Provides information on protease inhibitors, a drug which gives
many acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients a reprieve. How
some patients who were positively diagnosed with human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) respond with their condition; How health and mental health
providers can help HIV patients who negatively respond to their
condition; Psychological effects of the effects of protease
inhibitors.
By
Annie Murphy Paul, published on March 01, 1998
A positive result on an HIV test was once tantamount to a death
sentence.Now, new drugs known as protease inhibitors are giving many AIDS
patients a reprieve--but this medical miracle comes with its own
complications.
Stephen Ferrando, M.D., at Cornell University Medical College both
treats AIDS patients and researches the kind of help they need, including
how to stick to the demanding treatment regimen and how to reconstruct
lives ravaged by illness.
Many of his patients, he says, have gone on disability, cashed in
their insurance policies, used up their personal credit, and prepared
themselves for a shortened life. "Then, awakening like Lazarus, they find
themselves with a real crisis on their hands," he reports.
For mental health workers, the challenge is to help these people
straighten out their lives, reconsider their choices, and adjust
expectations to include a long-term future.
Some who do well on protease inhibitors experience "survivor guilt"
at having been saved while others suffer. But those for whom the drugs
never worked at all, or worked and then stopped, may be the saddest cases
doctors see.
"There's a huge amount of hype about the `cure' for AIDS, the end
of the plague," says Ferrando. "The fact is, many individuals are simply
not benefiting from these treatments."
Psychologists and psychiatrists have the daunting task of helping
them cope with their anger and crushing disappointment--and an often keen
sense of injustice. Despite the great success of the new agents, says
Ferrando, "we still see people for whom it's too late."
A.M.P.
Tags:
AIDS,
aids patients,
coping,
cornell university medical,
cornell university medical college,
cure for aids,
daunting task,
death sentence,
ferrando,
HIV,
hiv test,
insurance policies,
keen sense,
medical miracle,
medicine,
mental health workers,
new drugs,
personal credit,
physical illness,
protease inhibitors,
reprieve,
survivor guilt,
treatment regimen,
university medical college
