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.
Hye, I have undetectable Viral Load. And I forgot to take 48 Hour of my Medicine. Is it will have some effects?
Hi Jo ann,
Can I ask why you stopped taking your meds? Was it because of a stock out, or maybe it was because of side effects?
There are a number of factors that mean your partner’s risk could be high, and others that mean the risk was low.
However, it’s not a good idea to have sex without condoms if you’re not on meds with an undetectable viral load. But you can talk to your doctor about starting treatment again. When you’re taking HIV meds, and have an undetectable viral load, you don’t have to use condoms. That’s because the risk of transmission will be zero.
Please see more info at Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).
Hi I’ve been HIV positive for 10 years now,early last year I stopped taking my meds and have been feeling well the problem is i had sex with someone who is HIV negative.are his chances of contracting HIV high?and am i still safe for having unprotected while I’m off meds?
Hi Chrid,
Unfortunately we don’t have resources to answer more questions about HIV testing and risks. But all FAQs are answered here.
My name is kris,
I had unprotected sex with a gay whom i don’t know his status and i happened to be the inserter then after that i had an oral sex with a sex worker after 4 days.
I had headache for 4 days it stopped and then nausea the following week which lasted for about 6days den i had body twitching and mouth thrush which has lasted for 5months now. I went for hiv test after 67days of exposure (9weeks) and it came back negative though i know its conclusive after 90days but the doctor said its unlikely to turn positive after 67days of negative result
My problem is that this mouth thrush and body twitching, burning sensation in my palm, feet does not want to go away. Please what is your advise?
Hi Ajay,
If you’re working shifts then the best thing to do is see if you can change your meds from an efavirenz based regime. If you’re in South Africa then this should be possible as there are other treatment options. If you can’t change, what is your shift pattern?
Hello,
I m hiv positive since May 2019 also on ARV… MY FIRST CD4 IS 636.BUT THE PROBLEM IS MY DUTY I AM PERFORM SHIFTING DUTY.I TOOK MY MEDICINE IN MORNING AFTERA GAP OF 2 HOURS FOR MY BREAKFAST. I FEEL DROWSI AND FATIGUE FOR 1 TO 3 HOURS WHAT SHOULD I DO. IT’S IS PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY.
MY ARV IS TLE(TENOFOVIR DESPROXIL+LAMUDINE+EFARIENZ).
Hi CJ,
If you’re having issues with your medication, it is the responsibility of your HIV consultant to support you. This is what happens in the UK.
Hey i am currently taking Biktarvy. I have been having issues with the medication sides effects. Told my Infections diseases doctor. The answer i got was see a primary care doctor. Why does doctors don’t care anymore?
Hi Mamikie,
I’m sorry to hear your uncle may have stopped taking his medication. What are the reasons for you to suspect this?
Please let us know more about it. However, there’s a lot of information in this guide to HIV side effects and quality of life. I hope this can be of help.