Life beyond AIDS

In order to fight HIV, all one needs is a strong will power to fight the disease. A positive frame of mind goes a long way to ease the dread of death. Remember, there is a life beyond HIV..

Anil Gulati

SPIRITUAL GURUS say and even I believe that our thoughts, moods, state of being and feelings are powerful influences on our health and immune system. I had attended a workshop on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), which was held in Bhopal, wherein, I had a chance to hear from Sanjeev (name changed) who lives in one of the districts of Madhya Pradesh, on his experience in fighting with HIV, which he and his wife had been living with for the last six years. I too was a resource person in the same workshop. One got moved not only because the way he narrated his story, but by the way he has been fighting the dreaded virus. More than anything, the most powerful message one could get from his talk was that there is a life beyond HIV. One needs the will to fight the infection, which he had in him in plenty.

I presume that the moment you have that positive will, you would do whatever is needed and advised to fight HIV. I feel Sanjeev is a fighter, a fighter with the weapon of will. He not only motivates you and tells you that it is the will, which could be more potent than any other vaccine. He may or may not succeed but more important is his present, which he is living with full confidence. To me it proves a point that thoughts, one emotion and various body systems don't work in isolation. They work together as a whole system.

After hearing from him, I did some search, which was more to add to his belief and mine too. One which I found close to this was by UCLA AIDS Institute research, which showed that stress enables HIV to spread more quickly in HIV-positive persons and impairs antiretroviral drugs from restoring the immune system.

Depression and negative attitudes have also been linked to lowering the immune system, which means that opposite could do better, probably a theory, of which Sanjeev is a living example.Many of us get emotional on issue which affects us, but when you see him and hear about him, his wife and the suffering and stigma they got in return from the society in this 21st century era of technology and openness. How his daughter could not get admission in any school in the state capital?

One feels our issues are nothing as compared to his woes. He inspired me with the message that it is positive will power, which has helped him to fight. He is a real life role model, not only for a person living with HIV but also for me and may be for most of us. He encourages us to encounter our problems bravely.