Advice for those Newly Diagnosed with HIV

The impact of an HIV diagnosis can feel overwhelming. Some feel as though their life is ending. Luckily, with advanced therapies, living with HIV isn’t a death sentence like it used to be. In fact, those living with HIV can live relatively normal lives for years and even decades after first becoming infected. In addition, there is a large community of those living with HIV and plenty of available resources to get information, proper care, and support.

Here is some advice for those newly diagnosed with HIV:

First, take a deep breath. Now is the time to reach out for the support of friends, family, your partner, and those around you who care about you.
It’s important to start forming a strong relationship with your primary care doctor. Get all the blood tests and run whatever other tests your physician suggests. Luckily there are anti-viral drugs, known as a cocktail, that can bring your viral load down to undetectable levels.
You may have to change your lifestyle, incorporating more healthful practices such as eating right, getting more sleep, and exercising. Make sure you stick with it. This is your health we are talking about. t give up.
Get informed. There are lots of resources out there, including in your area. It can feel really scary, so get as much information and support as you need. If you are having trouble finding those who understand where you are coming from, find a support group in your area.
Remember that HIV is only an aspect of who you are. Don’t let it define you. Remember to take part in all the other aspects of your life such as your job/career, passions, hobbies, love, life, friendships and more.
HIV may get in the way some times and some people get overwhelmed by the fear and sadness. It’s important to allow yourself to grieve and work through all of the emotions. It really is a life changing event, but if you learn to manage it as just an aspect of your multi-faceted and fulfilling life than it becomes not such a big deal anymore. This isn’t a terminal diagnosis. You don’t have to die of HIV anymore. It takes work and effort. So you have to realize that this is going to change your life in some pretty significant ways.
If you have been rejected by your family, make your own new support group of friends. Support from those who understand and care about you is so important in this trying time. Developing and maintaining a positive attitude is really important.

Life doesn’t end at diagnosis. It’s just the beginning for some tremendous changes in your life. Don’t feel as though this is only an experience for you to learn from. Volunteer in organizations, donate to HIV/AIDS research, go to rallies and inform youth and peers of your struggles and how they can avoid contracting HIV. Remember that you aren’t dying of HIV. You are learning to live with it.

Bisexual Women Have Higher Rates of Depression

Studies that survey the psychological health of lesbian, bisexual, and gay individuals have for years indicated that members of the LGB community struggle more with mental health issues such as depression, suicidality, alcoholism, and cigarette smoking.

Experts on psychological health accept that gay and bisexual individuals are not more impulsive than heterosexuals are. The reason for the high incidence of mental illness in LGB people is that simply having a sexual identity that is considered idiosyncratic places abnormal pressures on LGB people.

Gay and bisexual people may feel less of a sense of community, and the pressure to conform to gender roles may also contribute to the higher incidence of depression. Most surveys that have been done on psychological well-being and “outness” in the LGB community has shown that women, and in particular bisexual women, are more likely to have thoughts of suicide or chronic depression. The preponderance of the data suggests that women that have “come out of the closet” are actually less distressed and much less likely to struggle with thoughts of suicide than women that choose to keep their sexual orientation a secret. But the reasons for why bisexual women are far more likely than those of homosexual orientation to struggle with depression are unclear.

According to an article in the Desert Sun, bisexual women suffer from anxiety and depression at rates of 58.7% and 57.8%, which is more than 10% higher than the prevalence of these psychological issues reported by lesbians. The explanation for these numbers is that bisexual women feel less social support, but the article states that surveys of LGB members in California show that 75.3% of individuals surveyed feel that they have the necessary support. So what is responsible for the high rates of depression in bisexuals? It is not hard to fathom that bisexual women face stigmatization more often.

Gender roles are hard to escape, and while our society is becoming more understanding of homosexual relationships it is still difficult for women to express sexuality the way that men do.

Women are under more pressure to be chaste even in today’s world where media and popular culture frequently glorify gratuitous sex. Rather than liberate non-heterosexuals, our cultural ideals probably contribute more to confusion regarding the identity of bisexual women who are often mistaken for being promiscuous. Victimization by partners and peers is also a likely factor in the rate of depression in bisexual women, although there is little to indicate that bisexual women experience victimization more often than other members of the LGB community.

The fear of seeming indecisive or abnormal in a society where women are encouraged to provide stability at home and the ineptitude of our culture to grasp how a woman can have male and female partners without being promiscuous or “risky” is more to blame.

Bisexual women must seek ways of strengthening their identity and liberating themselves from the cultural misconstructions of female sexuality. The stigma that is felt by the LGB community is an ongoing quandary, and like all members of the LGB community bisexual women should acknowledge that their distress is a natural and warranted reaction to the pressure they are under to change.

2015

Sexual Agreements & Substance Abuse among Gay Couples

Researchers have been trying to understand how gay male couples’ relationships, including their sexual agreements, affect their risk of getting HIV.

According to studies, gay men and other men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by HIV. They account for nearly two-thirds of HIV cases among men in the U.S. Also, between one-third and two-thirds of men who have sex with men acquire HIV while in a same-sex relationship, according to a recent article published in AIDS and Behavior.

According to “A Cause for Concern: Male Couples’ Sexual Agreements and Their Use of Substances with Sex,” studies have found that gay men who use illegal substances, like ecstasy, and controlled substances, like alcohol, are at an increased risk for acquiring HIV. Some of these men are also more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behavior with men who have sex with men, such as unprotected anal intercourse, and some have used substances during sex. Many of these men consider some substances “sex drugs,” it said, because they either prolong or enhance the sexual experience.

The study’s researchers decided to also figure out how sexual agreements are associated with gay male couples who use substances with sex. They define a sexual agreement as “an explicit understanding between two partners about which sexual and other behaviors are permitted to occur within, and if relevant, outside of their relationship.”

The researchers recruited U.S. men who have sex with men using a Facebook advertisement. They looked for men who were either in a relationship, married or engaged, and they narrowed their focus to 275 HIV negative concordant couples who participated in an online survey.

The study found that 87 percent of the couples practiced high-risk behavior, and about one-third had sex outside of their relationship. Fifty-nine percent consented to a sexual agreement. A majority who agreed said it was closed, but a little over a third said it was an open agreement. A small percent were not okay with the agreement at all.

The findings also indicated that the couples having an established sexual agreement were more likely to use a variety of substances with sex particularly within their relationships. Couples who had broken their agreement were more likely to engage in the use of marijuana or amyl nitrates when having sex.

Researchers believe more studies need to look into these relationships and agreements further. Also, HIV prevention efforts, which have focused on individual gay men and communities, need to focus prevention intervention among gay male couples, especially those who use substances with sex.

Dr. M. Mirza, LGBT Health Wellness – 2014

Health Concerns Faced By Bisexuals

Bisexuality is often misunderstood or not taken seriously. Discrimination exists within the LGBT community and from heterosexuals. A bisexual person might be viewed as someone who can’t make up their mind about their true sexuality or as someone who is promiscuous, having little or no sexual boundaries. More than half of the 3.5 percent of adults in the U.S. who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are, in fact, bisexual. They face unique health concerns that deserve our attention.

Some health concerns faced by bisexuals:

Substance abuse – According to research, bisexual women have higher rates of drug use than heterosexual women and close to or possibly higher rates than lesbians. The differences between bisexual and gay men have not been clear in studies.
Alcohol use – Bisexual women have reported higher rates of alcohol use, abuse and alcohol related problems compared to lesbians and heterosexual women.
Sexual health – Bisexual women have reported riskier behavior with sex, compared to heterosexual and lesbian women. Part of this risk comes from the highest rate reported of combining substance/alcohol use and sexual activity. Bisexual men who have sex with men have an increased risk of HIV infection.
Tobacco use – Bisexual women smoke at higher rates than heterosexual women, but about the same as lesbians. Less is known about bisexual men’s smoking habits.
Cancer – Bisexual women have reported higher rates of cancer. Some risk factors are: not having given birth (also relevant to a higher rate of lesbians), or being more likely to give birth after age 30, and alcohol consumption. Also, bisexual women receive mammograms and pap tests at the lowest rates. Men or women who receive anal sex are at a higher risk for anal cancer because of an increased rate of HPV infection.
Nutrition/fitness/weight – Bisexual and lesbian women have higher rates of obesity than heterosexual women and more bisexual women are underweight than heterosexual women or lesbians, which would indicate they might be more likely to struggle with healthy eating. Attempts to achieve perfect bodies, due to pressure, have left some gay and bisexual men with adverse health consequences. They might compulsively exercise, use steroids or develop eating disorders due to a poor body image.
Heart disease – Higher rates of heart disease have been reported by bisexual women compared to heterosexual women.
Depression/anxiety – Bisexual men and women have reported higher levels of anxiety and depression than heterosexuals and sometimes higher than gay men and lesbians. The issues are likely to be more severe for those who lack social support and those who are unable or unwilling to disclose their sexuality.
Social support/emotional well-being – Bisexual women have reported the lowest levels of social support. Bisexual men and women have the lowest emotional well-being of any sexual orientation group.
Self-harm/suicide attempts – Bisexual women and men have reported higher levels of suicide attempts, self-harm and suicidal thoughts than heterosexuals and higher than gay men and lesbians in some studies.

Dr. M. Mirza, lgbt health wellness .com – 2015

Trans Women May Be At Greater Risk For Depression

The LGBT community has always been thought to be at greater risk for clinical depression than the general population because of the alienation that LGBT people often feel after “coming out” to family and friends, and it seems that the stigma and pain is a greater onus for women and transgender women because of the male-dominated social hierarchy that these individuals are forced to struggle against in the process. Surprisingly studies have shown that LGBT women that are open about their sexuality usually experience less depression. However, there is still an unsettling amount of research that has shown that Transgender women have a lifetime risk for developing depression of about 62% versus the 16% risk for the general population.

A review done this year on the factors that are thought to be behind the lifetime prevalence of depression in transgender women looked at interpersonal and intrapersonal support systems in several studies. The author of this review concluded that although social support from family and self-esteem both influence the risk of developing depression, the woman’s employment status and whether or not she has experienced violence related to her transgender identity are the two most critical factors influencing the rate of depression. Transgender women are thought to suffer violence at the hands of co-workers more often than most LGBT individuals. There is concern that unemployment rates among Transgender women is higher because of harassment and violent assaults at the hands of coworkers, and workplace discrimination against people with transgender identity ends with the victim being blamed. There is a vicious cycle of violence, unemployment, lower economic status, and thus an increased chance of depression in transgender women.

An article in Huffington Post published this year discussed the new workplace training program “Understanding the T in LGBT: Gender Identity and Gender Expression” and how it hopes to help reduce the prevalence of workplace violence and harassment directed against transgender individuals. The online program is part of a Diversity and Inclusion web course series that is designed to increase acceptance of diversity and help prevent identity and cultural “gaps” from leading to workplace harassment. The current rate of workplace harassment experienced by Transgender individuals is reported as 90%.

Dr. M. Mirza, LGBT Health Wellness, 2014