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A List of Famous People with HIV

By Health, ThinkingNo Comments

There aren’t a lot of famous people who’ve been open about their HIV status. This is not surprising given the historic stigma associated with HIV. In the 1980s there was a real lack of information about HIV/AIDS, this led to myths and a lot of fear. There were also no treatments. This was a public information broadcast back in 1986, and it really shows how little we knew about HIV/AIDS and what a diagnosis meant (death):

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But there are some brave people who have been open about being HIV positive.

Freddie-Mercury-HIV-positive

Freddie Mercry [Deceased], Singer. Image from & Copyright © People.com.

 1. Freddie Mercury
Perhaps the most famous person to be open about their HIV positive diagnosis was the legendary Freddie Mercury. He opened up about his HIV positive diagnosis the day before his death.

What is fascinating about Freddie Mercury is that he has been remembered for the way he lived, not the way he died. He is remembered for his work: writing songs, singing them and fabulous performances.

If I could have tea with anyone from any time, living or dead it would probably be Freddie Mercury. As a fellow creative soul (albetit not in the same field) I’d love to know where he got his inspiration. How he came up with his ideas. How he managed to find the magic melodies and be ahead of his time, yet timeless at the same time. Freddie Mercury gave very few interviews, so I guess I’ll never know the answers to these questions.

Gareth-Thomas-HIV-positive

Gareth Thomas, Retired Professional Rugby Player. Image from & Copyright © Wikipedia.

 2. Gareth Thomas
Gareth Thomas is a Retired Professional Rugby Player from Wales, UK.

Gareth Thomas disclosed his HIV status as being positive, yet also being undetectable and untransmittable earlier this year. His HIV status really shows how far treatment for HIV has come. Once a death sentence, it is now a treatable condition. Many people who are HIV positive can now have the same life span as those who are HIV negative.

Prior to this Gareth Thomas is the first major sportsman to come out as gay in Rugby, which he did so in 2009. Rugby is a very masculine sport, so he should be commended for being honest and open about his sexuality.

Andrew-Bell-HIV-positive

Andrew Bell, Singer. Image from and Copyright © The Info NG.

 3. Andrew Bell
Andrew Bell is the lead singer in the band Erasure. In 2004 he disclosed his HIV positive status to the public.

Since Andrew Bell’s disclosure he has been involved with a number of charities raising funds for HIV research and projects. This includes work with National AIDS Trust (NAT).
Charlie-Sheen-HIV-positive

Charlie Sheen, Actor. Image from and Copyright © GQ.

 4. Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen is an Actor with a checkered past. His past according to several sources includes violence, alcohol and substance misuse and being very sexually promiscuous. It is the latter of these behaviours that probably led to Charlie Sheen being diagnosed as HIV positive.

In 2015 Charlie Sheen disclosed his HIV status in an interview. In the same interview he reported that he had spent approximately $10 million to keep extortionists quiet about his HIV status.

Christopher-Smith-HIV-positive

Christopher Smith, Retired Politician. Image from and Copyright © The Info NG.

 5. Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith is a Retired Politician in the UK. I didn’t know that he even existed before doing research for this blog post. He is one of the unsung heroes in the LGBT community.

Christopher Smith was the first gay male Politician to come out, coming out as gay in 1984. He has severed in several Governments and has undoubtedly influenced people’s views about people who are LGBT. He has probably supported legislation for LGBT rights and promoted a more inclusive and equal culture.

I am aware that there are no women on this list. I couldn’t find a single famous female who has been open about their HIV positive diagnosis. If you know one, please leave a comment below and let me know.

A HIV positive diagnosis used to be like a death sentence, but today it isn’t. Treatments for HIV positive have never been better and have led to people with HIV being found to be undetectable and untransmitable. Want to know more about HIV? Learn more here.

Write soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Friday 6 December 2019

World AIDS Day (2019) – This Year’s Theme: Communities That Make A Difference

By HealthNo Comments

Today is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is communities that make the difference. With this in mind, here is a short video explaining how communities make a difference to people living with HIV and/or AIDS:

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Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 1 December 2019

World Diabetes Day 2019: The Lowdown on Type 1 Diabetes

By HealthNo Comments

Today is World Diabetes Day. People often struggle to understand diabetes and particularly type 1 diabetes which isn’t linked to diet, weight, a lack of exercise or age. So here’s a video from Diabetes UK that explains type 1 diabetes simply:

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Here are some facts and statistics:

Quick facts about type 1 diabetes

  • Approximately 400,000 people are currently living with type 1 diabetes in the UK, with over 29,000 of them children.
  • Incidence is increasing by about four per cent each year, particularly in children under five, with a five percent increase each year in this age group over the last 20 years.
  • Type 1 diabetes affects 96 per cent of all children with diabetes in England and Wales.
  • Around 85 per cent of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have no family history of the condition.
  • Although it used to be referred to as ‘juvenile diabetes’, around half of newly diagnosed cases are in people over the age of 18.
  • The UK has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world, for reasons that are currently unknown.
  • A person with type 1 diabetes will have around 65,000 injections and measure their blood glucose over 80,000 times in their lifetime.

From: JDRF UK, last accessed: 11th November 2019.

Diabetes is a chronic long term health condition that requires a lot of management. For example I:

  • Inject insulin 4 or 5 times everyday.
  • Check and record my blood sugars before meals and two hours after meals.
  • Check and record my blood sugars before and after driving.
  • Finger pricking to read my blood sugars 8-15 times per day, prior to my Freestyle Libre (more on this below).
  • Count the carbs in each meal.
  • Have retinopathy screening, podiatry checks, annual reviews (with both my GP & Endocrine Consultant), see Diabetes Specialist Nurses and see Dietitians. You can only begin to imagine the number of health appointments I have in a year.

Having diabetes can be frustrating at times, as any little thing can affect the amount of glucose in my blood. Things that affect my blood sugar include: physical or mental illness, diet, exercise, the weather, even the amount and quality of sleep I’ve had.

Management and treatments have mostly stayed the same since I was diagnosed with diabetes. It often feels like I am trying to minimise the damage that diabetes causes to my body until better treatments are developed or until a cure is researched and widely available.

The biggest change to diabetes treatment in the last few years is the Freestyle Libre sensor for blood glucose readings. This my Consultant has described as revolutionary and I have to agree with her to a point. This means no finger pricking (unless unwell), but it is only half a job. Next diabetics need a pump that works with the Freestyle sensor to administer the right amounts of insulin automatically.

What’s your experience of type 1 diabetes? Leave a comment below.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Thursday 14 November 2019

One Nurse’s Experience of Mental Health Care

By HealthNo Comments
One-Nurses-Experience-2019

The Report has been written and submitted as a formal complaint.

 Back in September I had a fifteen day stay admitted in mental health ward. Unfortunately, the care that I received and the care I observed other patients receiving was unsafe and did not meet the high standards of care that I would expect from our National Health Service (NHS).

I am proud to be a Nurse and despite still being unwell I feel that it was important to raise the issues I experienced and observed to prevent future patients from experiencing the same.

I never like to complain about anything, but even more so with our NHS. In fact I’ve never complained about anything in the NHS. I have nothing but love and adoration for our NHS, after all it has saved my life several times and the lives of my loved ones countless times. I know it’s not perfect, but I also know that most of the staff do the very best that they can with extremely limited resources.

But I felt that I had an ethical and professional duty to raise these concerns to ensure that I was acting within the Nursing & Midwifery Council’s Code of Conduct (2018). So I sat down with notes I made at the time and wrote an exposé report.

The purpose of this report was to raise issues/concerns and give suggested actions for improvements.

I started the report with the positives, like:

  • The vast majority of staff introduced themselves to other patients and myself.
  • Staff appeared to complete the appropriate paperwork.
  • Staff wore the appropriate badges & tabards.
  • But most importantly staff showed kindness and compassion.

Then I listed each issue or concern that I had along with suggested actions for improvement.

For example, a number of staff reported having “no idea” about diabetes. So I recommended:

  • That all staff should receive training on diabetes that includes the difference between type 1 & 2 diabetes.
  • All staff should be reminded that best practice is to take a BM reading before a meal and 2 hours after a meal.
  • Staff should be reminded of any policies or procedures relating to diabetes care.

I then sent the report to the Complaints Team as a formal complaint, PALS, the Ward Manager (via PALS), the Lead Consultant Psychiatrist (via PALS), the Chief Executive, the Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive and The Governance Team at my local Clinical Commissioning Group.

This was on a Saturday evening. I didn’t expect to hear anything until the following week. But I got an email back from the Chief Executive (on a Saturday!) thanking me for my report and assuring me that the Complaints Team would be in touch.

Since The Complaints Team have been in touch by email. It reads like they are taking my report extremely seriously which is good to read.

I’ll keep you updated.

Antony

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Wednesday 6 November 2019
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