First, I want to apologize in advance for the length of this message. It ended up being far longer than I anticipated when I began typing.
Secondly, since this is only my second post to this board, I feel an introduction of sorts is in order. I live in NYC and have been poz for at least 10 years. I was fortunate, though, because a few weeks after getting my life-altering test results I read an article about Christine Maggiore written by Celia Farber.

Being naturally curious and inclined to question authority, it was all I needed to encourage me to seriously look into both sides of the HIV/AIDS argument; and it didn't take me long to realize that the conventional dogma was built around troubling and, in my opinion, scientifically untenable premises.
Based on everything I learned, and despite it costing me greatly in terms of friendships, relationships and peer support, I decided to forgo the advice of my doctor at the time and not begin HAART. I think it was the smartest and bravest decision I ever made, and I've never once regretted it. To this day my health is excellent.

The reason I'm writing is because I'm exploring an idea that I've had for a number of years, and I was wondering if anyone here has ever investigated or considered the relationship between Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS, aka intestinal permeability) and “HIV-related” conditions.
Based on what I've read, it seems to me that there might be a causal connection that hasn't been fully explored. Since some of you who are reading this may not know what I’m referring to, let me give you a quick primer. It’s widely accepted that the normal functioning of our gastrointestinal tract depends heavily on the presence of trillions of beneficial bacteria that live in the lining of our gut in a symbiotic relationship with us. These bacteria, which have evolved alongside us, help digest our food, produce vitamins such as B-12, and even protect us from harmful bacteria.

But a number of factors (see the list below), including the widespread use of broad-spectrum antibiotics which kill both good and bad bacteria indiscriminately, can disrupt the natural ecology of the gut and negatively impact our health. One of the problems caused the by the destruction of the gut's beneficial microbiota is LGS. This is a condition marked by increased permeability of the intestinal walls.
In essense, the lining of the gut becomes sufficiently porous, albeit on a microscopic level, that minute food particles, bacteria and toxins are able to seep out into the bloodstream which, in turn, causes the body to set off an immune response. In severe enough cases, this includes the production of antibodies.

Now this is where I begin to think hypothetically. Because LGS tends to get
worse over time if it’s not treated, especially if the sufferer has a diet high in processed carbohydrates and continues to rely on antibiotics, even if only infrequently, it stands to reason that as the gut becomes more and more permeable the body is forced to produce more and more antibodies as more and more stuff gets through.

Since we know that the “HIV tests” are really measuring levels of non-specific antibodies, and the higher a person’s level of antibody production, the more likely they are to react positively on these tests, is it possible that once someone develops a severe enough case of LGS they would be producing antibodies of sufficient quantity and variety to get a positive result? It certainly makes sense to me.

And consider this. It’s estimated that as much as 80% of a healthy person’s t-cells are found in the mucosal lining of their gut because of the nature of the job it’s performing. (After all, everything that’s passing through is foreign matter.) Now what would you expect to happen if the intestinal wall became compromised by LGS and grew more permeable? That’s right. The body would begin to send even more t-cells there. And what happens if the problem continued to worsen? Exactly. More and more t-cells would be redirected to the intestinal tract. By now you see where I’m going with this. People with severe cases of LGS would seem to be losing t-cells because the t-cells that are normally floating around in their bloodstream, which is where they're measured in t-cell counting, are being deployed to the site in the body where they're needed most.

So not only would someone with a severe case of LGS be likely to test positive on the "HIV tests" because their immune system is producing large numbers of antibodies, they would also be likely over time to exhibit a gradual decrease in t-cell counts corresponding with the increasing severity of their intestinal permeability.
It doesn’t end there. As LGS gets worse, the intestinal tract would become less and less able to do the very thing that it’s supposed to do: absorb nutrients. This means that the immune system, which is already in overdrive and in need of nutritional support, will begin to falter because the body is becoming increasingly deficient in vitamins, minerals, calories, antioxidants—you name it.

Since malnutrition is a known and obvious cause of immune suppression, it should come as no surprise that the result is a gradual slide into a state of immune suppression. Diarrhea and weight loss (wasting?) might be expected consequences as well. Another thing to think about is that since the severest effects wouldn’t happen overnight—it probably takes a number of years for all this to occur—this would give the illusion of a “latency period.” What’s more, since many of the drugs used in HAART have anti-microbial properties, it follows that they would alleviate, albeit at a high cost to the person taking them, many of the symptoms associated with LGS since it is essentially a microbial condition.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t propose that this scenario can account for AIDS in all its myriad forms. But if you take this as a foundation and layer on top of it the other risk factors—recreational and pharmaceutical drug use, including tobacco and alcohol; toxins, particularly benzene (carcinogenic, considered a possible cause of lymphoma; once found in sexual lubricants) and lindane (neurotoxin, carcinogenic; the active ingredient in Rid and Kwell which are used to treat lice and scabies); psychological stresses; and diets heavily reliant on processed, nutrient-deficient food—I think you may be able to account for much, though not all, of what is called AIDS today, without the need to resort to a paradox-generating super-virus called HIV.

A few days ago I found a study (Gut, Vol 37, 623-629, Copyright © 1995 by BMJ Publishing Group; go here: http://gut.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/37/5/623) which measured intestinal absorptive capacity and permeability in 88 “patients with HIV infection” ranging from asymptomatic, healthy individuals to those with AIDS.
The conclusions reached by the authors matched remarkably well with those that I reached on my own. Here are a few highlights from the abstract: … “Increased intestinal permeability was found in all subgroups of patients.” [Although the study size was small, this is a remarkable finding.] … “Malabsorption…was prevalent in all groups of patients with AIDS but not in asymptomatic, well patients with HIV.” … “Malabsorption correlated significantly…with the degree of immune suppression and with body mass index.” … “Malabsorption and increased intestinal permeability are common in AIDS patients. Malabsorption, which has nutritional implications, relates more to immune suppression than jejunal morphological changes.”

Of course, the orthodoxy would view the cause and effect differently than I would. They would say that HIV was the cause of the conditions observed. But I think it’s much more reasonable to conclude that the genesis of these conditions is non-viral and the conditions themselves produce the very phenomena that are attributed to HIV. Certainly this conclusion is more logically elegant because it completely eliminates the need for HIV to begin with.

One last thing, whenever I discuss all of this with people who are poz and exploring dissident points of view, they always ask me what I do to stay healthy. First of all, I try to eat well. I limit the refined carbs, and I eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables and spinach. Although I don’t regularly take a multivitamin,

I do take a strong antioxidant, alpha lipoic acid (ALA), on a month-on, month-off schedule. I get plenty of sleep, 8-9 hours a night, and I exercise regularly. Most importantly, I behave as if intestinal health was the main component of a healthy immune system. Since 1997 I have been supplementing my diet with some sort of probiotic on a daily basis. I drink kefir—it’s a dairy product with far more active cultures than yogurt—in the morning and the evening; I eat tofu and kim-chee when it’s convenient; I eat hard cheese frequently; and I like un-pasteurized sauerkraut (an unbelievably good probiotic) so much that I’m planning to learn how to make it.
When I first started to use probiotics nearly 10 years ago, I had constant digestive problems, including lactose intolerance and persistent diarrhea. I was also unable to gain weight and was fairly thin (155 lbs) for my height (6’). Within the first year, my digestive problems began to clear up, including the lactose intolerance (I now eat Haagen-Dazs with impunity, albeit infrequently), and I began to put on weight and build muscle for the first time in my life. I now weigh 170 and I’m at a fitness level comparable to someone 10 years younger than I am. Well, that’s it. Thanks for letting me tell my story, and my apologies again for such a long post. But I hope this prompts some of you to examine this issue and perhaps even comment on it. I look forward to your opinions. *************************************************************
A quick internet search revealed the following items as things that can cause and/or exacerbate Leaky Gut Syndrome (this list is not intended to be exahaustive):
Antibiotics, the #1 cause, because they lead to the overgrowth of abnormal flora in the gastrointestinal tract (bacteria, parasites, candida, fungi).
Alcohol and caffeine.
Foods and beverages contaminated by parasites like Giardia lamblia, cryptosporidium, blastocystis hominis and others.
Foods and beverages contaminated by bacteria like helicobacter pylori, klebsiella, citrobacter, pseudomonas and others.
Chemicals in fermented and processed food (dyes, preservatives, peroxidized fats).
Enzyme deficiencies (e.g. celiac disease, lactase deficiency causing lactose intolerance).
NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
Prescription corticosteroids.
High refined carbohydrate diet.
Prescription hormones like the birth control pill.
Mold and fungal mycotoxins in stored grains, fruit and refined carbohydrates. Frequent enemas.