Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 13:15:26 -0400 (EDT) (76 lines)
Subject: hdp-article LA Times

The following story is exerpted from an article in the Los Angeles Times, 
Sunday, June  26, 1994. It involves forum members Cheryl Nagel and Steve 
Nagel 
and their adopted daughter Lindsey who is HIV+ but quite healthy since 
Cheryl 
and Steve took her off of AZT.


<<HEADLINE: PARENTS OF HIV-POSITIVE GIRL SHUN DRUG  AZT;  MEDICINE:
THEIR DECISION COMES AMID RISING EVIDENCE THAT THE DRUG IS NOT AS
EFFECTIVE AS HOPED, AND THAT THE SIDE EFFECTS CAN OUTWEIGH THE
BENEFITS.    

BODY: Lindsey Nagel brought two mementos from her native
Romania when she was adopted by a Minnesota couple in 1990: a
stuffed toy panda and HIV...

The virus, which hasn't developed into full-blown AIDS, is not apparent 
in the 
vivacious 3 1/2-year-old.
    
Lindsey's parents, Steve and Cheryl Nagel, credit her health
to their defiance of doctor's orders in the fall of 1992. They
stopped giving their only child the drug  AZT  because it caused
an upset stomach, loss of appetite and severe leg cramps. The
little girl woke up night after night -- often more than once a
night -- gripping a leg and crying in pain. "In my mind, I wasn't going 
to put 
that kid through a bunch ofmisery so she could live another six months. I 
would 
rather have her live two good months than to have her live six bad months,"
Steve Nagel said.
    
But Lindsey has gone without any medication for nearly a year and a half 
under 
a different doctor's care and is outwardly healthy.
    
More and more studies seem to support the Nagels' decision in light of 
the 
side effects of  AZT,  and other patients around the country have sworn 
off the 
drug. Some have never taken it...Studies last year showed that giving  
AZT  to 
people who are not yet sick doesn't help them live longer...A study 
published 
in the March 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests 
that the 
drug's side effects outweigh any benefit...

AIDS researcher Paul Volberding, director of the AIDS
program at San Francisco General Hospital (said)..."I think it's quite 
appropriate to stop the therapy for patients who have severe toxicity of 
drugs. 
In general, you can't expect to get much benefit from a drug if the 
patient 
doesn't tolerate it," Volberding said.
    
The Nagels say they'll never give Lindsey  AZT  again. Little by little, 
they've allowed themselves to think about her future. The Nagels...bought 
life 
insurance for themselves and opened a savings account in her name. They
take joy in Lindsey's eagerness to learn, her energy and
inquisitiveness.
    
"Every day she asks me what we're going to do today. I say we're going to 
get 
up and eat breakfast and then we'll worry about what we're going to do," 
Cheryl 
Nagel said.>>


Jeff Labno