Question
What happens if I miss a dose?
5 February 2018. Related: Adherence, All topics.
Hi,
I’m aged 28, female, im starting this new Atroiza today. I’m responsible but what happens if I miss a day or 30 min off drinking my tablet.
Answer
Hi,
Thanks for your email.
The best reason to aim for the same time every day, is so that you get into a good routine. This will help you make your meds an easy part of your life. This is especially true when you first start treatment until your viral load becomes undetectable.
Generally it is OK to have a window of an hour either side of your normal time to take your meds. So if you aim to take it at 9 pm each day so long as you take it between 8pm and 10pm this will all be fine.
Most people will miss a dose at some point, but so long as this is not every week , this is also okay.If this keeps happening, please talk to your doctor about things that might help. The more doses you miss though the more likely that you will develop drug resistance.
Please see this page about adherence for more information.
Note: This answer was updated in February 2018 from a question first posted online in September 2013.
Hi Francis, please dont worry about this. Modern HIV meds mean it is okay to be more relaxed with the times if you sometimes forget. Even if you miss one day completely, this will also be okay.
It takes several weeks after stopping all HIV meds before viral load becomes dectectable for most people. So being a little late will not affect your viral load at all.