Question
Should I worry about IRIS if I started Viraday when my CD4 was 10?
1 March 2015. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Opportunistic infections, Starting treatment.
Hello there
I found out I was HIV positive in January 2015. My viral load was 414,000 and my CD4 was 10. I am not having any symptoms nothing except the skin rash.
I started my HIV medicine (Viraday) a week ago and i felt the side effects. Am I now in any danger ?
My doctors said that I am not, and that everything is good thing and it just needs time.
I’ve read all the questions above but still i wanted to ask how much does it take to increase my CD4 and about the IRIS. If IRIS is gonna happen, after how long from starting the medicine does it come?
Thank you a lot.
Answer
Hi
Thanks for your questions.
First, it is good you are now on treatment. You very have been lucky if you have not had symptoms with such a low CD4 count.
Your CD4 count is already likely to be higher, but for most people this will be a slow and steady increase. On average, it might take a years for your CD4 count to increase to 100 and another year to reach 200.
Some people get larger increases and for some people it might take more time.
If IRIS is going to happen, it is usually in the first few weeks or months after starting treatment. This make it very important to talk to your doctor about any new symptoms. Your doctor needs to decide whether new symptoms are side effects or symptoms of IRIS.
IRIS stand for Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome. IRIS occurs to about 1 in 4 people starting with a CD4 count under 50. The related infections can include TB and CMV. It is important that your doctor checks your eyes for CMV, especially if you have noticed any chances in your eyesight or vision.
Viraday is a generic version of Atripla.
Your viral load is very low for such a low CD4 count. Did you really mean 414 or 414,000?
Hi Ritu,
Needles used by nurses are usually hollow so that they can inject someone with medicine or a vaccine. Often they are inserted into the vein and can collect blood from the vein into the hollow part of the needle. Therefore if a nurse had a needle containing the blood of someone with HIV and immediately she then pricked his/her finger with the same needle there is a small chance of infection.
But please check with the clinic where this happened on the advice to take Viraday as precaution.
Hello dr I was pricked with needle of HIV AIDS patient to test my sugar a dr advises to take viraday tablet for one month for precaution sake is it required
Hi Chiman,
Viraday is a generic version of Atripla. It’s great that you’re taking it every night. At the moment people who are HIV positive need to take these meds everyday. That means that life expectancy can be the same as someone who is HIV negative. Please see this Q&A on life expectancy.
Does that answer your question? What are your CD4 and viral load results?
Last 3 year I take viraday every night ,I am hiv positiv ,how much long time take viraday, pls tel me
Hi Laksmi,
This sounds fine. Any side effect in these tablets is mainly due to efavirenz which is the main drug out of the three. Switching from emtricitabine (FTC) to lamivudine (3TC) should be fine and work just as well. Lamivudine is generally very easy to tolerate.
Hi sir,
Thank You for clearing the doubts, sir I am worried about my tablets at present i am using VIRADAY(Tenofovir (300 mg) + Emtricitabine (200 mg) + Efavirenz (600 mg)) tablets for daily… Now some one advising for me to using VONADAY(Tenofovir (300 mg) + Lamivudine (300 mg) + Efavirenz (600 mg))… But in these two medicines their is a difference between these two drug the difference was in vonaday Lamivudine 300 mg was coming in the combination… Can I use this medicine…
Hello Amit,
HIV is now a very treatable condition. For example, Viraday is keeping your viral load undetectable. So you can expect to have a similar life expectancy to what you would have had, had you not become positive. Here’s a link to frequently asked question on life expectancy.
Hello sir
I. M taking virday once in a day and my viral load is undectable how long i survive
Hi Ramesh, please check your comment carefully for the details. Viraday is an HIV combination to treat HIV. It needs to be taken every day. There is no benefit from taking continuous HIV treatment unless you are HIV positive. No one should taking two of these pills every month. This is harmful with not benefit.
viraday i have started from last 5 years.now i am taking twice a month.it will help or not