Other side effects and and health issues

Although other side effects can occur, these are usually mild and resolve easily. Modern ART is very safe.

Ask your doctor about side effects for the drugs in your treatment, before you start. But also ask about how likely these cause people to change treatment, because few people need to do this.

The i-Base guide HIV and your quality of life: a guide to side effects and long term health includes information on side effects for each drug.

This guide also has information about long-term health issues that may be related to both HIV and some HIV drugs.

But these general issues also increase in HIV negative people too. So this guide has information on ageing, heart disease, cancer – and lifestyle changes like not smoking, staying active and having a healthy diet.

Last updated: 1 June 2022.