Are you living with HIV?
We got you. Dr. Elliott is an HIV specialist credentialed with the American Academy of HIV Medicine. He’s also a primary care doctor, so there’s no need for multiple doctors and appointments. Now you can get all your care under one roof.
Why get your HIV care at Elysium?
HIV is an ever-evolving field with new treatments emerging yearly. At Elysium, we stay up to date on the latest trends, research, and guidelines, ensuring you’re always getting the best care.
HIV is complex. It can lower a man’s testosterone, increase your risk profile for heart disease, and the treatments can cause weight gain and bone loss. Dr. Elliott takes a comprehensive approach, looking out for all these things, so you don’t have to.
Compassionate care. Here, there is no stigma or shame. We know sometimes the biggest impact HIV has is on your self-esteem. Part of your treatment at Elysium is making sure you feel like the best version of yourself.
How Is HIV/AIDS Diagnosed?
HIV is diagnosed with blood work looking for the presence of antigens, antibodies, or the virus itself. Dr. Elliott only uses the latest and most advanced in HIV testing:
- 4th Generation Antigen/Antibody Test – This test involves a blood draw and looks for substances found on the outer shell of HIV known as P24 antigens. This test can detect HIV as early as 7-14 days after exposure. Testing can be done in-office with results in 15 minutes.
- Nucleic Acid Tests (NATs) or viral load – This test looks for the presence of HIV viral particles within the bloodstream. This is the gold standard for testing and can detect HIV as early as 5-7 days after exposure. The results are back in 3-4 days.
How is HIV treated?
We have come a long way in HIV treatment and today most patients are treated with one tablet, once a day. The treatments are very well tolerated and after 30 years of research and new developments, our treatments today are much less harsh on the body.
What are the Benefits of HIV Treatment?
Treatment maintains the strength of your immune system, helps protect against other infections, and lowers the overall burden of inflammation on the body. A virus that is constantly present has the immune system in overdrive–the body is always battling an infection. This ramps up inflammation in the body and, overtime, leads to faster wear and tear. Heart disease, kidney damage, chronic fatigue, and even higher cancer rates are the result. Being on treatment lowers inflammation and lowers your risk of chronic diseases.
The goal of treatment is to become undetectable, meaning the amount of virus is so low in the bloodstream we cannot detect it. Undetectable also means untransmittable (U=U), which means it’s impossible to transmit HIV to others. We now have rigorous studies confirming zero transmission of HIV between serodiscordant couples after thousands of acts of condomless sex. As long as the HIV positive partner was undetectable, there was never a single case of transmission.
If you’re living with HIV or are concerned that you may have been exposed, give us a call at 470-663-6622
