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By Jim Rollince, GymSource
Adhering to a rigid exercise program can seem intimidating to a person who has been diagnosed with HIV. Because this particular disease is so varied in how it affects each person who has it, people with HIV are often at various stages of physical health and emotional health. Sometimes, the disease can seemingly lie dormant for years. Other times, the disease can attack and leave a person feeling extremely ill, mentally depleted, and exhausted of nearly all energy. Exercise is one way that a person who has HIV can fight back and take positive steps to regaining strength and increasing his or her overall health.
Increased Cardio Health Benefits Stem from Consistent Exercise Routines
It is well known that physical exercise can greatly improve cardio health. In many situations, healthy hearts equal healthy bodies. Many people are able to fight diseases through consistent exercise programs. While beginning with a rigorous exercise program may not be feasible for an HIV patient who is fighting severe symptoms of the disease, beginning with a mild program and then steadily increasing it can result in wonderful improvements on the way the person feels each day.
Setting up home gym equipment is an ideal way to be prepared to exercise any time there is free time to do so. If an HIV patient is working full time or part time, going to regular doctor visits, and taking care of other responsibilities, a home gym may be the best solution to find time to exercise. Using a treadmill, an exercise bike, and an elliptical machine can result in tremendous health benefits and improved heart conditions. Improving the heart and blood circulation throughout the body will make the person feel physically stronger and this can have a great and lasting impact on how well the person is physically able to cope with the disease.
Remain Committed to Regular Fitness Activities for Increased Health
The US National Library of Medicine provides an online medical journal that details numerous benefits that people who have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS can gain from committing to regular exercise sessions. Psychological benefits, increased circulation, easier breathing, and stronger muscles are all potential benefits a person can gain by committing to exercise on a regular basis.
Getting outside during nice weather and taking advantage of warm and pleasant weather to hike, swim, or go biking with friends is an ideal way to enjoy exercise and socialization at the same time. When time is short, the individual can take advantage of fitness equipment at home to get in a few minutes of treadmill jogging or working out on an elliptical. Every time a person engages in physical activity, the body will respond by increasing metabolism and potentially increasing levels of energy.
The first-ever daily pill to help prevent against HIV was approved Monday by U.S. regulators for use in uninfected adults who are at risk for getting the virus that causes AIDS.The National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) strongly supports today’s move by the United States Food and Drug Administration to approve use of Truvada (emtricitabine/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection.
“It’s time for people at high risk of HIV infection to be empowered to protect themselves and others,” said Frank J. Oldham, Jr., NAPWA’s President and CEO. “Today’s approval of Truvada for HIV prevention gives them an important new tool to do that.
“PrEP is not a final solution to the spread of HIV,” Oldham continued, “but it can be one tool, and a very useful one, in a well stocked toolkit of prevention measures. We urge all Americans to assess their HIV risk realistically and use condoms if they are at risk, but we thank the FDA for approving Truvada for PrEP for those who cannot or will not.”
Truvada is one of the pills I take every day- if it can prevent anyone from getting HIV- it should. The “how” is still being determined.
Mark Manson gives some perspective to our sometimes myopic view of the United States:
Imagine you have a brother and he’s an alcoholic. He has his moments, but you keep your distance from him. You don’t mind him for the occasional family gathering or holiday. You still love him. But you don’t want to be around him.
This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the United States. The United States is my alcoholic brother. And although I will always love him, I don’t want to be near him at the moment.
I know that’s harsh, but I really feel my home country is not in a good place these days. That’s not a socio-economic statement (although that’s on the decline as well), but rather a cultural one.
I realize it’s going to be impossible to write sentences like the ones above without coming across as a raging prick, so let me try to soften the blow to my American readers with an analogy:
You know when you move out of your parents’ house and live on your own, how you start hanging out with your friends’ families and you realize that actually, your family was a little screwed up? Stuff you always assumed was normal your entire childhood, it turns out was pretty weird and may have actually fucked you up a little bit. You know, dad thinking it was funny to wear a Santa Claus hat in his underwear every Christmas or the fact that you and your sister slept in the same bed until you were 22, or that your mother routinely cried over a bottle of wine while listening to Elton John.
The point is we don’t really get perspective on what’s close to us until we spend time away from it. Just like you didn’t realize the weird quirks and nuances of your family until you left and spent time with others, the same is true for country and culture. You often don’t see what’s messed up about your country and culture until you step outside of it.
Some of this may not be easy reading, but the perspective is accurate for many- I strongly encourage you to read the rest here.
Kim McGeehan wrote an article for the Bozeman Magpie about HIV in Montana- and shared some of my story along the way. Excerpt:
English: HIV-1 particles assembling at the surface of an infected macrophage. Français : Des particules de HIV-1 s’assemblant à la surface d’un macrophage infecté. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“I wasn’t diagnosed because I was scared. Now, I have memory issues and damage to my joints. HIV attacks soft tissues in the body—gums, brain, liver—even if you don’t have outward symptoms, the virus can still be doing damage,” Smith says. “At first, there were no treatments. Now there is a lot we can do. We can stop it or slow it down. You can live a healthy life. If you are on your meds and have a low viral load, your risk of transmitting the disease can be as low as 4%.”
That isn’t permission to take behavioral risks, but information that should encourage people to take advantage of the services offered by AIDS Outreach. Those services include fast, free, anonymous HIV tests, an HIV-positive support group, educational literature, and condoms condoms condoms.
Americans will soon be able to purchase an over-the-counter, rapid-response HIV test, but Smith worries that dealing with a positive result alone will be challenging for folks: “Denial is such a strong force in the human psyche. I remember it in myself. I’m worried that someone might test positive and not tell anyone, not get counseling or medical care.”
Read the rest:
http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/perspective-full-article.php?article_id=502
From The New Civil Rights Movement:
HIV Particle (Photo credit: AJC1)
A vaccine to protect against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and AIDS may be available before the end of this decade, a leading HIV research scientist says. RV144 may be the answer to fighting HIV/AIDS.
“We’re really working as fast as we can,” said Colonel Nelson Michael, director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, “who expects large-scale effectiveness studies to start in 2016,” according to a report in Reuters:
The hope is to have at least 50 percent effectiveness, a level that mathematical modelers say could have a major impact on the epidemic. Michael thinks this might be the pathway for getting the first HIV vaccine licensed, possibly by 2019.
Exciting news- Read the rest here
From New Ways Ministry: The issue was sparked this week by a Washington Post article on Bishop Paul LoVerde, of Arlington, Virginia, who has instituted such an oath for religious education teachers there. Four teachers have already resigned because of the requirement. The Post report states:
“The Arlington Diocese, which includes nearly a half-million Catholics across northern and eastern Virginia, is one of a small but growing number that are starting to demand fidelity oaths. The oaths reflect a churchwide push in recent years to revive orthodoxy that has sharply divided Catholics.
“Such oaths are not new for priests or nuns but extend now in some places to people like volunteer Sunday school teachers as well as workers at Catholic hospitals and parish offices.
“One in Baker, Ore., reiterates the sinfulness of abortion and says, “I do not recognize the legitimacy of anyone’s claim to a moral right to form their own conscience in this matter.” One in Oakland, Calif., requires leaders of a group doing outreach to gay and lesbian Catholics to say they “affirm and believe” official church teaching on marriage, hell and chastity. [For the Bondings 2.0 report on the Oakland oath, click here.]
“The Arlington ‘profession of faith’ asks teachers to commit to “believe everything” the bishops characterize as divinely revealed, and Arlington’s top doctrine official said it would include things like thebishops’ recent campaign against a White House mandate that most employers offer contraception coverage. Critics consider the mandate a violation of religious freedom.”
The article quotes Rose Zagarri, one of the resigned teachers:
“Zagarri said the oath was a “slap in the face” to Catholics who have remained active and close to the church despite controversies.
“ ‘Although I fully understand the authoritative role of the Catholic hierarchy in defining the teachings of the faith, in my view only a person who is willing to abandon her own reason and judgment, or who is willing to go against the dictates of her own conscience, can agree to sign such a document,’ she wrote to Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde.
“ ‘This is not in the spirit of what people go to a Catholic church for, which is community and a loving, welcoming environment. It’s exclusionary, a suppression of dissent, let’s all line up and be the army of God,’ Zagarri said in an interview for this article.”
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog reports that the loyalty oath in the Baker, Oregon, diocese (mentioned above) states that some of the teachings that the oath includes are:
“the sinfulness of contraception, the evil of extra-marital sexual relationships, the unacceptability of homosexual relationships, the wrongness of co-habitation before marriage.”
According to the Post-Intelligencer, the Baker diocese oath goes even further on the issue of abortion, with the statement:
“I do not recognize the legitimacy of anyone’s claim to a moral right to form their own conscience on this matter.”
A wise warning against such loyalty oaths was raised by Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, director of the leadership program for Catholic educators,University of Notre Dame. The Washington Post article concludes with:
“Nuzzi said he keeps a photo on his desk from the 1940s that shows all the German bishops in their garb, doing the Nazi salute.
“ ‘I keep it there to remind people who say to do everything the church says, that their wisdom has limitations, too.’ ”
–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry
Helena Art Party to Raise Money for Grants and Scholarships in Montana
The Turman Larison Contemporary Art Gallery in downtown Helena will host a fundraiser for Pride Foundation’s grants and scholarships on Thursday, Aug. 9, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is free to attend, but donations are encouraged. Co-hosts include: Clark &Toni Broadbent, Attorney General Candidate Pam Bucy, Linda Carlson and David Hunter, Tom and Lisa Cordingley, Pam Dale, Clayton Elliott, Laura Fix,Ginny Furshong, Jamee Greer, Cindy Lewis, Pat Kemp and Sen. Christine Kaufmann, Terry Kendrick, Wendy and Sarah Nicolai, Linda Reed, Mike Wessler and Bobbie Zenker.
Seattle-based Pride Foundation has made a big splash in Montana since hiring on-the-ground staff in 2011, sextupling the number of active donors in less than two years. A board of 12 volunteers, including Helena residents Ginny Furshong, Pat Kemp, Mike Wessler and Bobbie Zenker, helps lead the organization’s efforts. Pride Foundation has increased from $19,000 to nearly $50,000 the amount of grants and scholarships given out in the state over the past year.
According to Regional Development Organizer Caitlin Copple, who is also the first openly gay member of the Missoula City Council, Montana is part of a larger national trend toward greater acceptance of people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
“From the city ordinances protecting the community from non-discrimination to the increase in the number of high school Gay-Straight Alliances around the state to the changes in both the Republican and Democratic Party platforms, Montana is rapidly becoming a friendlier place for gays and lesbians,” Copple said. “Most importantly, more of our heterosexual family, friends, and colleagues are also ‘coming out’ as supporters of full equality in our state.”
Founded in 1985, Pride Foundation is dedicated to inspiring a culture of generosity to connect and strengthen organizations, leaders, and students who are creating LGBTQ equality across the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. To learn more, visit www.pridefoundation.org or email Caitlin@pridefoundation.org.
In 10,000 Same Sex Couples Magazine, an excellent overview of the benefits of the ACA for LGBT persons. Excerpt:
Nondiscrimination protection measures have been included in the Affordable Care Act, and significantly, by 2014, insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions such as HIV or transgendered medical history.
Increased services for preventive care and HIV testing and treatment have been included in the ACA. As insurance companies will no longer be able to cancel or deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, Americans living with HIV will have better access to care and to life-saving drugs, whereas currently, an estimated 25% of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV in the United States have no health insurance coverage. Many of those living with HIV without insurance, or with insurance but consistently fearful of having it canceled due to a pre-existing condition, have been forced to pay out of pocket or seek other methods of treatment.
LGBTQ Activist Chris Barnett of San Francisco says: “I’ve been fortunate to have health coverage all my years of living with HIV, so pre-existing condition has thankfully never directly affected me. Though I must say, in my early years with this, late ’80s to early ’90s, I was fearful of using my insurance for fear of being redlined, so I paid for early treatment out of pocket, or found medical studies.”
As most states in America fail to recognize same-sex relationships, healthcare through a spouse’s workplace is not an option for many LGBTQ Americans. This often results in a high number of citizens forced to pay high prices for private insurance or to forgo having any insurance at all due to cost. With ACA’s expansions to the affordability and accessibility of healthcare, more LGBTQ Americans will be able to be covered.
Beach-themed fundraiser to raise money for Montana grants and scholarships
Join me on a Flathead Lake cruise!
Pride Foundation aims to “make waves” with the first-ever Flathead Lake Equality Cruise on Sunday, Aug. 12, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The boat will depart KwaTaqNuk Best Western Resort at 4 p.m. sharp, so guests are encouraged to arrive by 3:45. Tickets are $45 for individuals and $80 per couple and can be purchased online at www.pridefoundation.eventbrite.com.
Seattle-based Pride Foundation has made a big splash in Montana since hiring on-the-ground staff in 2011, sextupling the number of active donors in less than two years. Pride Foundation has increased from $19,000 to nearly $50,000 the amount of grants and scholarships given out in the state over the past year.
According to Regional Development Organizer Caitlin Copple, who is also the first openly gay member of the Missoula City Council, Montana is part of a larger national trend toward greater acceptance of people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
“From the city ordinances protecting the community from non-discrimination to the increase in the number of high school Gay-Straight Alliances around the state to the changes in both the Republican and Democratic party platforms, Montana is rapidly becoming a more friendly place for gays and lesbians,” Copple said. “Most importantly, more of our heterosexual family, friends, and colleagues are also ‘coming out’ as supporters of full equality in our state.”
Indeed, co-hosts for the upcoming cruise include Rep. Ellie Hill (D-Missoula) and Dr. Tyler Smith of Missoula, Cathy and Ned Cooney of Bigfork, Mary Stranahan of Arlee, and Beth Frazee, Paul Vestal, and Bryony Schwan, all of Missoula.
Special thanks to event sponsors KwaTaqNuk Resort, Mamalode Magazine, and FlatheadEvents.net. If you would like to sponsor or co-host, please contact Caitlin@pridefoundation.org.
And yep, I’m gonna be there.
Founded in 1985, Pride Foundation is dedicated to inspiring a culture of generosity to connect and strengthen organizations, leaders, and students who are creating LGBTQ equality across the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. To learn more, visit www.pridefoundation.org or email Caitlin@pridefoundation.org.
From Eternity To Here 