What can I do next?

What can I do next?

There is, of course, plenty more to learn and plenty more to do. But knowing the basics about HIV disease should help you tackle the things that come next.

There’s so much information out there about living with HIV that keeping up with it could almost be a full-time job. For now, it’s a good idea to learn enough so you feel comfortable and can be involved in your own care.

As far as your “next steps,” you can break them down into a few major areas:

Keep yourself healthy. Start learning about the ways you can take control of your health, from eating well to managing your stress. Protect yourself from other infections by practising safer sex and safer injecting. Finally, learn about antiretrovirals so that when it comes time to start treatment, you can make choices that are right for you.

Keep the people around you healthy. Learn how HIV is transmitted so you know how to avoid passing on the virus to other people. Practise safer sex and safer injecting.

Get connected. Find out about services for people with HIV in your area. If you picked up this brochure at an AIDS service organization, talk with someone there. These places offer support and information and can help connect you with other HIV-positive people if you want. Talking to someone who is positive can be a way to deal with the stress of living with the virus.

But before you get into all of that, you’re allowed to take a break. Go ahead, grab some popcorn and a good movie, and forget about being HIV positive for a little while.