Question
What happens if I stop taking treatment?
31 August 2016. Related: Adherence, All topics, Changing treatment, Side effects, Southern Africa, Stopping treatment.
What are the side effects if someone stops taking her medication for HIV?
Answer
Thanks for your question.
May I ask why you are thinking of stopping? Many people find adhering hard at some in their lives but there are ways to make it easier. Likewise if you are suffering side effects – you can switch to meds that better suit you.
Several years ago a very large study called SMART reported that stopping treatment increased the risk of serious complications. These included a higher risk for heart, liver and kidney complications in people who stopped treatment and also a higher rate of some cancers.
If you decide to stop treatment, your viral load is likely to rebound within a few weeks. If you stay off treatment your CD4 count will start to drop over the next few months. When this happens the risk of developing other infections and getting sick increases.
How quickly this will happen though varies a lot. The lower your CD4 count was when you started meds, the quicker your CD4 is likely to fall without ART.
In the SMART study, most people who took a treatment break did pretty well for a short time. However, most people were not able to recover their CD4 count to earlier levels even 18 months after they restarted treatment.
Please talk to your doctor about who you feel. It is not generally good to stop treatment. It is definitely not good to do this without first talking to your doctor.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I used take meds for h.i.v but I stop for 2 years cause I didn’t have a way to get back on what should I do
Hi Pauline.
If your husband is back on treatment, as long as his viral load is undetectable there isn’t any risk. Please see here: http://i-base.info/u-equals-u/ If his viral load is detectable then I’d wait before you start trying for a baby as you could be at risk of contracting HIV.
my hubby started treatment and later stopped and started allover again,,,we want a baby n remember am negative. ,are we at risk
Hi Hlengza,
Its great to hear that you want to restart medication, this is a positive step.
The best thing to do is to book an appointment to see your doctor. Depending on where it is that you live, ideally they should check your CD4 count, viral load and run some resistance tests. You may still be able to use the meds that you were in before, however this will need to be discussed with your doctor.
Hi how do i go back to my arvs . I was on arvs 2 years ago
Hi Lerato,
Because you’re pregnant its very important that you start ARVs. Its the ARVs that will reduce the risk of transmission to your child. Please see here for more info: http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy
I’ve been living with HIV for 5 years but not taking ARVs and I am living well but now I’m pregnant so I want to know is it safe for my unborn baby if I’m still not taking the treatment
Hi Saviour,
At the moment there isn’t a cure for HIV. There are however many people working on one. For now we have ARVs.
Is there no cure of hiv
Hi Lost One.
If your partner has quit taking their meds and its been more than a week or so their viral load will have rebounded. This means that if you have sex without using a condom you’re going to be at risk of infection. If this has been the case, then please test.
If your partner has been having issues with his medication then this should be discussed with his doctor. There should be other options available.