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6:00 am: TB meds 3 tabs.
8:00 am: ARV: zido/lami




Today, I am to discuss another OI (Opportunistic Infection) that plagues us PLHIV. This OI is something I know of more than I want to because I am still suffering from it... I am talking about TB or Tuberculosis... I have to discuss this as it turns out, as of my reading, TB ang nangungunang caused of death ng PLHIV...

Di na natin kailangan malaman anong microbio ba itong TB... but it is a bacteria, and therefore, more likely manageable... and that treatment is actually free... Sa RITM, ewan ko sa iba, even xray, sputum test, kahit sputum culture, lahat libre... ang problema, medyo mahaba yung treatment therapy at kailangan strict yung pagfollow ng instruction sa paginom ng gamot... we are looking at least 6 months... dun ako nagkaproblema so now dasal ako ng dasal na gumaling ako at di nagmutate yung bacteria into a drug resistant one...

Medyo toxic kasi yung gamot... and that I had to take it ng walang laman ang tyan... kaya kung pansin niyo, I take the TB meds ng 6 am... to which I almost always throw up after... alam niyo yung puro asido lang yung sinusuka ko... plus matigas talaga ulo ko...

Okay, highly communicable ang TB... although kung healthy naman ang immune system mo, more likely masusupress niya 'to at tipong ikukulong niya ang TB bacteria so not to cause any harm to the body or anyone for that matter... pero nga kung majeopardized ang immune system mo, like what happens if you get infected with HIV, dun makakawala ang TB bacteria and cause havoc sa katawan natin, mainly the lungs... more likely the lungs but TB can also infect other organs... but after 3 weeks of continuous medication di ka na contagious...

Symptoms... as per reading... ubo daw na matagal na, which I didn't have, later na lang... lagnat sa hapon... night and excessive sweating... chills... lost of appetite and pagbagsak ng timbang... 

Napansin ko yung lost of appetite ko... pero kasi ako nga yung taong di naiintindihan ang concept ng diet, so tipong, anong walang ganang kumain, dami nagugutom sa mundo! So, ipipilit ko talaga, pero for some reason, na it came to a point na sinusuka ko lahat ng kainin ko... dun na ko na alarm... kasi okay lang na wala kang gamot, basta kumakain ka... eh ako, sinusuka ko lahat ng kinakain ko... dun na ko nagpaconfine, dun na bumagsak yung timbang ko... in two weeks more than 20 lbs ang nawala sa akin...

Una, usually... XRay... wala silang nakita sa akin... skin test, nag negative din ako... it was only through sputum test na nakita na I have TB...

So yung advise ko sa mga fellow PLHIV, specially yung mga newly diagnosed, na pagnilagnat sila at tumagal ng 3 days, pacheck up na... lalo na kung nagchill... chill is never a good thing... infection na matindi ibig sabihin nun...

Medyo toxic yung gamot... and the way it should be taken... you start with 4 huge tablet, mas malaki sa efav at cotrimazol, 2 hours before breakfast, so walang laman tyan... but it is for free... for two months ganun ka... stick with the regimen and you would do just fine... usually with that, kung sinunod mo ha, at di ka naglaktaw... magcleclear ang sputum test mo of TB... and ibaba yung dose mo, depende sa timbang mo, I was 50 kg so it was 3 tablet na medyo maliit na, tipong nips na siya... pero toxic pa rin... just stick with the regimen, bawal maglaktaw... kahit clear ka na, mataas ang possibility ng relapse, katulad ng nangyari sa akin... and relapse is when treatment becomes complicated and the OI dangerous... kasi pwedeng nagmutate ang microbio and become resistant to drug... yun ang dinadasal ko now na wag naman sana... I know it was my fault... pero yun nga, baka nagbibilang na lang ako actually ng araw...

Okay lang... nakahanda na lahat...

6 months tatagal yung therapy... so advise ko, if ever... tiis ganda lang muna... kahit gaano katoxic yung TB meds... 

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I was hesitant on going...

Not only because I would be subjecting myself to so much stress... the heat... the crowd... and it would be a bit of a walk... and with my neuropathy, TB, and my HIV status... so it really was a concern... Other than that, I would be seeing relatives... who have questions... But, at the last minute, I decided to go... I was hungry... 

It was not as bad... there were no relative... they came the days before... and because of the heat, some are planning to go in the late afternoon or evening... Loyola (Memorial Park, Marikina) was not as crowded as years past, there was no problem with traffic and parking... We think it was because it was a long weekend, like our relatives, they went last Sunday or yesterday...

I was able to handle the humidity... we were there round 12 noon to pass 2... we would have stayed longer if it was not for my uncle complaining about a head ache... but on our way to the car we pass by the tiange and there... pirated DVDs... I got two series... "Games of Throne" and "Skins" which I missed was season 4...  was looking for "Walking Dead" but the guy was giving something of I think of a compilation of zombie movies... 

I started with "Skins Season 4"

It is a British teen drama series... highly controversial... with sexuality, drug abuse, and you were once a teenager, you know how things goes...

When we got home, I started on it and the first episode was really promising... 

Thomas was an African Immigrant who works in a club... a girl named Sophie jumps off from the second floor of the club, she was high on drugs... thus the police investigation... and because Thomas works on that club, he was expelled... 

Thomas, feeling guilty, went to cheat on his girlfriend Pandora causing there break up... He thinks it was Cook who sold the drugs to Sophie and when he spotted him and Naomi, he started a fight with Cook which lead Naomi to confess that it was her who sold the drug to Sophie...

Thomas tries to reconcile with Pandora... but Pandora rejected it...

We went to Chiken Inasal in Santolan for dinner... I guess they are not use to of so much people dinning in--well there's a public cementery near by... the service was bad... really bad... tables are not cleared, they didn't get the order right, we asked for soup, we were not given... the barbecue I ordered was cold...

Normally, I bitch about this stuff... but for some reason, this time, I just thought everything was funny... I don't know why...