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However, one male respondent suggested that this symptom may be psychosomatic sincemost do not know when they were infected; merely when they were diagnosed. Hepostulated that, if HIV caused such a physical effect, it should have been apparent evenbefore diagnosis. While this could be the case, it is also possible that duration since onsetof infection plays a part in the physical impact of HIV.Several of the participants are on HIV medication. As mentioned earlier, they noted howmuch better they felt after starting their drug therapy. Only one (Infected Partner) saidshe did not feel any different, although she understood that she needed to continue takingit. However, some suffered, or continue to suffer, side-effects. For one, a refugee, thisnecessitated up to four changes in the drug regimen, for another, the addition of pills toaid sleep. These side-effects included gastric pain after taking the pills, quick temper,skin redness, loss of appetite and weight loss:“….didn’t have time to prepare…..the moment I went to see the doctor inUH [Universiti Hospital], they said my CD4 was already 149…..have tostart the medication. So….no time to do anything, just start themedication….but over the period of recovering, the CD4 was going up,there would be lots of things happening within body – rashes and highfever….sweating at night….things like that. So, basically, I just handlethings as it comes along ….face each thing when it presents itself. We justmanage it…with fever, then, I will use Panadol, when it is night sweat thenI change my t-shirt or I put a towel around my neck.”(Male, 46yrs, University education, MSM)For one woman (Infected Partner), Stockrane made her dizzy – a feeling of being “high”.Some of these effects are documented in the literature (Aidsmeds.com 2006). Anotherwoman (Infected Partner) suffered an unusual side-effect which, in itself, was traumaticfor her and her family:“Orang lain makan ubat putih… saya makan ubat semakin hari semakingelap… hingga dua bulan, saya tak keluar daripada rumah… tak keluar….Kerja pun saya berhenti. Sekarang saya tak buat apa apap….pasal wajahsaya hitam, bukan sebab lain. Wajah tersangat hitam; cuma gigi sahajayang putih.”(“Others take the medication become paler… I took it and got darker bythe day…. Up to two months, I didn’t go out of the house….didn’t go. Ieven stopped working. Now I don’t do anything…..because my face turnedblack, not for any other reason. Face too black; only my teeth were white.”)(Female, 39yrs. Lower secondary education, Infected Partner)Most of the side-effects, however, were not lasting ones as they became accustomed tothe drugs or changed their regimen.When probed, some of the participants who currently have a regular partner, notablyspouse, reported reduced sexual activity following HIV diagnosis. Reduced frequency ofsexual relations appears to affect women more than men. Many of the infected wives whoare still with their HIV-positive husband either no longer have sexual relations with himor only occasionally. For some, this situation preceded HIV diagnosis because of33