Visible and physiological symptoms of HIV-2 or AIDS disease progression

This information is based on observations from the deaths of numerous work associates who died from AIDS or AIDS related illnesses from 2000 to 2004. In all cases, the observed symptoms are indicative of AIDS, but can have numerous other causes. People with AIDS typically die from other secondary diseases, so often, the cause of death is attributed to other causes. In these specific observations, there was a culture of denial, so that nobody would acknowledge that they had AIDS. Death would usually be attributed to other causes such as tuberculosis, asthma etc.

Initial infection with HIV

Within a few weeks of infection, some people may experience flu-like signs and symptoms, including fever, malaise, rash, joint pain, and generalised swelling of the lymph nodes. These acute manifestations usually disappear, and many people remain asymptomatic for long periods (years). If one suspects he or she has become infected, it is important to get tested and verify the presence or lack of AIDS, as this knowledge early in the onset of HIV can assist in your planning and lifestyle changes. Such changes will slow the spread of HIV infections and allow you to optimise your environment, diet and factors conducive to health. It is important to optimise and maximise your daily antioxidant intake to help your body fight this disease.

Mouth Sores:

One of the early signs of AIDS infection is often regular mouth sores on the lips and gums. This occurs years before other symptoms. This is an early indication that your immune system is weakening and that you need to look at your diet and the inclusion of dietary supplements.

Sickly condition

People with AIDS enter a period that may be about a year, during which they develop many minor ills and are absent from work more often than the average.

Weight loss - getting thin - muscle wasting

The first significant visible symptom of significant and severe progression of HIV-2 is weight loss. Depending upon diet, this stage can be resisted and counteracted for a protracted period of up to a few years. With naturally slim people, this stage is not too evident, though the face may look a bit more gaunt than usual.

Strategy for Prevention of weight loss

Glutamine as a dietary supplement is indicated when weight loss and diarrhoea occur.

PA diet high in protein and total calories may help a person maintain his or her body weight. In addition, whole foods are preferable to refined and processed foods. Whole foods contain larger amounts of many vitamins and minerals, and people with HIV infection tend to suffer from multiple nutritional deficiencies.

However, no evidence currently suggests that dietary changes are curative for people with AIDS, or even that they significantly influence the course of the disease. A controlled trial comparing the efficacy of three nutritional regimens in the prevention of weight loss in HIV-positive people found no benefit from increasing caloric intake. A 500-calorie per day caloric supplement with fatty acids plus a multivitamin and minerals did not promote increases in body weight beyond that offered by a multivitamin-mineral supplement alone. Being fat is therefore no protection against the onset of AIDS.

Diarrhoea

Between six months and one year before mortality, there would be recurring bouts of diarrhoea. These would become of increasing severity. Medical causes would be attributed to ulcers or a bacterial or viral infection and treated as such.

Counteractive strategy to diarrhoea

AIDS-related weight loss and chronic diarrhoea are sometimes the result of abnormal intestinal function in the absence of an infectious organism. This condition, called “HIV enteropathy”, may respond to a gluten-free diet. In a preliminary trial, 5 men with HIV enteropathy were given a gluten-free diet for one week. During that week, the number of episodes of diarrhoea decreased by nearly 40%. When gluten-containing foods were re-introduced for a week, the diarrhoea returned. When they were eliminated a second time, again for one week, the episodes of diarrhea were again reduced. Participants in the study also experienced significant weight gain during the gluten-free periods. Maize and wheat both contain some gluten, so potatoes and rice are preferred starch sources for AIDS patients.

Loss of power

When a person “loses power”, he or she has perhaps 3 months left to live. Once they can no longer work and are put on sick leave, they have 3 weeks to two months before they die of AIDS related illness. Such people can have temporary bouts of recovery. One associate returned to work doing light duty chores, only to die the following weekend. The decline once a loss of power develops is very rapid. During the last few days, the person is bedridden and hardly capable of coherent speech.

Counteractive strategy to power loss

Loss of strength and lean body mass are typical complications in people with AIDS. Drug therapy with anabolic steroids is sometimes used to counteract these losses in affluent societies. Preliminary trials suggest that progressive resistance training (i.e., weight training) may be used as an alternative or adjunct to steroids in this disease. In a preliminary trial, people with HIV who did progressive resistance training three times per week for eight weeks had significant increases in their lean body mass. Exercise of any type three to four times per week or more has been associated with slower progression to AIDS and with a slower progression to death from AIDS in men.