The trials and tribulations of living with HIV & AIDS Even better is how to overcome and manage your status I did and so can YOU, read on......

1. Practical realities
of living with
HIV & AIDS
2014
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Intellectual Property of Cindy Pivacic

2. Let’s ‘THINK’
Do you have The FROG Factor?
Are YOU a JUMP ahead!
BUT……YOU DO NEED TO BE RESPONSIBLE !
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AIDS – Action Involves Doing Something

3. THINK
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•T – Are You *Talking
•H – Are You *Healthy
•I – Are You *Inquisitive
•N – Are You *‘Negative’
•K – Are You *KRAZY, it helps a bit 

4. By Default ….
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• IEC Facilitator (Information-Education-Communication) on HIV &
AIDS
• Speaker
• Activist
• Facilitate only known English HIV & AIDS Support Group in KZN
• Author ‘The Deadly Seducer’
• Accredited Training Provider with the Services SETA for HIV Skills
Programmes. (Provisional)

5. Living Positively with:
HIV & AIDS
• HIV and AIDS since November 2004.
• HIV & AIDS need not be a death sentence.
• LIFE is a death sentence
• ALL going to die
• Life in-between, THAT matters.
• Say a thing as it is
• Provokes just one person into action
• Accomplished what I set out to do.
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6. Share
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 Share my journey
 Proving HIV is manageable
 Keep healthy & informed
 Prolong existence
Experienced the following acquired diseases:
• Pneumonia
• Shingles
• 2 x strokes (2005, 2006)
• TB Meningitis
• Short term memory loss
• Cancer - specifically; Angioimmunoblasticlymphadenopathy
A rare form of Cancer of the Glands associated with HIV & AIDS

7. History
2004
• Partner 3yrs ill - hospitalised, bowel TB
• Tested
• Results 7days later confirming HIV+
CD4 count 485
2005
• Constantly ill - hospitalised 2 weeks – First Stroke
• Blackouts
• Shingles
CD4 count 320
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8. Viral Load and CD4 Counts
• VL HI virus in system
• CD4 Fighter cells
• Women 500 – 1700
• Men 400 - 1600

9. History cont….
2006 – 2007
• Hospitalised - 2 weeks, stroke
• Blackouts
• Hallucinations
• Stroke symptoms
• Diagnosed TB Meningitis
CD4 COUNT 280
2008
• Short of breath, night sweats
• Tested for “Asthma”
• Hospitalised - Pneumonia, Biopsy on Glands - Cancer
• Started ARV’s, Chemo
• TWO diseases related to HIV; Cancer & TB,
• Classified, having AIDS
CD4 COUNT 203
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10. 2012 - Exposed
Discovered 2012:
 Partner knew status
 Two years prior to infecting me
Pre Chemotherapy:
 CD4 203
 VL 2,888,456
Presently:
 CD4 presently 919 VL >40
Living with the HI Virus with AIDS in remission

11. Changes
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• Thoughts – live - eat – sleep
• Relate to people
• Who/where you socialise
• Personal relationships
• It is possible to have a ‘normal’ relationship
with a ‘negative’ person

12. ADAPT or DIE
A ATTITUDE
D DETERMINATION
A ASK
P PERSEVERANCE
T TRUST
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13. Develop community-based programs
• Organise counselling and emotional support
• Set up organisations that bring people living with HIV & AIDS together to
fight for change
• Arrange wellness programmes and medical treatment to help people
keep their immune systems strong and fight opportunistic infections.
• Organise grants, food parcels and poverty alleviation projects to help
families survive
• Provide home-based care and medical treatment for people who are ill
• Counselling without nutrition will not keep someone alive
• Clinic treatment without home-based care will not provide for people
once they are bed-ridden.
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14. Emotional support
Survivor Support Groups:
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• Setup meetings where people with HIV & AIDS can get together
and discuss their feelings, common problems and ways of coping
• Teach people how to look after themselves and discuss symptoms,
illnesses and treatment
• Organise food and poverty relief to help people survive
• Arrange social events where people can be open about their
status and relax with each other
• Provide talks and presentations from experts
• Set up an organisation that works for people with HIV & AIDS and
encourage people to join.

15. Emotional support cont…..
For Families: Support Groups to:
• Teach people about HIV & AIDS and how to care
for someone when they get ill
• Talk about feelings and give families emotional
support to help them cope
• Help families to get access to government grants
and relief
• Put them in touch with services and projects that
can help – like home-based care
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16. Adult Role
Ostrich-head-in sand-syndrome
HIV in……
• Culture
• Race Groups
• Age
• Travellers
• Partners
All at risk
• Self Awareness
• Preservation
• Working Sector/Nurturers
• Parenting
Information - Engage – Dialogue - Boundaries

17. NPO 093 - 243 STATS 2011 & 2012
2011
• 99 000 Pregnancies
• 77 000 Abortions (Gov Clinics)
• 28% Girls - 4% Boys ‘Sugar Daddies’ -blamed
• Age Group 10 – 14 years and mostly HIV+
Lifespan once diagnosed 46 years??
2012
• 52.98 Million SA citizens
• 400k New infections 2012
• 6.4 Million SA Citizens infected - That we know of!!
• 1000 New infections daily
• 20% Worlds ARVs consumed by SA
Education begins at home

18. ACTION:
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KNOW YOUR STATUS - TEST!!
• HIV test is a difficult decision
• Better not to know their status?
Many advantages of knowing your status
• Come to terms with being infected
• Make friends with the virus
• Support
• Protection from (STIs)
• Prevent unwanted pregnancy
• Condoms protect against strains of HIV
• Avoid Re-infection or superinfection
Do NOT assume you are negative until you have tested

19. Staying healthy – wellness
programmes
Medical treatment is not the only way to stay healthy, it is very
important to keep the immune system as strong as possible.
• Food, exercise and lifestyle are all important.
• Educate people with HIV & AIDS and their families about
healthy eating
• Start vegetable garden projects to help provide the right food
types to people who cannot afford them
• Start food projects that collect food from supermarkets and
farmers and distribute it to people who need it.
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20. Keeping a healthy body
People living with HIV & AIDS need different foods from healthy
people
• Medicines can make you lose a lot of weight
• Feel cold
• Cause stomach problems
• Make HIV+ people weaker/vulnerable to infections
• Clean and cook food properly
• Drink ONLY clean water
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21. Good food
• Drink two litres of water a day
• Drink sour milk, milk or yoghurt
• Beans, lentils, eggs or meat EVERY DAY! Beans are as good as
meat, add a tablespoon uncooked sunflower oil
• For a healthy stomach, eat raw garlic, raw carrots or dried
pumpkin seeds.
• Eat a lot of grains and starch – maize, rice, sorghum, brown
bread
All vegetables and fruits are very good
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22. Bad foods
• Sugar is very bad for the immune system
and causes stomach problems
• Fried foods and cooked oils stop the
stomach from being able to digest food
• Spicy food can also cause stomach upsets
Do not eat too much
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23. Do’s & Do Not’s
Do:
• Keep yourself occupied and interested in things to avoid
depression
• Try to exercise without straining yourself
• Get enough sleep and rest
• Find people you can talk to about your feelings
Do not:
• Smoke, drink or use addictive drugs
• Go on diet or lose too much weight
People who live in poverty will find it very hard to stay healthy.
Ensure that poor people get access to:
• Food projects
• Government grants
• Poverty alleviation projects
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24. Government support & grants
Social workers are best to assist, if government support is
required.
• Disability grant
• Foster care grant
• Care dependency grant
• Child support grant
• Social relief
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25. Medical treatment - clinics & hospitals
If and when you become ill with AIDS, you may need treatment for
various issues, requiring additional treatment.
TB - Important to treat TB since main causes of death for people with AIDS
•Most clinics and hospitals have got TB treatment programmes
Infections - People who are getting ill from AIDS should also be given:
•Broad-spectrum antibiotics.
•Preventing lung infections.
•Opportunistic infections, like thrush and gastro
•Sexually transmitted infections
Vitamins - Good nutrition is most important way to strengthen the immune system
•Supplemented with vitamins
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Antiretroviral (ARV’s) - ARV’s should be taken if they are available and affordable.
•Important to understand the side-effects
•Correct way of taking ARV’s since they can make people feel quite sick.
•Test regularly when on ARV’s to ensure you are getting the right dosage

26. Home-based care
How to set up home-based care:
Vital that health workers work with communities and families to
make sure that people who are ill at home get proper care.
At a community or district level, a hospital or clinic should be co-ordinating
a program in terms of providing treatment.
The main role they should play is to provide the following to
patients:
• Testing, diagnosis and counselling
• Treatment and medication
• Referral to support groups or other projects.
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27. Self Care & Support
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People with HIV & AIDS can look after themselves while they are able to.
They should be encouraged to keep themselves as healthy as possible
and should be targeted for specific programs such as:
• Wellness programs to keep as healthy as possible and to strengthen
immune systems
• Nutrition programs
• Training in basic hygiene and treatment for common infections like
skin infections
• Psychological and emotional support
• They themselves should be trained in basic health care and where
possible should be drawn into support and other activity groups.

28. Social Media and Video/TV links
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• Book https://www.facebook.com/TheDeadlySeducer
• Book website short link http://wp.me/p1hie1-lN
• Carte Blanche http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msZSj_lNTME
• HIVenture Tour de Life https://www.facebook.com/HIVentureTourdeLife
• FNB #YouCanHelp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLLLl0jG1Sg
• SABC 1 Stigma & Denial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Y-kRa-dYo

29. We need the input of the
Community as well as the
Corporate sector to build our
nation.
Don’t be like a frog in luke warm
water who doesn’t notice the
slowly rising temperature until it
burns him!!
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY – TAKE ACTION
Q & A

30. CONTACT DETAILS
• Website:
www.cindypivacic.co.za
• Facebook Business Page
Cindy Pivacic Speaker HIV
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• Cell: 073 73 96 044
• Email: cindy@cindypivacic.co.za
Create awareness and encourage HIV negative individuals to remain so
Give support and educate HIV+ individuals to live a healthy productive life
Intellectual Property of Cindy Pivacic