AIDS at 30

[MikeL]

We first heard of a horrible new epidemic 30 years ago. The pneumonia-like symptoms, unresponsive to antibiotics, soon led to the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Now, "AIDS is increasingly a disease of older people, who make up the fastest growing segment of the HIV-positive population." In six years, half that population will be over 50. Some of the aging is due to the longer life span of infected persons, but one in seven of those newly diagnosed is age 50 or older. Senior Americans are most likely getting the disease through unprotected sex.

 

The current issue of AARP Magazine contains an interesting article, AIDS at 30.

[W_L]

Hopefully, within three generation, HIV and AIDS might be a memory; a footnote like the black plague.

 

I do want to ask those that were old enough to live through the AIDS epidemic of the 1980's to share their stories and share the knowledge of what happened.

[Cia]

I was a kid so the earliest reactions didn't affect me much but I remember the stereotyping and when they finally started to break past the stereotypes and bigotry with stories like Ryan White. Since I was under 10 when it came out 88/89, I've always had that perception that the disease wasn't just about a 'punishment for gay men and their promiscious ways' stereotype. It's a damn tragedy for anyone and for a while no one knew what was going on.

 

I've worked with AIDS patients, I've known people-not patients- with HIV and most of them are/were older. I had safe sex drilled into me as a kid because of AIDS and HIV though, and still didn't do it all the time. I really think that protection is a bigger deal now than ever for younger generations. I just wish the elder ones would take note. No one should have to die from this disease when it's so preventable.

[Nephylim]

I first heard of AIDS from my mother, who was always a bit of a bitch. She used it to preach safe sex at me. I don't know why beacuse I was already married but we used to go out to a local club where *gasp* people used to smoke cannabis and were sexually 'loose' Just because I used to wear backless dresses didn't mean i was joining them. Anyway she also had an issue with the fact that there were gays there who were likely to infect me if I so much as looked at them. She was only homophobic with me... and she lost that when my daughter came out to be fair to her but still.

 

I remember the hysteria in that there was something on the news about it just about every night but it never touched me personally so I didn't pay all that much attention.

 

It was years later that it became personal to me when an ex boyfriend of my brother was diagnosed HIV. He came to visit me often and seeing the deteriation in him was scary. I think it was mostly psychological because when he found his current partner, also HIV, he started to improve again. The boyfriend is a total darling, I love him to bits and he's changed my friend completely.

 

They still suffer from all sorts of little things that are not widely publicised, like thrust and mouth ulcers and cold sores and nose sores and nasty little things which are hardly life threatening but still unpleasant.

[MikeL]

I do want to ask those that were old enough to live through the AIDS epidemic of the 1980's to share their stories and share the knowledge of what happened.

 

Thanks for suggesting this form of response, W L.

 

I remember having a business trip scheduled to San Francisco in the late 80s and several friends trying to get me to cancel it. They seemed serious, but possibly were just homophobic.

 

More sadly, in the early 90s I was in a corporate employee benefits committee meeting. We were discussing the increasing cost of medical insurance when someone asked if any employees had been diagnosed with AIDS. The human resources manager replied that several had, but they had all died relatively soon without generating a lot of medical bills. Fortunately, treatments were developed over the next few years; they were expensive, but did prolong lives.

[One Cheap Suit]

Between 1985 and 2000, I lost quite a few friends or acquaintances to AIDS. I've been at the bedside for some of them, the rest all died in hospitals, some with their families, and some who died with no support. For those who haven't seen it, it's pretty bad - dying of AIDS isn't like an aneurysm where you fall over dead one day. It's a long, slow process of wasting and aggressive diarrhea, all the while getting sicker as the disease progresses - with some of the weirdest illnesses, extended and frequent hospital stays become pretty normal. After a time, they either come home to die or just never come back from the hospital.

 

One of my best friends, David, was about 5'6" and weighed 150 pounds before he went symptomatic. By the time he died a year later (in '94), I think he weighed 60 pounds and had lost his sight and hearing. On many days, his mouth was so filled up with thrush that he couldn't swallow or eat and we'd have to take him to the clinic to get nutrition in him.

 

In 1992 and again in 1996 I saw the AIDS Quilt in Washington. It fills up the entire Washington Mall - I think its like 45,000 panels now and they don't display it all together anymore. Some say the most powerful memorial in Washington is the Vietnam one - that may be so today, but for me, the AIDS quilt and the reading of names makes me cry every time I see it.

[K.C.]

I was a teenager in the 80’s and still remember the first person I found out had AIDS. He was a friend of my sister and I had always looked up to him and sort of had a crush on him, but he was older than me. It really scared me to watch him suffer. He got very sick, very quickly and passed away. Health Care for HIV and AIDS patients back then was very rudimentary at best.

 

 

Now working in the Health Care field, I see lots of HIV patients living much longer and fuller lives. New discoveries in medicine have made this possible along with generous donations to research and strives towards a cure. I know it’s a long way off, but I look for the day that HIV and AIDS is just a chapter in history and not still on the front pages of our newspapers.

 

 

[Former Member]

Hopefully, within three generation, HIV and AIDS might be a memory; a footnote like the black plague.

 

I do want to ask those that were old enough to live through the AIDS epidemic of the 1980's to share their stories and share the knowledge of what happened.

 

They wont cure anything they can make a bigger profit out of.

[KYE]

Hopefully, within three generation, HIV and AIDS might be a memory; a footnote like the black plague.

 

I do want to ask those that were old enough to live through the AIDS epidemic of the 1980's to share their stories and share the knowledge of what happened.

 

The biggest thing I remember from the early into late 80's was the Fear. There is an old saying about how we all "Fear the Unknown." There was so little real understanding about what was happening and why. The "Gay Plague" as was a common term, put fear in so many. In the Gay community, there was fear of what had caused this, would they be next, how do we fight something we don't understand. The Gay Community had actually made some headway in the mainstream and then AIDS put such a fear into the general public that years of gains vanished overnight and reversed any progress. The closet closed shut and fast for many Gays thinking of coming out. The Government didn't undertstand it and the CDC was in overdrive. The Government's response has been criticized by many and understandably so, but they were also trying to understand the unknown, this new plague. Looking back on Ryan White, and many others now and how cruel they were treated. But that was part of the out of control Fear.

 

I remember my best friend had a swollen lymph node in his throat. He had me to go to the Doctor with him, he was scared to dead. Ended up he had just recently had a cold and his fear was for nothing. I soon after had a black spot appear on my arm. I called the doctor for a quick visit, fearing the worst. It ended up being an insect bite. I was beginning a career in a medical field and was doing some time in a busy ER. We had a patient rushed in that had given himself an enema with bleach after having unprotected sex in the heat of passion. Fearing he could be infected, he had heard bleach would kill the virus, so he gave himself a bleach enema out of fear. He died in the ER from that bleach enema. I had friends that intentionally gained weight, because everyone knew a fat person did not have AIDS. It was a crazy time of Fear and the unknown. The first person I actually knew that died from AIDS was a beautiful girl in her early 20's. I met her threw my job, her family was scared of her, being around her and abandoned her. They were even afraid to attend her funeral. We watched her wither slowly away like a dying tree in the fall. I remember an African-American friend in his 20's that was built like a rock. Tall, all muscles, 6 pack abs, the whole package. Talked to him one day outside my house, next day he got sick and never made it out of the Hospital. Attended his funeral about 6-8 weeks later in complete shock.

 

So for me, my memories of the 80's is just the complete Fear. Fear in my friends, Fear in the Gay Community, Fear in the General Public, Fear and debate within the Government. Just complete Fear of the Unknown.

 

What is a shame is now that we have learned so much about the disease and how to survive it, too many are getting careless again, I Fear.

Edited June 30, 2011 by KYE

[MikeL]

... one in seven of those newly diagnosed is age 50 or older. Senior Americans are most likely getting the disease through unprotected sex.

 

It just occurred to me that the advent of Viagra and Cialis may be a factor in greater promiscuity among older Americans. How ironic is that?

[MarkSen]

HIV/AIDS sure sounds like a really scary thing. I've never known anyone personally who is suffering/has suffered/has died from AIDS, but it sounds real scary.

[Dargon]

HIV/AIDS sure sounds like a really scary thing. I've never known anyone personally who is suffering/has suffered/has died from AIDS, but it sounds real scary.

 

I do not want to sound like a 'know-it-all' but I just wanted to make one thing clear. AIDS is a very dangerous condition and to be avoided of course, but just for the record and to be scientifically correct, AIDS just by itself does not kill anyone. What AIDS does is weaken your immune system making it significantly less effective against infections. The HIV is undetected by white cells and uses them to proliferate thus leaving one's organism vulnerable to infections that would be harmless or less threatening if the immune system was working correctly. That's why those infections are called 'opportunistic'.

 

 

Take care,

 

Dargon