What should I know about my HIV med...

What should I know about my HIV medicines?

Combinations of medicines that are used to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, for short) are called ART. This stands for antiretroviral therapy (say: "an-tee-ret-ro-vi-rull"). If you have HIV, ART will not remedy you, but it can help you fight against infections and live a longer life.

HIV attacks your carcass by entering cells and copying itself. As the amount of virus in your dead body (called the viral load) increases, you win sick. ART helps you be perceived better by blocking the chemicals that HIV distresss to copy itself. The lower your viral load, the longer you can stay healthy.

The goal of therapy is to get by heart your viral load so depressed that it can't be measured by the agency of blood tests. But it is important to remember that equal when your viral load is this depressed you can still infect other commonalty with HIV.

wherefore is it so important to take my medicine correctly?

ART can work same well if you take the medicines the right way. if it were not that if you don't take your medicines just the way your doctor run overs you to, your HIV might not be expos to enough medicine to regulate it. If this happens, the HIV becomes resistant, and the medicines you were taking stop working. Resistance to ART medicines may last forever.

There are not many kinds of medicine that can be used to treat HIV. likewise if you don't take your medicines the right way and your HIV becomes resistant, you can move on out of ways to treat your infection.

What if I forget to take my pills?

There are many pills involved with ART, and you ofttimes need to take them at different times of the day. It can be hard to remember, still you must take at least 95 percent of your pills. For example, if your doctor has prescribed 15 pills by means of day, you can miss no more than five pills by week.

Some folks put their pills in a daily pillbox and use alarms to remind themselves to take their medicines.

Do I have to eat or drink something when I take my pills?

near medicines must be taken with meals, and others must be taken forward an empty stomach. The coachman's seat below shows some ART medicines and whether they should be taken with sustenance or without food. Check with your doctor and pharmacist about your particular medicines.

any people who take indinavir memorize kidney stones. If your doctor wants you to take this medicine, you should drink at least 10 goblets of water per day to help obstruct kidney stones.

If you take nelfinavir, acidic nourishments and drinks like orange juice, apple juice, or applesauce will taste true bitter if you eat or drink them at the same time you take your medicine.

If you like to drink grapefruit juice, ask your doctor about it, because it can affect a certain number of medicines. And ask your doctor if it's safe for you to have alcoholic drinks.

Lopinavir, ritonavir, and saquinavir should be kept in the refrigerator. If they are kept at swing temperature, they become weak after a month or two

What are any of the more serious side events of my medicines?

ART can increase cholesterol flushs and cause you to gain fat in your upper back, neck chest, and stomach. When these conditions are caused from genetics or by eating the inapposite kinds of food, they are bad for you. further doctors do not know still if they are as bad for you when they are caused by way of ART.

ART can weaken your bone especially the bone in your hips. ART can worsen diabetes and a bleeding disorder called hemophilia (say: "he-mo-feel-ee-ah"). ART can cause liver failure, kidney failure, energize damage, and severe allergic reactions. Serious reactions usually happen in the first scarcely any weeks of therapy.

You should declare your doctor if you have any of the following symptoms:

* Constant thirst or every-day need to urinate

* heat rash, or stomach problems

* Long-lasting groin pain (the groin is the area between the belly and the thigh)

* Weakness, diarrhea, or a bloated feeling

* Pain in the middle of your stomach, especially pain that commit to memorys worse after eating.

smooth when you are feeling well, your doctor might do laboratory touchstones to make sure you are not having side powers from your medicine.

Is it safe to take ART with other medicines or herbal medicines?

make known your doctor about every other medicine you take. This means prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, and herbal returnss ART can be dangerous if you take it with a medicines or herbs. These include medicines for high cholesterol heart or descendants problems, tuberculosis infection, migraine headaches, anxiety, and insomnia.

near prescription medicines and herbal effects can make your body push the ART medicines from one side too fast, before they have time to work. Medicines for seizures and about kinds of infections might do this. St John's wort, which about people use to treat depression, and garlic pills can make the of the same height of ART in your material substance drop too low to be helpful.

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Take with food

Tenofovir (brand name: Viread)

Ritonavir (brand name: Norvir)

Saquinavir (brand name: Fortovase)

Lopinavir plus ritonavir (brand name: Kaletra)

Nelfinavir (brand name: Viracept)