Interview 18- HIV
Her current combination of abacavir, AZT and 3TC has few side-effects. She feels much better having started exercising and improving her diet. (Video and audio clips read by an actor.)
A 33 year old black African female with a young 5 year old child. She was diagnosed as HIV positive as part of pregnancy screening.
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More about me...
She was distressed about the side effects of her medication, but the doctor focused on the improvements in her immune system. (Read by an actor).
She was distressed about the side effects of her medication, but the doctor focused on the improvements in her immune system. (Read by an actor).
In-grown toenails… The nails, instead of growing outwards, they can grow back in and it's very, very painful. And it won't stop doing that unless you stop taking the medication. So I had to go for surgery for my toes, that's a really… they had to pull it out and cut off a big chunk of it, it was quite… it was very problematic. So I had to complain to the doctor. I would say my doctor was slightly difficult, I know she was just aiming at a very good CD4 count but I was really suffering... every time I went, I complained about the headaches, the rash, my skin really got bad. She explained again that it's… again because my immune system's going up, so that's why I was getting the rash. I was tired, breathless as well. I used to get breathless, yeah. But when I really had the ingrown toenail I really couldn't take it anymore, I said no that will have to change…