Once you start treatment it is best not to take any break or interruption unless your doctor recommends this.

If you have difficult side effects it is better to change treatment than to stop treatment.

To get the best benefit from HIV treatment you need to try to take every dose on time.

The longer you stay on treatment the longer the benefit should continue. If you get a very good response to treatment and start to feel better, it is still important to continue taking every dose of treatment on time.

Stopping treatment for any short period is not recommended.

Levels of HIV in your blood – your viral load – can increase again very quickly if you stop treatment. Viral load can increase from undetectable to several thousand within a week.

Each interruption of treatment also carries a risk of developing drug resistance. this also makes you more infectious to your sexual partners.

If you want to take a treatment break, it is essential to talk to your doctor first

Some combinations include drugs that have to be stopped together, and others where individual drugs need to be stopped at different times. Nevirapine, efavirenz, 3TC and FTC all stay in the blood longer than d4T or AZT. They are also easy drugs to develop resistance to.