Johnson For Governor

A person receiving a diagnosis of any type of life-threatening condition is thrust into a different lifestyle and so are the other family members. There are resources available to those with the condition as well as family members. HIV/Aids clinics, doctors, other medical staff members, and social workers can direct those with the disease to support organizations in the community. There is assistance available to help those with HIV or Aids to learn how to cope with their condition such as how to get back and forth from doctor appointments when they are too ill to drive, or what to do about arranging child care, or how to deal with an employer or those issues that arise such as legal or financial that are bound to crop up whenever AIDS or HIV are mentioned.

It is especially important to gain emotional support when dealing with these conditions for the first time. It is crucial to gain as much information as possible about the process of the condition and the prognosis as well as to all the available treatment options. Treatments are classified by being either experimental or traditional. It is a good idea to learn about all of the known side effects of any medication being considered before it is added to the treatment plan. The HIV/AIDS patients must learn to become proactive in their own care.

Knowledge is power, or so the saying goes and in this case it is a truism. The more a person with HIV/AIDS knows about the condition the better informed they are when it comes to making decisions about treatment and the lifestyle they will be living. It is important to remain active in life, participating as much as possible despite the condition.

Managing the condition requires learning how to manage AIDS/HIV by learning effective exercises, good nutrition, and how to incorporate a positive attitude about strategies for living with the condition including physical and mental therapy and how to partner with the medical staff.

Daily life will consist of learning how to accomplish tasks when feeling fatigued, learning how to prepare foods safely, how to use supplements to get the best nutrition possible and how to implement coping skills learned through mental health therapy and support groups. The treatment plan will become a intricate part of daily life.

Part of living a proactive lifestyle is knowing how to search out and evaluate complementary therapies such as acupuncture, massage, yoga, and relaxation techniques, physical therapies and also using herbal remedies.

On Thursday January 14th, 2010, Brad Edwards from Fox 2 News reported a story about a video that is published on You Tube about an angry, young woman in Detroit claiming to have the AIDS virus and sleeping with anyone, and everyone that is willing for the sole purpose of infecting them with the AIDS virus. This lady even gave up some of the names on her list of about 300 people of both sexes; men and women and it is a bone chilling 10 minute video. She seems to be disgusted by how easy it was to get these people to sleep with her; most didn’t ask her about her sexual history or even entertain the idea of wearing a condom. Some of these people were married with children and they were cheating on their spouse so I guess she felt justified in killing these people.

On Friday, January 15th, 2010 Fox News updated the report as being a hoax, they stated that the police did pick her up and she took a blood test that came out negative for the HIV virus and the prosecutor gets to decide if he wants to press charges against this woman. I think she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and if there is not a law against this sort of thing, they should make one. What she did was horrendous and we should send a strong message that this type of activity is not acceptable by anyone. Can you imagine how horrible this could be for the people who have those names since they were not uncommon names, maybe they were even real people that she knows and that other people in her circle know as well? Did this video just ruin someone’s life simply because it was their name mentioned in the video, what if that person didn’t even know her let alone have a sexual encounter with this woman? What if this woman just gave potential AIDS infested serial killers the inspiration to start killing people in the same fashion as she supposedly did, maybe they didn’t read the update. You can watch the complete video as reported on fox 2 news here:

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/offbeat/claims-of-serial-killing-using-aids-virus-in-detroit

This video is really scary as this woman with a scarf covering most of her face in a low, raspy voice claims to have used her body as a weapon to kill people and there are some strong messages in this video showing us how easy it is get the AIDS virus and how little people seem to care. One statement even blames society for not finding a cure.

Since one of the characteristics of serial killers is that they seek some kind of instant gratification then AIDS should not be the weapon of choice since you would have to wait possibly a really long time for them to die, providing of course that you don’t die first. Could just knowing that you gave that person AIDS and that they are going to die be enough instant gratification for a serial killer? This lady sure did seem pretty passionate about it and you have to wonder why anyone would make a video claiming to be a serial killer and using AIDS as their weapon to kill. Was it to become famous, or to make people more aware that the AIDS or HIV virus still exist, was it to make the lives of the people whose names she mentioned miserable for a long time or was she just bored and felt like doing something stupid.

It really doesn’t matter what her inspiration behind creating this video was; claiming to be a serial killer and using your AIDS infested body as a weapon to kill people is wrong and their should be some type of consequences for her actions even though she does not actually have the HIV virus and her punishment should be publicized as much as her video to defer copy cats. Hopefully other people who are angry about contracting the HIV virus won’t do for real what she did as a hoax, her identity should never be disclosed and You Tube should remove the video from their site as soon as possible. Claiming to be a serial killer and infecting people with the AIDS virus is no way to obtain fame and we should not allow her to achieve her goal in this way.

Whatever happened to dying of old age, natural causes, or of a more common disease known to mankind? There is another crisis amidst the world today and it involves our senior citizens. HUH? How can this happen, why, when, where? These are all the questions that many ask, when they encounter someone who is over 50+ living with AIDS. There are so many reasons why older people are infected with this soul stripping, immunity weakening disease.

In general, the new numbers of citizens living with AIDS contribute to the wonderful advances medicine has made in prolonging the life of someone with Aids. There are people that were diagnosed over twenty years ago with the disease, but are still living. Longer life expectancy is the biggest contributing factor to our numerical equation of seniors living with Aids.

On the other hand, senior women give up using any form of protection because they have been through menopause. There is no chance to get pregnant now, so to many; the use of a condom is irrelevant. Other women feel awkward using a condom, so they never bother. If older men contract the disease it can be considered that they are participating in a gay lifestyle, that they are not protecting themselves while having sex, or a drug addict. Both sexes feel that using protection is unnecessary because they are ‘wiser’ and much older and out of harms way in regards to the disease. It is the ‘Young folk’ that are out here making the world nasty and unsafe is what some seniors think in regards to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

This is where another problem arises. Most seniors feel lonely. Their family members don’t come around that often and the loss of company and social involvement overcomes them. The need to be around someone or to have a companion becomes a constant need in their life. Most people prey on the elderly for their benefits, which could be their homes, cars or cash. Now there are predators that prey on the elderly for sex. There is an outbreak of sex crimes being committed against the elderly. Whether it is forced or casual by acquaintance, the scar is one that can never heal because it has been infected with HIV. Many seniors applaud the first sign of a stranger wanting to spend time with them, for whatever reason. From there a relationship can sprout and the unthinkable happens.

Seniors must be educated and updated on all the current events in the health field. The the task of identifying HIV in seniors is very hard to do because the many signs of aging (cold, cough, tiredness, dementia, weight loss, and swollen lymph glands) mimic the signs and symptoms of HIV. This is where the importance of informing the physician of their sexual activity (whether they feel the doctor wants to hear it or not) when making their routine doctor visits.

Family can help as well, by looking in on their loved ones more often and making every attempt to check in on their physical health as well. Make sure you take them to all doctor visits and make sure you make a list of health complaints in preparation for their Doctor visit. Sometimes, if the ailment is not causing any physical discomfort; they will forget to mention that nagging side pain, or sudden mental status change. It’s like going backwards in time where you would have to teach them like teenagers, or maybe even children ( depending on mental status) by checking who has been hanging around them and making sure their behavior is not deemed ‘RISKY.’