Q and A

Question

What can you do to keep your CD4 count high?

How can you keep your CD4 count high? What can you take as far as medicine or vitamins?

Answer

The only medicines that have been shown to increase CD4 count strongly and consistently are HIV drugs (called antiretrovirals or ARVs).

When used in combinations of three or more drugs to reduce HIV viral load to undetectable levels, the immune system gets stronger and is then able to repair itself. As a result, CD4 counts increase.

For more information see the i-Base Introduction to Combination Therapy.

A list of currently approved ARVs is included in this guide.

Vitamin supplements have not been shown to have a convincing impact on CD4 count, and although one study showed an effect, this was not nearly as large and significant as that achieved with ARVs.

The answer we posted to this question may also be of interest: Questions about herbal medicine and HIV.

2 comments

  1. Lisa Thorley

    Hi Babalwa.

    Do you know what your viral load is? If you do and its undetectable this means that the meds are working.

    Its very possible that this is just a blip. Please see here for more info:

    https://i-base.info/qa/424

  2. Babalwa

    Hi I am leaving with HIV for so many years I started taking ma Arvs 2 years ago with a CD 4 340 ,I tested after it was 890 now it went down to 580 I don’t know what to do to make it up again cos I never stopped my ARV

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