Please help me understand HIV+ lab results?

HIV+ for 15 months. Tcell decreased from 560 to 324 then improved to 364. Viral load increased from 24,000 to 49,000 then decreased to 35,000. How does tcell count increase and viral load decrease without being on treatment? Could this trend continue to improve?

The simple answer is they don't correlate. As much as the medical establishment wants you to think one has a relationship with the other, it's not true. Besides, CD4 counts and go up and down in the course of a day, much less a week or month.

This past year a paper was published showing that only 3 to 9% of CD4 cell counts can be predicted by viral loads which is pretty abysmal.

This is from AIDSMAP.com, an orthodox HIV/AIDS website:

Rate of CD4 decline is a poor guide to the risk of AIDS, say investigators. 1

"A study published last September (Rodriguez) caused some consternation in the scientific community by questioning the link between HIV viral load and CD4 decline.

Rodriguez found that although in broad terms high, medium and low baseline viral loads predicted high, medium and low rates of CD4 decline over the succeeding six months, when it came to individual patients their baseline viral load only predicted between 3-9% of the variability of CD4 decline.

He explained this by suggesting that there were many other factors which led to CD4 decline other than direct viral attack by HIV and commented that his findings 鈥渃hallenge the concept that the magnitude of viral replication is the main determinant of CD4 cell loss.鈥?

Don't buy this viral load nonsense. They're going to try and push you on supposed antiretroviral drugs that will increase your chances of getting sick.

You're more likely to get sick because of the ARV's than from 'HIV'.

Grade 4 events are as important as AIDS events in the era of HAART.2

"OBJECTIVE: To estimate incidence and predictors of serious or life-threatening events that are not AIDS defining, AIDS events, and death among patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the setting of 5 large multicenter randomized treatment trials conducted in the United States. METHODS: Data were analyzed from 2,947 patients enrolled from December 1996 through December 2001. All patients were to receive antiretrovirals throughout follow-up. Data collection was uniform for all main outcome measures: serious or life-threatening (grade 4) events, AIDS, and death. RESULTS: During follow-up, 675 patients experienced a grade 4 event; 332 developed an AIDS event; and 272 died. The first grade 4 event and the first AIDS event were associated with similar risks of death, 5.68 and 6.95, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Grade 4 events are as important as AIDS events in the era of HAART. To adequately evaluate the impact of HAART on morbidity, comorbidities and other key factors must be carefully assessed."

Notic the statement, 'RESULTS: During follow-up, 675 patients experienced a grade 4 event; 332 developed an AIDS event'.

In fact other researchers found similar.

In 2001, Hogg et al found:

""To assess the long-term effects of highly active anti-retroviral therapy, we examined 304 anti-retroviral-experienced patients who were placed on HAART for a period of 18 months. The baseline CD4 count was 385 X lO6/1 and HIV RNA level was 3.2 log10 copies/ml. At baseline, 39 percent were classified as asymptomatic, 33 percent were symptomatic and 28 percent had an AIDS defining illness. The HAART regimens included 3-5 anti-retroviral agents at least one of which was a protease inhibitor. After 18 months, 14 percent of the population remained asymptomatic, 10 percent of which had an undetectable viral load. 39 percent were symptomatic and 47 percent of the population had an AIDS defining illness. The average CD4 count after 18 months on HAART was 301.79 X 106/1 and HIV RNA level of 3.2 log10 copies/ml" 3

Notice the statement, 'After 18 months, 14 percent of the population remained asymptomatic, 10 percent of which had an undetectable viral load. 39 percent were symptomatic and 47 percent of the population had an AIDS defining illness'.

People did worse after the 18 months of ARV's than before.

Be careful about letting them put you on these dangerous drugs.

This is an excellent question for your doctor. I'm no expert but i would think your immune system is still trying to fight the immune dysfunction caused from the HIV. The only one who can tell you this for sure is your doctor.

Go ask a medical professional

These are excellent questions for your health care provider!
Or you can call the statewide AIDS information hotline @
1-800-872-AIDS, Spanish 1-800-862 SIDA, or
TDD 1-800-332-0849 or inquire at your local health dept.
Hope this helps! I am a Phlebotomist and am offering you this information from the Michigan Dept. Of Community Health HIV booklet that we offer our patients prior to obtaining a blood sample for testing....

You need to ask your doctor all this questions, i mean it like in doctors code language or something.

I highly suggest questioning both the validity and relevance of these T Cell counts. There is significant evidence and disagreement within the scientific community as to the causitive nature of HIV. Please refer to the link in my sources, before taking drastic measures which may harm your health.