‘No longer a death sentence’: How Charlie Sheen, and many others, live with HIV in 2015

Charlie Sheen in 2013 (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

When Valerie Nicholson’s partner at the time was diagnosed as HIV-positive she assumed she was also positive and thus didn’t have very long to live.

That was 2004.

“I went through denial. It was a black time in my life,” recalls Nicholson in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada from her home in Vancouver. “I was losing my hair and I was really, really sick … A friend finally dragged me to the doctor.”

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By the time she went to the doctor in 2006 she had taken her life down a very dark path – she was using more drugs than ever before, had become homeless and was convinced she was on death’s door.

She was wrong.

No longer a death sentence

As she had feared, Nicholson was diagnosed as HIV-positive – but it was not the death sentence she assumed it would be.

Like Hollywood star Charlie Sheen, who recently spoke about his HIV-positive status, the Vancouverite takes antiretroviral medication daily and is in frequent contact with doctors.

Back in the 1980s, a HIV-positive diagnosis was essentially a death sentence, with most people given only five to 10 years to live, explains Jocelyn Watchorn, director of support services with the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), in a phone interview.

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These days, as long as people take their medications daily as directed, they can generally expect to live “fairly close to a normal life expectancy,” says Dr. Sharon Walmsley, a senior scientist with the Toronto General Research Institute, who has been involved in HIV research for more than 30 years.

For the first few years after her diagnosis, Nicholson was on medication that gave her bad nightmares. She didn’t know she had other options, but eventually switched medications and is now down to taking one antiretroviral pill per day. She also goes in for a battery of tests every three months, testing everything from her viral loads to her cholesterol.

Now that those with HIV live longer and longer, scientists, such as Dr. Walmsley, are dealing with figuring out how to best treat older patients, who might also be dealing with health issues related to aging, such as high cholesterol and heart conditions.

Most HIV-positive Canadians now take one pill per day, which costs about $1,200 per month, says Dr. Walmsley in a phone interview.

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Valerie Nicholson in 2013 at Loon Lake, where Positive Living BC has its healing retreats. (Courtesy)

In B.C., antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV are usually covered by the public provincial health plan, said Nicholson. What is covered differs greatly province-by-province, but Watchorn says organizations, like ACT, help people figure out ways to ensure get coverage, such as through employer health plans and/or applying to provincial programs, such as the Trillium Drug Program in Ontario.

For Nicholson her diagnosis has been a wake-up call. Like anyone else living with a chronic disease, she now tries to take of her physical and mental health by watching what she eats, trying to exercise and keeping her stress levels down.

On top of following a treatment plan, those diagnosed as HIV-positive are generally legally required to disclose their status to sexual partners in both the U.S. and Canada. But, following Sheen’s very public disclosure, one of his former girlfriends is claiming he never disclosed his status to her. However, he’s saying there was nothing to disclose, as he was HIV-negative during the time they were together.

Here in Canada, those diagnosed with HIV are legally obligated to disclose their status before engaging in sexual behaviours that pose a “realistic possibility” of transmitting HIV to another person, according to Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE).

From darkness to light

Sheen has said that he hopes speaking out about his diagnosis will be a turning point for him, but, it remains to be seen if it really will be.

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For Nicholson, the darkest time in her life is behind her now. The mother of four and grandmother of four celebrated her 60th birthday and now has a bright, vibrant life filled with purpose. She is the chair of Positive Living BC in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and has dedicated her life to being a positive influence in other people’s lives.

Still stigma

Of course, Nicholson’s life, and the lives of the approximately 71,300 people living with HIV infection in Canada, is often very hard.

Sheen reportedly only spoke out about his diagnosis after being extorted for years by people who threatened to expose his HIV status.

Nicholson is very open about her status, but knows it can be tough to talk about openly about HIV for many people.

“There is still a lot of stigma attached, I’ve faced it,” she says.

That fear of stigma and being judged stops many people from getting tested and getting the treatment they need, adds Watchorn. “About 20 to 30 per cent of people with HIV don’t know it.”

If you think you might be HIV-positive don’t wait years to get tested – the earlier treatment is started the better. People can live long, healthy lives after getting an HIV-positive diagnosis, notes Watchorn. Nicholson is certainly proof of that.