P, PA & HIV

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure if I ever shared that I am gay.

I'm totally out, married to my partner of 16 years, so I just think of

it as so... me, that I forget that it isn't just known by everyone.

I wanted to chime in on this.

WARNING: If you are likely to be offended by Gay man speaking frankly,

STOP READING NOW.

Many, many years ago I was young, naive and experimenting sexually.

AIDS was just starting to be talked about, but I was young, invincible

and it, AIDS, was something that other people might get, but certainly

no one I knew and definitely not me. I was so wrong and took so many

risks.

Somehow, some way, I came through my promiscuous youth and never

contracted AIDS. It certainly wasn't because I only engaged in safe

sex, because I did NOT. In my youth I never really experienced any P

or PA. I had some rare flaky skin, but it always went away and it was

so seldom, I never saw a doctor about it, I just thought it was a rash

or allergic reaction.

It was only after I was diagnosed with P & PA and learned the cause,

that I ever gave a second thought about how I manged to make it

through a promiscuous gay youth without contracting HIV. As I got

older and matured, I just thanked my lucky stars that somehow through

no effort on my part I had avoided being infected.

Now, I wonder. Was it just luck? Is it just a coincidence? Could my

over active immune system somehow have protected me? Clearly if HIV

infected people also have P & PA, it doesn't always protect a person.

But, could it? I don't suppose I'll ever know for sure, But for a few

years now, I've wondered and secretly believed that it isn't just a

coincidence. Maybe this terrible disease, saved me from a deadly

disease? I have no evidence and no medical proof to back it up.

I also am somewhat embarrassed that I was so foolish, and certainly do

not condone the type of irresponsible behavior that I did.

There could be some correlation.

I've lost many dear friends to AIDS. I could just as easily have been

in their place. To think that another disease might have spared me is

rather narcissistic, but I don't have any other explanation other than

pure luck.

Just my thoughts.

Stay Well,

[Guest guest]

:  I did a quick look at the websites that were forwarded on this topic. 

As I read them, having AIDS doesn't make you more likely to have Psoriasis or

PsA:  in fact, the first article said that the percentage of those with AIDS who

had P or PsA or both was either the same or only slightly above that of

the general population.  However, for those who have both AIDS and P and/or PsA

(most of the discussion is just about psoriasis), there is an increase in

morbidity, i.e. you experience more difficulty with either disease.  There was

one abstract title - but no narrative - about an AIDS infected person who's

T-Cell count was going down but his/her psoriasis was, as I recall, getting

better - an aberration, it would seem..  Another was a " letter to the editor "

type question from someone whose psoriasis had gotten worse after he developed

the disease and he wanted to know why.  It's the last one on the list and you

might be

interested in reading the response, which deals with the immune system's role

in all this.

Glad you managed to have an angel sitting on your shoulder while you were young

and didn't know enough to be careful!!!!   So many were not . . . .

Joanna Hoelscher