Changing treatment to avoid side effects

This guide is about change treatment if your current ART stops working.

However, you may want to change treatment to avoid side effects or to have a regime that is easier to follow.

Changing to ART that is more tolerable is very common. Your meds needs to be ones you can tolerate.

With over 30 HIV drugs and formulations, there is a lot of choice. Newer drugs may also have become available since you last changed treatment.

Changing meds can improve your quality of life. It can still keep your viral load undetectable. If the change doesn’t make things better, you can always go back to your old combination.

Your choices depend on your treatment history.

The i-Base Guide to Side Effects has detailed information on changing treatments to avoid side effects.

Last updated: 1 August 2021.