Living and Aging with HIV/AIDS? Here’s How Palliative Care Can Help
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Thanks to modern medicine, people with HIV/AIDS are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. HIV can now be a manageable part of life, and getting older doesn’t mean you have to stop living life to the fullest. As people age with HIV, new challenges may come up—such as other health conditions, changes in memory, social or emotional concerns, or chronic pain—and these challenges can be managed with the right support.
This is where palliative care comes in. Palliative care focuses on supporting your quality of life, helping you manage symptoms, and making it easier for you to continue to live life on your terms.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness, like HIV/AIDS. This type of care focuses on relief from the symptoms and stress of illness, with the goal of improving quality of life for both you and those you love.
Palliative care is provided by a specially trained team of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other specialists who work together with your other health care providers to provide an extra layer of support. It is appropriate at any age and any stage of a serious illness, and it can be provided alongside curative treatment (and for HIV, this includes treatments that control it.)
How Palliative Care Helps People Aging with HIV
People diagnosed with HIV/AIDS before modern treatments became available in the 1990s are now in their 50s, 60s, and beyond. Even with medications, aging with HIV/AIDS can be different than aging without it. Some people may develop other health conditions earlier or experience changes in memory, energy, and mobility, and more.
Palliative care can help navigate these changes and maintain independence, comfort, and you overall well-being. If you’re living with HIV/AIDS, palliative care can help in many ways, including:
1. Creating a personalized care plan
Together with your care team, you’ll identify what’s important to you—your goals, relationships, daily routines, and values—and develop a care plan that reflects your priorities.
2. Managing symptoms and treatment side effects
If you’re experiencing symptoms like pain, fatigue, sleep problems, bowel changes, anxiety and depression, lapses in memory, nausea and vomiting, or shortness of breath, palliative care can help. Just let your health care team know what you’re feeling, and they’ll figure out how to help you.
3. Medication support
Older adults with HIV/AIDS often take many medications. Your palliative care team can help ensure they are safe, work well together, and are easier to manage.
4. Planning for the future
Palliative care can help you make advance care plans, so your wishes are known and respected. This can include documenting your medical preferences or choosing someone to make decisions if you cannot.
5. Supporting your emotional well-being
Living with and aging with HIV/AIDS can sometimes feel stressful or isolating. Your palliative care team can help you cope and connect with additional support to improve your overall emotional well-being.
6. Expanding social networks
Palliative care teams can bridge connections to peer groups, community resources, and other networks to help maintain social connections and combat loneliness.
Palliative Care Can Help You Live Well with HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS may no longer define life expectancy, but it can still affect how people live and plan for the future. Palliative care gives you guidance, support, and tools to live fully, with dignity and hope. Whether it is managing pain, addressing emotional needs, or planning ahead, palliative care can help you, and those who care for you, navigate life with HIV/AIDS confidently.
Learn how palliative care has helped Richard, a 74-year-old gay man, living with HIV/AIDS.
When to Ask about Palliative Care
You can ask your doctor for a palliative care referral at any time, whether you were recently diagnosed or have been living with HIV/AIDS for decades. The palliative care team will work you and your other health care providers to offer an extra layer of support.
Getting support early can improve daily life, help manage symptoms, and make planning for the future easier. Palliative care teams work alongside your HIV/AIDS care and other specialists to help you feel your best—physically, emotionally, and socially.
Learn More about Palliative Care
Visit GetPalliativeCare.org to learn more about palliative care and see if it is right for you and your family.
GetPalliativeCare.org is an online resource for patients and families that focuses on providing information about palliative care. (and other ways to support people living with serious illness) from the point of diagnosis. At GetPalliativeCare.org, you can take a short quiz to see whether the person you are caring for could benefit from palliative care and find a nearby provider.
The site is provided by the Center to Advance Palliative Care.
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