Question
What happens if I stop taking treatment?
31 August 2016. Related: Adherence, All topics, Changing treatment, Side effects, South 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 was diagnosed with hiv in 2011 November, but used the meds sometimes stopped using them, i use them again in 2018 and stopped taking them in 2018 December till now but I’m still feeling good, i got sick sometimes like everyone else and after few days I’ll feel okay…. Last time when i check in 2018 my cd4 count were below 200 although I’m still feeling strong and playing football sometimes…. Are there any risks that I’m facing since i don’t take meds and it has been almost 3years
Hi Justin,
Septrin isn’t an ARV, it’s an antibiotic. If you want to stop taking it,the best thing to do is to talk to your doctor.
What if I stop taking septrin for long time but am taking arvs
Hi Maria,
Given the increase, this is something that you’ll need to talk to your doctor about. The weight gain could be due to your ARVs, however this amount of weight gain doesn’t really happen with ARVs.
I was 45 now I’m 99kg since I started treatment what can I do
Hi Benitor,
Septrin is an antibiotic, it’s not an ARV, it doesn’t have any effect on HIV. If you’ve been off meds since November your viral load will have rebonded, your CD4 may also have dropped. As to how much it’s not possible to say. Is there any reason why you can’t access ARVs? When are you planning on going home?
When you get access again to ARVs you might be able to use the ones that you were previously taking. However, it’s also possible that you may have developed resistance. You’ll need to talk to your doctor. You should also have a viral load test done and a CD4 count. You will be fine, but it’s important that you restart taking ARVs.
My meds got finished in November but am taking septrin till i go back home and get my ARVS but am scared that my CD 4 and viral load might decline ,what should I do,can i continue with my meds when i get it,and is septrin helping inthis time when am not having ARVS
Hi Hanifa. I am sorry to hear this. It is nearly always okay to just restart using the same meds. If you are not sure when you can next travel home, it would be better to restart now. If you are not being monitored, then it is better to be taking meds again. Please explain all this history to your doctor when you do get home.
helo i am hanifa
i have been out of drugs for 5months since the last medicine that i was supposed to get from home was seized with customs here in turkey. however i have managed to get meds but my worry is can i continue taking yhe same medicine until i can finally go back home for tests and check up or i wait til i go back incase of meds change.
Hi Rav,
Given that your viral load was 3858 copies ml when you started medication, it should in theory now be undetectable. However, to know for sure you’re going to need to have a viral load test done.