Response to HIV/Aids Presentation at UCF
Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by Anthony 'Dream' Johnson in Curtis, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
This is not officially a blog post, but was a journal I wrote for a class at UCF. I thought it was worth sharing here on TDL.
Anthony Johnson
Response to HIV/Aids Presentation at UCF
This was yet another misinformed presentation given in class. Every week, we hear a presentation about an important topic, and the majority of information presented is misguided at best and downright harmful at worst.
Today’s presentation about AIDS and HIV surpassed all others in my eyes however. I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed something quite like it and I feel obligated to speak up for the sake of my peers. And for the record, I am not an expert on AIDS or HIV, merely someone who has knowledge from other fields, and a limited understanding of more than one side of the AIDS/HIV topic.
Which leads me to the first question, why were these two ideas presented synonymously? As a student in the class, I would assume that these two were one in the same based on the way they were spoken about by someone in a position of authority─ when in fact they are not.
Anything but actually. HIV stands for Human immunodeficiency virus. AIDS is an acronym for Acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
As is “widely accepted”, HIV is a cause of AIDS. They are not one in the same, not scientifically, and not even by use of the English language. One is a virus, the other is a syndrome.
Throughout class however, the speaker (Cathy), used the two terms interchangeably, without a single mention that they are two separate concepts, which makes me question whether or not she knows there is a difference. I would hope she does, but would not be surprised if she does not.
While obviously well intentioned, spreading the idea that they are one in the same─ when in fact they are not─ is blatant, yet simple, misinformation. On a subject that is, and as she claims, so severely misunderstood, she is not helping in this regard. In fact she is contributing to the problem.
If we are to solve an “epidemic” (I have yet to meet anyone literally dieing of HIV in my 21 years of life, however I did watch my best friend die as his organs and immune system failed him from cancer “treatment”), we should begin by using the correct terminology rather than mixing and matching various terms as if they meant nothing at all. This is not the difference between teal, aqua, and turquoise, this is a virus that supposedly ruins lives.
Next, let’s get into some quick science about HIV and AIDS. Not that I am an “expert”, but I have at least looked at both sides of the argument, rather than blindly accepting what is supported by the masses in a desperate plea for a scapegoat to our failing health.
Is HIV proven to cause AIDS?
Unless there was a recent, major, scientific breakthrough, no. HIV is not well understood, like many other viruses. People that do believe they understand it well, may be the most lost of all and it could be proven so in the years to come (leeches sucking out the “bad” blood ring a bell?).
It’s a theory, yes (one of many), but it is not proven that HIV leads to AIDS. It never has been, it may never be for all we know.
Most (misinformed) people would respond in anger to that. This is done due to a vested sense of self in HIV to be the cause of AIDS. If a retrovirus such as HIV is not the cause of a person’s ailments and “inevitable death” as Cathy said (translation: impending DOOM), then what is? The answer most people would give would be anything but their own actions (random chance, sexual partners fault, genetics) that they are personally responsible for, when indeed it’s those actions in which we have complete control over, that will cause illnesses, and eventually death.
In the case of Cathy (who has HIV as we later found out), those are undoubtedly the cause of her problems.
Before getting into the specifics of the actions, I’ll touch on a few points worthy of mention.
One is that her children will likely suffer the same fate as her, due to “genetics”. Actually it will be a combination of genetics, and her children learning their habits from her. Combine this with the statistical reality of her children (ages 18 and ~21) ever finding relevant information that could save their lives being slim to none, and indeed they are facing a grim future that anyone with a basic (real) understanding of physiology could forecast.
The second point is one of correlation, causation, and blind observation. Cathy at one point said she was “lucky” not to pass HIV onto her first child via breast-feeding (before she was “diagnosed” with HIV).
That’s interesting, because she has now lived some 20 years with HIV, and is still walking around just fine, giving presentations in dozens of counties around the state of Florida.
Lucky? Lucky would assume there is a coincidence between this women having a virus that supposedly destroys your immune system, catching MALARIA at one point, going through RADIATION and other cancer treatments (which do in fact obliterate your immune system), fully recovering to her “normal” state, stopping cancer “treatments” and living with breast cancer (to this day from what I understand), being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (a complete failure to secrete insulin in response to the “foods” she eats), and then being severely obese on top of all that.
(Foods in quotations since it is more of a social concept in this instance than a scientific term).
Twenty years with HIV, through all of that, and she finds herself “lucky” that she didn’t pass HIV to her daughter from breastfeeding?
Considering the hell this woman’s body has been through, and is still able to walk around and function quite normally, it appears to me that her child may not have been “lucky” at all. Simple logic would tell me that HIV may be entirely irrelevant in her daughters case.
In any case, Cathy being in the (apparent) health she is in, is only a testament to the abuse the human body can take from conventional wisdom, mainstream group thinking (which tends to increase stupidity levels, think intellectual rioting), and errors made by emotion creeping into decisions that require rational thought.
To go even further, Cathy made the statement in response to a question about “medications” that “medications are complicated when suffering from HIV” (paraphrased after the word complicated).
I can imagine the medications are “complicated” and complex, because we understand so little about the virus and AIDS on a mainstream scale─ the same scale people metaphorically get sucked into when they are uninformed and unsure about a subject, and don’t take the time to independently learn about.
Like nutrition, we think it is complex and complicated, and hence the vast majority of people are utterly and hopelessly confused. We are lead to believe we NEED all sorts of pills (Cathy claimed to take SIXTY pills per day for HIV related reasons), and impossible combinations of fruits, vegetables, and “whole grains” (which make us sick and have no place in the human diet), when in fact our diet is ideal when it is infinitely more simple in nature.
Which begs the question, are those 60 pills per day helping or hurting Cathy?…
Finally, I will detail why Cathy has suffered so much (from my estimation and personal bias). Cathy lays at one end of the spectrum of how we respond as a species to excessive carbohydrate consumption (a nutrient that was rare to us for millions of years), and the corresponding insulin secretion. Her body, by birth, responds extremely poorly to spikes in insulin. So much so, that her pancreas has now quit producing insulin entirely. Developing that at 44 years old is somewhat rare, hence it is was once known as “juvenile diabetes”.
In line with her pancreas no longer being able to support the massive amount of insulin her diet required, she is also clinically obese, perhaps even “morbidly” obese, which is a classification only one step short of “super obese” as determined by the World Health Organization (an organization of people generally clueless about health).
Taking all of this into account, and my visual observation of Cathy, it’s apparent her body is literally in shambles, immune system included. It’s not a mystical assumption, it’s common sense. This woman eats food that her body has so much trouble handling, a major organ now fails to function properly, it causes her to be severely overweight, and she takes an endless list of medications and nearly half a dozen insulin injections per day. The 60 pills a day (chemical concoction) alone would put ANYONE’S body under extreme stress, let alone a woman already suffering from an inflammatory diet, looming structural problems (from obesity and a likely lack of anti-inflammatory nutrients), muscular atrophy (from obesity), and the inherent stress from excessive levels of fat on the body itself.
If Cathy has any hope for her health, she would immediately cease the consumption of all dietary carbohydrate. This also would dramatically reduce or even possibly eliminate her need for insulin injections─ a massive step in the right direction. Without insulin to cause further damage and fat storage to her body, body fat would quickly fall, if only from leaving a chronically “inflamed” state.
The resulting nutrients she would then be forced to consume (out of a lack of options) would skyrocket her immune system─ in particular the consumption of animal/tropical oil based saturated fats─ and possibly help restore previous levels of musculature from her youth (muscle being the most protective tissue in the body, and playing a major role in insulin sensitivity).
While Cathy is a well intentioned individual, and this was written with all due respect and no intention to personally offend, she is simply (and grossly) misinformed. This brings about a sense of sadness, motivation, and even a little aggravation for me personally. It is utterly frustrating to see such simple solutions to such severe problems, but then watch people follow their peers aimlessly and ruin their lives in the process.
For the record, I believe HIV has little to do with Cathy’s current and past health problems, and there is a very real (however large or slim) possibility it has nothing at all to do with her illnesses. The fact that she didn’t pass the virus to her daughter while nursing, survived malaria, radiation therapy/cancer treatments (pure poison and severe immune system weakening), still has breast cancer, is clinically obese, doesn’t engage in proper REM sleep (due to insulin injections), and takes a chemical concoction of 60+ pills per day, is a testament to that. Those observations are not to be confused as evidence (as Cathy did indirectly discussing her daughter being “lucky”), but sure do point in the direction I have stated.
wow.. well writen man.. i was definetly feeling you throughout your whole argument. I see that so often where people get ailments and think first to blame it directly on some concept like bad genetics, high cholesterol levels, viruses etc.. when they don’t realize its often about what you do each day like what you eat and your exposure to chemicals/meds. How did your teacher react to your essay? I’m sure yours was pretty unique.
simz
This is the kind of quality I am used to from you.
Awesome post man.
I had never heard anything on this topic prior to this post, so I was definitely intrigued by your thoughts on HIV and AIDS. I didn’t spend too much time on it, but I did do a little research into the link between HIV and AIDS, just for a little more color on the topic.
In my research, I couldn’t find any conclusive evidence of an individual who had AIDS but did not carry HIV antibodies. That said, in most of what I did read, the statements were never absolutes. For example, sources will say something to the effect of “HIV antibodies are found in nearly every case of AIDS,” which makes you wonder why they aren’t stating it in the absolute.
I think the research paints a pretty clear picture that there is zero doubt that HIV is in some way a catalyst to AIDS, or at least highly correlated with one. Obviously if there is even a single case of AIDS without HIV it cannot be the only cause, but in examining Africa populations where the government denies the link between HIV and AIDS, 100% of people who contracted HIV developed AIDS within 40 months, and the average life span after contracting AIDS is 9 months.
Whether HIV triggers AIDS directly or piggybacks on something undetectable that triggers AIDS is essentially irrelevant for the discussion of public health though, since having HIV and going untreated does necessarily result in AIDS, while taking the drug regimen does often prevent it (e.g. Magic Johnson, Cathy).
It’s pathetic that I – a person who actively seeks information on health – learned as much as I did about AIDs from this post.
Thanks Dream, great stuff.
I had never heard that HIV was not the direct cause of AIDS. I’ve found some sources to support that contention, and some that say that it is.
Based on my quick research, I think you’ve misunderstood what HIV and AIDS are. HIV is a virus that “attacks the immune system by destroying CD4 positive (CD4+) T cells, a type of white blood cell that is vital to fighting off infection. The destruction of these cells leaves people infected with HIV vulnerable to other infections, diseases and other complications.”
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/whatAreHIVAIDS.htm
The resulting (perhaps?) ‘syndrome’ (Definition: Pathology, Psychiatry. a group of symptoms that together are characteristic of a specific disorder, disease, or the like. (dictionary.com)) is called AIDS, “A person infected with HIV is diagnosed with AIDS when he or she has one or more opportunistic infections, such as pneumonia or tuberculosis, and has a dangerously low number of CD4+ T cells (less than 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood).”
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/whatAreHIVAIDS.htm
Again, I’m not an expert (as you’ve said as well) but by examining the definitions, we arrive at the conclusion that AIDS is a term used for people who have, exactly as the acronym says, an acquired immunodeficiency, meaning they have acquired an immune system that is deficient (whatever the source of acquisition may be). If there were another source of the loss of CD4+ T cells that is not HIV, resulting in a “dangerously low number” as well as “one or more opportunistic infections” (which I take to mean infections that have taken hold as a result of a weakened immune system), then the resultant syndrome would still be called AIDS.
Basically, if you could somehow remove a persons immune system through artificial means, and they caught a cold, or flu or something as a result of their weakened/absent immune system, that person would have effectively acquired AIDS.
So I agree with your position that you should always look into the facts yourself instead of going with what people say, which is a running theme in all of your posts. It also sounds like Cathy didn’t really understand her own issue either.
However, you seem to switch gears and say that Cathy’s health issues are unrelated to her having HIV, and list off a litany of other causes, while holding that all of her medications are doing more harm than good. If I understood correctly. I don’t think you’re wrong in your assessment of her poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle, I’m sure those things cause all sorts of problems that are directly (or were formerly) under her control. But it’s plain ignorant to look at her and say that HIV is just chillin’ in her system, and the drugs are only making things worse, using as your evidence her ability to move around and give lectures. For the amount of evidence you have at your disposal, you could easily (and I think it is probably the case) say that it is because of the drugs, not in spite of them, that Cathy is able to live with HIV.
Furthermore, her daughter was lucky to have not contracted HIV. HIV can be passed through breast milk. Even if there was a 1% chance of contracting HIV through breast milk, the daughter would have been lucky not to get it. If I stare down the barrel of a gun, and have a 1 in 100 chance that I might get shot in the face, the anxiety I would experience, and the release of tension if I managed to stay in the safe 99%, would be sufficient enough to count as an experience of having been ‘lucky’ even if you want to get technical on what counts as luck or whether a rational person would ever consider luck.
It makes no difference in terms of HIV infection or not if Cathy has a strong immune system. Perhaps a change in diet would bring about a stronger immune system, but that is a non issue when talking in terms of infection. The presence of HIV is determined by the detection of antibodies for the virus, not by the strength of the immune system. The syndrome of AIDS is determined, as I understand it, by the strength of the immune system as well as the presence of opportunistic infections.
It’s no myth that taking tons of drugs and going through treatments like chemotherapy can hurt you. But it’s also no myth that those things help. Chemo isn’t 100%, but it has proven effective, and the patients undergoing that treatment understand the risks involved. Another wacko treatment we use is electro-shock therapy for depression. You wouldn’t think that would work, but research and evidence show that shocking people with electricity actually brings them out of a depression. They don’t know why, but they know it works, even if it is a modern day leach treatment.
Damn you for provoking me, I’ve got shit to do still =)
@Dasani
I don’t think a doctor would call it “AIDS” if your weakened immune system led to you contracting a couple of infections. Some people are born with a weakened immune system, and might get sick a lot, but they don’t technically have “AIDS.” They can’t pass it on to you if you had an open wound and came in contact with their blood. That’s the reason why HIV is always associated with the term AIDS, and used interchangeably.
@ Claire
Not just a weakened immune system, but a “dangerously low number of CD4+ T cells” along with one or two “opportunistic” infections. Certainly it wouldn’t be called AIDS if a person had a weakened immune system as a result of something like chemo. You could be right though, I’m no doctor. Perhaps the defining factor is permanence? I don’t know. But you don’t pass AIDS, you pass HIV.
@Simon
I turned it in today (1 week after writing and releasing this as a blog post). Will know next Monday and report accordingly.
@Hammer
“In my research, I couldn’t find any conclusive evidence of an individual who had AIDS but did not carry HIV antibodies”
Correlation does not = causation. While that doesn’t prove the opposite, some of the greatest errors in history have been made by confusing those 2 concepts as equals. Tread carefully with statistics…
“while taking the drug regimen does often prevent it (e.g. Magic Johnson, Cathy).”
I’ve read that most anti-viral drugs are quite toxic, and doubt that HIV related drugs are the exception. In fact they could be worst of all for all we know.
Considering this, and the fact that millions of people have HIV their entire lives (and never know it since it remains dormant), and you wouldn’t catch me taking them…regardless of what a doc told me.
@Nicky
Glad you enjoyed the post. This is a complex subject though…and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it some time (if you end up taking the time to look further into it, which I recommend).
@Dasani
“I had never heard that HIV was not the direct cause of AIDS. ”
Most people haven’t- which is the main issue. It’s a blind assumption people have, and indeed, HIV has never been conclusively linked to AIDS. Does that mean we should ignore HIV? Probably not, but we should be highly skeptical of the mass hysteria and borderline propaganda surrounding it.
“But it’s plain ignorant to look at her and say that HIV is just chillin’ in her system, and the drugs are only making things worse, using as your evidence her ability to move around and give lectures”
I don’t believe so. This woman has been through hell, for over 20 years, WITH HIV. Re-read the list of ailments this woman has endured…many people would not have survived, without the virus that supposedly destroys your immune system. I believe if HIV really did have a significant effect on this woman’s health, she would have succumb to malaria, cancer, radiation and other cancer treatments (which are f**king brutal), and so on.
It’s only a POV though, I could be wrong.