Coconuts and Low T4 Percentages

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Healthyseed,

Your T4 percentages over time, always at 18% or below, would make me uncomfortable. This T4 percentage level is especially bothersome if its true that you have only been HIV+ for 24 months.

I would compare your progression with the San Francisco Men's Cohort Study. Originally designed to track the number of people who contracted Hepatitis-B over time, this study essentially became an important study whose frozen blood samples could determine when people became HIV+ and how their disease progressed over time -- at a time before any drug therapies were available. At year 12.6, 50% of those with HIV were dead and 92% of those still alive had AIDS.

A normal T4 percentage would be 42%. Most people who become infected with HIV see their T4 percentage decline to a range from the low 30% down to the mid 20% level soon after being infected and remain in that range for some time. If your T4 percentage is below 18% after 24 months, where are you going to be after 12.6 years? It is hard not to conclude that your disease is progressing much faster than what most people experience.

At a T4 percentage below 18%, you are rapidly losing "immune memory" entire clonal families of T cells specialized in fighting particular types of diseases are being wiped out. I know it takes too long and too much effort with drugs like interleukin-2 to restore your immune system once you have lost a portion of it for me to be comfortable seeing it casually being lost.

Studies presented at the San Francisco AIDS Conference in 1990 found the average T4 percentage for people with ARC, significant loss of immune competency, was 16.8% and the T4 percentage for those with AIDS was 12%

Given your low T4 percentage, I think you're making a mistake in not trying out an anti-viral drug regimen, based around a newer low side-effect drug like Reyataz, to determine what effect it will have on your T4 percentage.

A T4 percentage below 18% coupled with a viral load below 2,000 is something I would want to investigate. I think you should also consider the possibility that your Viral Load tests are not reflecting your actual viral load. Basically your viral load would be on the low side, but consistent with a person in their second year of HIV and a T4 percentage of 32%.

How is this possible? The RNA-PCR test binds to a particular sequence in the virus. If the genetics of your virus is significantly different from the test sequence, the viral load test can report a viral load which is a small percentage of your true viral load, or no viral load at all.

An extreme example is the difference between HIV-1, common in America and Europe, and HIV-2 which is common in Africa. If you are infected with HIV-2, there is no approved test to measure your viral load, although there are experimental tests kits. If you have an HIV-2 viral load of 300,000 the HIV-1 viral load test might report a viral load of zero or perhaps something like 300. Your HIV-1 virus could be different enough from the test kit sequence to significantly under-report your true viral load.

I would suggest you attempt to have your virus sequenced to determine exactly what type of virus you are infected with. If you have HIV-2 or a virus significantly different from standard HIV-1, the NNRTI class of drugs will have very limited effectiveness, but protease inhibitors should work well.

Norm Stuart

>> Norm> > thanks a lot for your detailed post. It is a great help, and your> point about VL is well taken. Your comment "The results for each> product or combination varied widely by person, or perhaps due to> their viral type." fits with what I've seen elsewhere.> > My numbers below> Seropositive Feb 04> May-05 CD4 303 (18%) viral load 1260 copies/ml.> Aug-05 CD4 242 (14.7%) viral load 950 copies/ml.> Started www.grouppekurosawa.com protocol with EGCG Aug 13> Oct-05 CD4 238 (13.1%) viral load 1830 copies/ml.> Jan-06 CD4 213 (14.7%) viral load 1790 copies/ml.> Started Andrographis Jan 7, stopped EGCG Jan 11> Apr-06 CD4 263 (17.1) viral load 1150 copies/ml.> > I'm keen to avoid starting any prescription ARV's until necessary.> > thanks again, and wish you good health,> > >