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 have been taking my arvs for about a year now, i am living with my fiancee now who left me before i was hiv positive and came back with his negative result as he wanted us to settle. I wanted him back in my life but am afraid to tell him my status although he left me and i dated a guy who affected me with hiv only a year later i found out when my fiancee and i went for family planning. I started medication behind his back now they finished am afraid to go to the clinic with him not knowing and i always have to hide them because we stay together. Please help. How do i solve this issue..i want to take care of myself well and i cannot lose him o want him to start medication aswell if he is affected.
Hi Thando,
Telling somebody you love that you’re HIV positive can be hard. But if you think he’ll understand then tell him. Being able to answer any possible questions that he might have may help.
For example, he may ask if he’s at risk. If you’re on medication and your viral load is undetectable, then NO he isn’t at risk. He may also ask you about your quality of life. If you can share with him what you know about HIV that might help.
Here’s the U=U campaign. It has plenty of info about the fact that undetectable viral load means zero risk even if you don’t use condoms.
And here’s ART in Pictures that shows how HIV treatment works.
Best wishes, Roy
HI, I have been positive for the past 10years and been taking my meds ever since so now I have a man that wants to marry me and he is asking that we go for tests, I am scared as hell I don’t know what to say to him because I might loose him. my heart wants to tell him but I doubt if he will marry me or love me the way he used to. what must I do? anyway I agreed to go with him to take tests. so im just waiting!
Hi Gibson.
Please see Q’s 5, 9 and 14 here: http://i-base.info/qa/what-are-the-most-asked-questions
I had been having sex with a girl who had been taking arvs since she was a child,,,,then she stopped taking them for 4 months ,,,I never knew that she was positive,,,there came a time this January where she told everything about her status,,,,,I kept on having unprotected sex with since it was obvious that I was already positive,,, then I took an HIV test 2 months later and I tested negative,, how can you explain this!
Hi Sonto,
I’m sorry to hear about your brother. But where do live? There could be organisations that can help locally. Perhaps there’s a support service at your brother’s clinic?
Hi
My brother stop taking ARV it’s been a month now and hes drinking alcohol alot and busy with girl
Please help because I tried to talk to him but he didn’t listen
Hi Kizito,
I’m sorry to hear that you were unable access your meds. But it’s good that you have them now and you’re taking them well.
What does the doctor say about it? Please can you ask for your CD4 count and viral load results? It’s important to check your viral load to make sure your HIV meds are still working well.
I stopped taking my drugs for about one month because I was unable to access them then I restarted them and I am taking them well is there any problem am likely to face now three month from time I stopped BT I see a few ulcers in my mouth
Hi Rose,
Please see Q4http://i-base.info/qa/what-are-the-most-asked-questions here: