Jump to content

What's A Good Cd4 Count?


Recommended Posts

As others have remarked, we don't know the starting point... What's normal for one person is high for another and low for a third. Also the CD4 count is a vague and wandering creature: a cigarette a few minutes before the blood is drawn can add 10% to 20% to the result. Admittedly I was pretty sick at my nadir of 80, but I was mentally and physically exhausted when my partner died and had a CD4 (my highest ever) of 880.

My partner had a good way of expressing it: what's normal for you? He had naturally low blood pressure and used to have to warn medical staff taking his blood pressure of this lest he find himself being admitted to the ward. Low blood pressure was "normal for John".

Increasingly, despite the US' insistence on using a CD count as part of the definition of aids (in the UK we can now say "when I had aids"), it's emerging that the important number is the viral load, which shows how well suppressed and unable to cause further damage the virus is. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...
  • 2 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Guidelines. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.