Of all the tongue-twisting medical terms that have entered
HIVers' vocabularies, few have caused more grief than
"lipoatrophy," which is the loss of fat from specific areas of
the body -- most distressingly the face, but also peripheral
parts of the body, such as the arms, legs and buttocks. This
side effect has presented HIV-positive people with profound
social and psychological challenges. (For a fast 411, see
"Lipoatrophy at a Glance." To get definitions of key buzzwords,
see "Lipoatrophy Buzzwords.") |Want to see what lipoatrophy can
do to your legs? Use your cursor to move the slider from left to
right.| These are some of the symptoms that may indicate that
HIV meds are messing with your body's metabolism: -
Lipodystrophy, or changes in body shape and appearance,
including lipoatrophy (fat loss) and lipohypertrophy (fat
accumulation) - A sudden increase in lipid levels (cholesterol
and triglycerides), which can raise your risk for heart disease
- Blood sugar problems, including diabetes, insulin resistan