Question
How can I lower viral load without HIV treatment?
23 June 2015. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Starting treatment.
My CD4 is 545 but my viral load is 26,645. What can I do to lower it without taking treatment?
Answer
The only proven way to significantly lower viral load is to use HIV treatment.
This will also increase your CD4 count.
Other healthy lifestyle changes are good for other reasons but they are not able to reduce viral load.
Hi Lusanda,
What does your doctor say about these results? If your viral load has never been undetectable, which is less than 50, it looks like Atroiza isn’t working as well as it should.
You can ask for a drug resistance test when you take your bloods again. This might mean you need to change to different meds that can work better.
Please let us know how you get on and tell us what the new results are.
I started taking HIV treatment in 2019 april, in October my viral load was 108 I took bloods in april this year surprisingly my V.L went up to 1500 and im taking my medication(Atroiza) on time they said I must took bloods again
Hi Athini,
If you’re adhering to your medication and your viral load is increasing this means that your meds aren’t working. This is something that you’re going to need to discuss with your doctor as you’ll need to change to a different combination. There’s more about this here: http://i-base.info/guides/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Changing-ART-January-2018e.pdf
How can i reduce my viral load i drink my pills on time but every time it shoots up n now im streesed n afraid please help
Hi Nomusa,
A viral load of 162 isn’t high. How long have you been on medication for?
Hi my viral load they say its high its 162 but last it it was 568 I’m drinking my pills well but always they say its high is drinking cold drink ohk to drink
Hi Ruth,
It’s good that your CD4 count has increased to 936. But it’s unfortunate that you don’t have your first viral load result. The aim of your HIV treatment (ART) is to get viral load to undetectable by the time your baby is due.
Please can you talk to the doctor about this. You can ask if your viral load was very high when you started HIV medication.
So you can ask your doctor if your HIV meds are working well. If not, you can ask to change to other meds that can reduce the viral load more quickly.
Here’s the page from ART in Pictures that shows what happens to viral load and CD4 when ART is started.
And there’s a lot of info in the guide to HIV pregnancy and womens’ health.
Please let us know what HIV meds you are taking.
Hi,
My first results for CD4 was 634, and I not told my viral load, but after medication for 2 months, my CD4 is now 936 and the viral load is 23,390 copies in addition am 30+ weeks pregnant? What is your advice
Hi Saibal,
The only way to lower your viral load is with ARVs. If you’re using these then you’re already doing the right thing.
How I can reduce my viral load