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Editorial: Never mind the quality?
| Last updated: 27.10.04 |
Both neuropathy and sexual dysfunction can occur in all people with HIV, on HAART or not. Ironically, some of the pills that are keeping us alive can make these difficult-to-live-with symptoms even worse.
A decade ago, about a third of people with HIV experienced some symptoms of neuropathy. The number remains the same today, and, as expert neurologist Dr Hadi Manji suggests in ‘Enduring Pain’, may actually increase as we live longer and are subject to non-HIV-related causes of neuropathy, like diabetes.
It’s heartening to know, then, that the US National Institutes of Health has identified neuropathy as a major research priority.
However, the same kind of urgency isn’t on the agenda for sexual dysfunction, which, as you will read in ‘Sexual Healing’, affects at least a quarter of all HIV-positive men, and possibly more than half of all men on HAART.
Disappointingly, there are scant data on sexual dysfunction in HIV-positive women, something which must be addressed.
It seems prudent, then, for all of us living with HIV to be aware of, and to report to our HIV clinicians, any physical or psychological problems, if only to continually raise awareness that HAART may improve quantity, but not necessarily quality, of life.