LD [Lipodystrophy, all taking antiretroviral
therapy] and 5 HIV non-LD controls participated in the study…Structural
muscle abnormalities, mitochondrial respiratory chain dysfunction or mtDNA
deletions were detected in all HIV lipodystrophic patients. The
mitochondrial abnormalities found suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction
could play a role in the development of antiretroviral therapy-related
lipodystrophy. ”
AIDS. 2001 Sep 7;15(13):1643-51
– Zaera MG, et al, Aids Researchers

“Combination drug therapy, or the triple-drug ‘cocktail’…often provokes
severe side effects… ‘These drugs are as dangerous as chemotherapy,’
warned Dr. James Kahn, UCSF associate professor of medicine…”
– Science Daily, Sep 4, 2001

SEXUAL DIFFICULTIES - Body distortions

“[Chapters in this guide to HIV drugs are entitled Introduction, Appetite
loss, Body distortions (lipodystrophy), Bone death and destruction,
Cardiac concerns, Diarrhea, Fatigue, Gas and bloating, Hair loss,
Headaches, Insulin resistance and diabetes, Kidney stones, Liver toxicity,
Muscle aches and pains, Nausea and vomiting, Nightmares, daymares and
sleeping difficulties, Pancreatitis, Peripheral neuropathy, Skin problems,
Sexual difficulties, The end]”

– A Practical Guide to HIV Drug Side Effects, CATIE, 2002

HEART ATTACKS
“Use of protease inhibitors was strongly associated with the likelihood of
having a myocardial infarction [heart attack] and correlated with diabetes
mellitus and hyperlipidaemia.”
Lancet. 2002 Nov 30;360(9347)
– Holmberg SD, et al, Aids Researchers