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.
Hi i tested positive 10 years back when i was pregnant then i was on treatment since since 2011 then 2015 i stopped the treatment cz every morning i was vommiting but i was taking the pill afternoon and i was loosing weight during the treatment but after stopping it i have gained weight since then even now i have gained weight too much my daughter is not infected and my boyfriend also is not infected …. now its been 6 years with no treatment n still i have no sign of HIV….so am asking if there’s something wrong with me or not?
Hi Ben, what HIV medication are you taking?
So i have been positive with HIV for over a decade
Recently i have been failing to get an erection
this has been about 9 months
I am thinking of ceasing the HAART
i am on no other medications
this will be the first break in all that time
I have been on arv for 8months and I missed my meds for 2a week cuz it was finished and I did my viral load it shows 700000copies. I don’t understand
Hi Kate, how are you? I have answered your question here: https://i-base.info/qa/18763
Hi Paul, have you discussed this with your doctor? Managing HIV can be difficult but there are options if your current medication regimen is not suitable.
Thanks for the info. I am in the process of stopping all of my meds hoping I’ll feel a little normal even for a short time
Hi Paul, do you mind if I ask why you will be stopping your treatment soon?
Will also stopping my hiv treatment soon !
Hi Sisi,
It’s unlikely that she’ll have developed resistance, it is however possible that her viral load may have rebounded.
When she gets home she should restart taking her meds. If it’s possible she should have her viral load checked.
The important thing is to restart treatment.