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Original poster

Obsessed/interested in HIV and AIDS

93 replies

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 11:36

Anyone else? My interest started when I was a child in the 80s. Remember the terrifying tombstone ad? I'm sure I remember a leaflet coming through the door too but not sure. I remember watching a film at my nan's house about the start of the epidemic with Matthew Modine. I found it mysterious, terrifying, fascinating. I was only a young child, around 5 or 6. I remember learning Freddie Mercury had it, and when Queen came on yhe radio, I would cover my ears as I thought I would catch it. I also remember when a boy grabbed me and kissed me on the lips at school, I came home crying to my mother thinking that I had caught it. As an adult, I'm still fascinated. I've watched every documentary, read lots, including HIV forums. The obsession dies down for a while until it starts again for a few weeks. I remember them saying they would have a cure for it in 2 years at the beginning but still we don't have one. I think it's why I find it so fascinating. Anyone else like this or am I just nuts?

OP posts:

JeannieTheZebra · 02/02/2021 11:50

I’m interested in hiv/aids. I’ve read a lot of books and papers about it. My background is in medical ethics and I’m training to be an nhs chaplain, so I think my interest stems from the idea of how there could be a large amount of very young, very sick men without society caring or even really noticing; it’s inconceivable. I also find the way the community stepped up fascinating and the impact the aids community had on drug procurement and pastoral care of the sick and dying was huge-it really shaped the way we do it today. So, yeah, you’re not the only one

Karmagoat · 02/02/2021 12:03

I remember being terrified of that advert when it came out, I was about 11 at the time and had just started secondary school, It was such a huge deal in the 80s you couldn't help be affected by it in some way.
Watching Its a Sin on channel 4 has reminded me of the stigma of it all in the early days and how it was seen as a 'gay' disease and all the poor young gay men who died, very sad.

Original poster

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 12:05

Thank you for replying. Yes, the way they were treated was absolutely appalling. That sounds very interesting indeed. Not easy though, not something I could do I don't think. I don't think I have the emotional health for it. There was/is a great hisoiwin australia, watching that clip was endearing, they were so caring toward the patients.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General health

Original poster

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 12:07

I watched that. I thought it was great. Seeing how things were at that time really affects me. Its hard to explain. So very sad that all these men were dying, terrified and hardly anyone would touch them.

OP posts:

Fastedbrownie · 02/02/2021 12:08

I don't share your interest, but I don't think it's weird or bad. The epidemic was a scary and fascinating period in our history. Don't think it's any weirder than people who are interested in WW2, the titanic or 9/11.

Original poster

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 12:11

Thank you. My friends and ex who comes to visit our daughter think I am bonkers.

OP posts:

JohnMiddleNameRedactedSwanson · 02/02/2021 12:13

Have you watched It’s A Sin?

Original poster

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 12:18

Yes, watched it in one go. It was very good.

OP posts:

JohnMiddleNameRedactedSwanson · 02/02/2021 12:27

There’s a really interesting episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History about the scientists who worked in the very unfashionable field of T-cell retroviruses, and how after being pariahs for most of their careers their work meant that HIV and AIDS could be understood and treated much faster.

Digestive28 · 02/02/2021 13:46

The life scientific this morning on radio four was interviewing the woman who did all the public health stuff around aids. Really interesting and worth a listen

over50andfab · 02/02/2021 14:25

I think the recent It's a Sin series has raised a lot of interest. The tombstone ads caused a lot of health anxiety in some people.

Where do you get your online information from OP and what HIV forums are there?

Original poster

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 14:39

I will check that podcast out, sounds really interesting.

I caught a bit of that this morning on radio 4 when I was coming back home from nursery but couldn't listen to all as I had to start work.

I watch a lot of YouTube documentaries, some are really old. There are loads on there. I research the drugs and their side effects. There is a forum specifically for it, not sure I'm allowed to mention it here but it should come up if you search hiv/aids forum.

OP posts:

Fuckadoodledoooo · 02/02/2021 15:03

I have a vivid memory of first hearing of HIV/AIDS.

My family had a chance to go to San Francisco when I was 6, in 1986.

We didn't go because a friend told her that aids lived in the sewers under the streets of San Francisco and came up though the vents in the air. If you walked the streets you would get it. She thought it was like the plague.
So she turned it down.

I was gutted. We were piss poor - we never even had a U.K. holiday let alone go to America!

billydilly · 02/02/2021 15:14

I watched And The Band Played On (the Matthew Modine film) only last night. I think that the urgency of the Covid research (entirely right, obviously) reminded me of the other pandemic I've lived through; one where the victims were thought to be expendable.

peak2021 · 02/02/2021 15:38

Whilst there are treatments it still exists as a disease/condition. Perhaps if more men were to wear condoms when having sex (with women or men) it would be even less prevalent today, and other STIs or unwanted pregnancies would be smaller in number.

billydilly · 02/02/2021 15:43

In Brighton, where I live, there's a bus with 'HIV isn't scary anymore!' in huge festive letters; millions of people in Africa wouldn't agree!

Original poster

pumpkinbump · 02/02/2021 15:55

I do agree. I believe that infections should be so much lower than they are now. It's almost as if it's not being taken seriously enough. That is crazy about the bus! Wtf? Although treatments are effective, there can be many side effects to deal with.

I watched on documentary called The Gift. Found it horrific. People were deliberately trying to get themselves infected.

OP posts:

Fuckadoodledoooo · 02/02/2021 16:03

@billydilly

In Brighton, where I live, there's a bus with 'HIV isn't scary anymore!' in huge festive letters; millions of people in Africa wouldn't agree!

Bloody hell. That's actually shocking.

billydilly · 02/02/2021 16:04

It's horrifying that Brighton, with its big gay community, can spread such a cavalier attitude to young men. As you say, it's lifelong medication with significant side effects.

over50andfab · 02/02/2021 16:21

Thanks - don't see why any forums can't be mentioned as not against any MN rules. However any search shows forums that aren't actually forums to ask questions - mens health forum, sophia forum etc. Do you mean h-i-v.net forum? doesn't look very busy

fratellia · 02/02/2021 16:24

I’ve just watched it’s a sin which was heartbreaking but amazing.

I remembered a documentary on BBC (I think) about 10 years ago about a British teenage girl with HIV, she’d had it from birth and chosen to go public with her story, she’d faced a lot of hate and bullying about it though. I tried to find it again on iplayer but don’t think it’s there. Does anyone remember it?

Squarepigeon · 02/02/2021 16:31

’In Brighton, where I live, there's a bus with 'HIV isn't scary anymore!' in huge festive letters; millions of people in Africa wouldn't agree!’

AIDS is scary. Being HIV+ is a manageable condition if you live in the U.K. as drugs and adequate nutrition stop it progressing to AIDS.

havanacabana · 02/02/2021 16:36

As far as I’m aware most people on HIV medication can’t actually pass on the virus through sex because the virus is so suppressed, they also have a normal life expectancy. So whilst there’s no cure things have moved on significantly in a few decades (in developed countries at least)

I’m sure I’ve read one of groups with growing diagnosis in the U.K. are actually straight, middle-aged people. There was a lady on This Morning a while back who contracted it (she was divorced, middle-aged and online dating) and openly said in air she was shocked because she thought it was an ‘African disease’

billydilly · 02/02/2021 16:38

If the message is intended for those who have been diagnosed or are thinking of it it's misleading at best, but it also implies that HIV is no big deal so why bother with condoms at all?

Triffid1 · 02/02/2021 16:45

I think it's very interesting, although I'm definitely not "obsessed" . My interest is far more on its effects in Africa as that's where I'm from. There were some scary statistics about its spread back in the late 80s/early 90s in Africa, across the wider population (and of course, it's still a huge issue) due to lack of hygiene, generally unhealthy populations, migrant labour etc. Saw a terrifying research report in which women were discussing various things they do / are made to do for sex that result in them having a much higher chance of getting because of internal open wounds.

I can't help feeling the fact that in western/developed countries it's so much better managed now is why we still don't have a cure or a vaccine.

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