Question
I am worried about stopping ARVs after pregnancy (archive question)
11 September 2014. Related: Access to treatment, All topics, Pregnancy, Stopping treatment.
I am HIV positive and was taking ARVs during the time i was pregnant and my CD4 went up to 800.
I am afraid now because i have to stop ARVs because the guideline saying 350 for treatment and above this we can’t get ARVs.
Answer
NOTE: This is an archive question. HIV guideline now recommend that women continue on ART after their pregnancy. This is because ART is now routinely recommended for everyone, even at high CD4 counts
Hi
Many women decide to stop treatment after pregnancy, and then monitor until their CD4 count drops to a level when guidelines recommend treatment.
This is only usually suggested for women whose CD4 count was higher than 350 when they started treatment. This is an option in UK guidelines. There is only limited evidence that starting treatment above 350 has any long-term health benefits – so monitoring will be fine.
If your CD4 count was below 350 when you started, then please speak to your doctor in case there are other options. Stopping treatment will mean your CD4 count is likely to return to the pre-treatment level, so it would make sense to stay on treatment.
If this is the case, then you are likely to need to start treatment again soon anyway. This isn’t something to be afraid of though. You can just restart treatment at this time.
Different countries have different guidelines and in many countries there is an option for all women to be able to remain on treatment after the pregnancy. This is called “Option B+”.
We still don’t know whether this is better though until we have more evidence.
Some guidelines also recommend using treatment at higher CD4 counts if you want to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to your partner.
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