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Today is World AIDS Day. To raise awareness of HIV and AIDS here some facts:
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- As well as the physical effects of HIV and its treatment, there are many social impacts to. Stigma is still experienced by too many people whom are HIV positive today. People whom are positive report experiencing stigma at their places of work, shamefully in the NHS, by family and friends, on social media and sometimes from the mainstream media.
- The best way to prevent the spread of HIV is to always use a condom when having sex; know your HIV status (by regular testing in sexual health clinics) and the status of your sexual partner(s); if you inject drugs don’t share needles or other injecting equipment.
- If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV, to take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment if available.
Here are some videos were people share their experiences of being HIV positive, they are well worth a watch and each is only about a minute long:
Sources & Resources
NAT – Teachers Resources
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NAT – Teachers Resources – HIV Facts.
NAT – HIV IN THE UK STATISTICS – 2015.
NHS Choices – HIV and AIDS.
NHS Choices – HIV and AIDS, 7. Prevention.
Terrence Higgins Trust – HIV treatment.
WORLD AIDS DAY.
World Health Organisation – HIV/AIDS – Post-exposure prophylaxis.
Take care and write soon,
Antony
A lot happened in November. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Here were the key events:
4th November 17 – I went Smoke-Free, Day 1. Smoke-Free Logo |
5th November 17 – I was given the cold shoulder by Dylan. He just walked away from attention to sit with his back towards me. I called him by his name and was ignored. Blanked by Dylan. |
6th November 17 – My week made with the arrival of my pre-orders from Amazon. My Pre-orders: Despicable Me 3 and Monster by Michael Grant. |
11th November 17 – I tried on silly Christmas hats! Silly Christmas Hats! |
12th November 17 – My lovely Grandma passed away. I am sure she is missed dearly by all who knew her. I am also very lucky to have some wonderful memories with her. My Lovely Grandma. |
14th November 17 – I went to the GP about an abscess in my groin. I was given oral antibiotics and told if it gets any bigger I must go to A&E to see a Surgeon. |
| 15th November 17 – The abscess had doubled in size. So went to A&E, was given a dose of IV antibiotics and eventually saw a Surgeon. They decided to operate first thing the following morning.
I had been Nil By Mouth since arriving in A&E at around 1PM and had not eaten since breakfast. They let me go home well after 9pm to eat, rest and with instructions to fast from 3am and be back at the hospital for 8am.  Oh pink…just my colour. |
16th November 17 – The day of the surgery. All of the NHS staff were kind, compassionate and understanding. But communication could have been better.
I arrived on the ward at 07:50am and was instructed by a Nurse on the night shift to wait in the waiting room, while the early staff had handover. The night shift Nurse didn’t tell the day staff that I had arrived and meant I ended up waiting over an hour. Apparently staff had been looking for me everywhere. After the surgery, I didn’t know whether my open wound had been packed or not, because it wasn’t documented in my notes. It has been uncomfortable, a bit tender and at times painful. I have thanked my family and Steve who have been amazing in supporting me pre and post surgery. The surgery and waiting for the open to heal has been very frustrating for me. Everything has had to be put on hold. I’ve had to rest and haven’t been able to do very much apart from watching Netflix, reading and napping. A huge positive is that I have remained Smoke-Free throughout. |
| 17th November 17 – I became super excited after watching a video clip that revealed the title of the new Fantastic Beasts (Harry Potter) film: The Crimes of Grindelwald on Twitter @BeastsMovieUK. The film will be released on 16.11.18. | 22nd November 17 – The day of Grandma’s funeral, which was really a celebration of her life. The service was touching and well attended. Grandma’s family and friends came together afterwards to share memories and the many things they will miss about her. |
| 25th November 17 – Day 21 of being Smoke-Free. Smoke-Free Logo |
29th November 17 – Last day working at my old job. I will miss the people and liked the work, but am excited to start my new job. |
Write soon,
Antony
I have been filled with worry and anxiety this last week. There were two main sources: my boiler breaking and money.
I managed to get my boiler repaired. But it took all week and almost everything that could go wrong with getting it repaired did. Moneywise, I’m skint. In the last two months I’ve had to find more than £700 for unexpected but essential expenditure.
I’ve been meditating for years. But I was so worried and anxious this week that I have been unable to meditate each of the three times I’ve tried.
Of course recognising that you’re anxious is the first step to addressing it.
Here are the signs and symptoms of anxiety according to MIND:
Effects on your body:
- a churning feeling in your stomach
- feeling light-headed or dizzy
- pins and needles
- feeling restless or unable to sit still
- headaches, backache or other aches and pains
- faster breathing
- a fast, thumping or irregular heartbeat
- sweating or hot flushes
- problems sleeping
- grinding your teeth, especially at night
- nausea (feeling sick)
- needing the toilet more or less often
- changes in your sex drive
- having panic attacks.
Effects on your mind:
- feeling tense, nervous or unable to relax
- having a sense of dread, or fearing the worst
- feeling like the world is speeding up or slowing down
- feeling like other people can see you’re anxious and are looking at you
- feeling like you can’t stop worrying, or that bad things will happen if you stop worrying
- worrying about anxiety itself, for example worrying about when panic attacks might happen
- wanting lots of reassurance from other people or worrying that people are angry or upset with you
- worrying that you’re losing touch with reality
- rumination – thinking a lot about bad experiences, or thinking over a situation again and again depersonalisation – feeling disconnected from your mind or body, or like you’re watching someone else (this is a type of dissociation)
- derealisation – feeling disconnected from the world around you, or like the world isn’t real (this is a type of dissociation)
- worrying a lot about things that might happen in the future
From: MIND – Anxiety symptoms, Last Accessed: Saturday 21st October 2017.
There’s lots of advice out there about what you can do to deal with worry and anxiety. But what actually helped me deal with my worry and anxiety? Doing these:
- Off-load to a supportive friend – This gave a voice to my worries. The simple act of telling someone helped me sort through my worries and realise what was and wasn’t within my control.
- Remind yourself what is outside of your control – I was worried about a lot of things outside of my control. It helped to constantly remind myself to try not to worry about things I had no control over. That I should focus on doing things that were within my control.
- Double or triple relaxation time – This was something I did to reduce my heightened stress levels because of the worry and anxiety. At first I did feel guilty spending so much of my time relaxing. But each time I felt guilty, I reminded myself that this self-care was essential in order to prevent mental illness.
- Distraction – This is something I did repeatedly during my relaxation time. Intruding thoughts and emotions of worry and anxiety would often enter my head and it was my job to ignore those thoughts and distract myself from them.
- Write down all worries – It helped to get the worries out out of my head where they were going round and round like a circulating CD stuck on repeat. It also put my worries into perspective, helped me face them and sort through them. This cleared my mind, giving me clarity that allowed me to start planning what needed to be done. Anyone that’s been worried or anxious will know that the emotions make it difficult to think clearly. So this strategy was really helpful.
I’m proud I managed to get through this week. I’m hoping I wont have another week like it for some time.
Take it easy and write soon,
Antony
