Having HIV has resulted in my paying far more co-pays for medical visits, prescriptions and lab work over the years than if I didn't have this condition. The most significant factor was my inability to work overtime or have side jobs due to being exhausted from my full-time job, especially from 1995 to 2000, when I first started taking anti-viral medications to treat my HIV. During those years, I'd go to work, come home, cook dinner, feed my cat and pass out watching TV every night because my energy for the day would be spent by 7 p.m. There were also times when I exceeded my allotment of sick days due to being sick from the side effects of my HIV medications, which resulted in my not being paid for those days. Thankfully, medications have improved quite a bit over the years, and I now have no side effects and my former energy level has returned.