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geekchickToday is Prickle-Prickle, day 8 in the season of Confusion, 3268.
On Congested Roads, Love Runs Out of Gas
On Congested Roads, Love Runs Out of Gas
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The term "geographically undesirable" was once reserved for people with romantic potential but for the fact that they lived in, say, Chicago. Now, it can mean someone on the other side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
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no subject
Date: 2002-06-03 11:52 am (UTC)Hey! I know some interesting, dateable guys in the Baltimore-DC area. Maybe I should start up a dating service.
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Date: 2002-06-03 12:37 pm (UTC)Nice Jewish poly boy....preferrably bisexual, and not totally squicked by kinky stuff, even if he's not into it himself. Late 20's-early 30's...
That's a start, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2002-06-03 01:08 pm (UTC)That's a start, anyway.
I may have a little trouble with the "Jewish" part. Is that hard-and-fast? *grin* Hey, I saw from looking at your journal that you do HIV work. We should get together sometime - I'm in that line of work myself. You're in the DC area?
no subject
Date: 2002-06-03 01:18 pm (UTC)Yep...I do HIV work. Even on days I don't know why I do it. I'm in Alexandria actually, and I work in Arlington. I'm seriously contemplating PhD work in Public Health/Health Education/Health Communication so long as I can get someone else to pay for it, while I TA or do research for them or something.
I think a few people said they were going to point you to my random research-ish question a few weeks ago...maybe
So, tell me what it is you do?
no subject
Date: 2002-06-03 01:57 pm (UTC)Alas. I'll see what I can do. :-)
Yep...I do HIV work. Even on days I don't know why I do it. I'm in Alexandria actually, and I work in Arlington. I'm seriously contemplating PhD work in Public Health/Health Education/Health Communication so long as I can get someone else to pay for it, while I TA or do research for them or something.
I think a few people said they were going to point you to my random research-ish question a few weeks ago...maybe baratron and/or mactavish I think.
So, tell me what it is you do?
I am ABD (all but dissertation) in clinical health psychology, and working full time in the field while I try to finish my diss in the rare odd hour of free time. Right now I work two days a week as a therapist in an HIV clinic in Prince George's County, as an adherence and secondary transmission specialist but also doing general psych care. The other three days a week, I'm a researcher at the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore, working on a variety of HIV studies with a focus on health promotion or psychological aspects of health.
People did point me to your research question. I don't have any citations at hand, which is why I didn't post a response, but my personal experience working with nonadherent patients leads me to believe that closeted people are generally less adherent - in part because of privacy concerns (e.g., not wanting others to see them taking meds or see them with pill bottles) and in part because they don't want to have a reminder of their serostatus (which is also a reminder of the aspects of their sex lives they're uncomfortable with).
My personal belief is that it's better to wait to start meds until you're sure you're psychologically and practically ready to start them - even if you have CD4+ count < 350, which is supposed to be the "official" start point. I think it's better to wait until you're truly going to be able to commit to your regimen and make it work - with anything less than full commitment, you're likely to just wind up developing resistance and losing the opportunity to benefit from some of the best and easiest meds. If the CD4+ count is really really low and the person has to start meds ready or not, they should do it with a strong support system in place from the clinic.
no subject
Date: 2002-06-03 04:20 pm (UTC)I'm hoping that I'll be able to study it eventually.
It sounds like your experience is similar to my hypothesis.
I'd agree though, that it doesn't make sense to start meds until one is ready to be compliant-physically and psychologically...but I also know there are doctors pushing meds when CD4+ counts are well about 350, and people are in otherwise good health...which doesn't make sense to me; it seems like it gives more opportunity to develop resistance sooner.
We should chat sometime though...