Q and A

Question

How important is food with Eviplera – my doctor dismisses this?

I have read your need to eat at least 390 kcal of food with Eviplera. I have a bad relationship with food due to alcoholism but my specialist still put me on Eviplera due to liver problems with Viramune. Sometimes I just have a slice of bread with cheese cos I cannot eat much but he said that’s ok as long as there’s some chewing action involved. When I challenged him he said there is all kinds of stuff on the internet.  Do you have any advice? I don’t feel secure.

Answer

Hi

You are right that food is needed – and that this is 390 – roughly 400 – calories.

This information is in the product information. It i important because without food you only get half the drug levels. These lower levels could cause your treatment to fail. Not only this, but you could develop drug resistance that would stop you using other meds in the same class.

In this your doctor is not only being unhelpful but wrong, This is not “information on the internet” but “information that is included with the full prescribing information”.

For you though, I would first think about what and when you do eat. Just to have the energy to stay alive, you must be eating more than 500 kcal a day and this can’t just be from alcohol.

There should be some foods that you like that have calorie content and you could take your meds with this. Even a Mars bar and packet of crisps with get you to the right calories.

If this is really difficult, ask about alternative combinations that can be taken with or without food. One example would be to consider dolutegravir (instead of the rilpivirine in Eviplera). Your doctor should at least explain these other options to you.

Dolutegravir is available in a fixed dose combination that only rewuires one pill a day.

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