Posted by Geoff (206.18.112.120) on June 14, 1999 at 14:48:09:
Hi All:
Just wanted to say thanks to you guys who show compassion and love on this board. I know this is a little off topic...But...please, I need to say this. I have been leading a lot of responses either regarding my coming out to you that I am HIV+ as well as having cluster headaches for almost twenty years. Some people have made comments about HIV saying things like.....How did you get it? OR Did you get it through drug abuse or a homosexual lifestyle? In my life....and it has been a pretty informed one, I have known all kinds of people with HIV. Heterosexual women, teenagers, married couples, gay men, and everything in between. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that anyone can have HIV. All it takes is being really unlucky or doing something ONCE with someone who is infected. Did you know that most people with HIV don't even know that they are infected? Most people who are not in "high risk" categories, never find out until they get sick. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, regardless of whether they are an "asshole" or not. (sorry for the vulgarity) but there seems to be some people that think if you have HIV, you are some kind of bad person or degenerate. HIV doesn't discriminate. To be honest, most of my heterosexual friends that are or have been "around the block" refuse to get tested. Again guys, I just wanted to say that I would NEVER wish bad things on anyone. HIV OR CLUSTERS. This is something that none of us chose...think about it? Did we choose to get these headaches? How many of us have had sex in our lifes? Have we ever done anything with someone we didn't really know well? It seems that most of us are in our 30s, 40s or 50s. We have lived through the "60s and 70s" and if we are still lucky enough to still be around, most of us have taken risks in the past. The question is....do you think any of us chose to have HIV any more than we chose to have these headaches? I just needed to talk about this because I have read a few disturbing things from a couple people implying that HIV is a curse for being bad. Its no different than anything else. It is a virus that ANYONE can get. I hope this doesn't offend anyone but having both HIV and Clusters is more than just difficult...it is making me a little nuts right now. Please feel free to write me....I would like to hear any comments.
Thanks family,
Geoff