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.
Hi im just wondering if it’s possible for me to catch HIV ,my partner has hiv and hasn’t taken his medication for 2month due to circumstances hes back on the medication now but I’m scared I might of contracted it
Hi Noma, HIV meds protect you even when you feel well. Otherwise HIV will be damaging your immune system and you could become seriously ill without realising this. HIV meds are not good to stop and start – they should be taken every day to keep feeling well.
If i go back taking the pill its not going to make me sick or very week as im not feeling sick now
Hi Binh, do you know your current viral load? In most cases restarting treatment will continue to suppress viral load.
From being undetectable, viral load can rebound as soon as a week after stopping. Is there a reason you are stopping treatment?
I don’t understand that document very well, but I’m wondering if hiv will be suppressed again when I stop taking the medicine and how long it will take for it to be detectable by RNA PCR test. Please help me.
Hi Binh, for information about testing please see here: https://i-base.info/guides/testing
Hello. How long does it take for the virus to be detected by RNA PCR? I did RNA PCR after 10 and 29 days but the results were undetectable. Do you think that is possible? And let me ask how sensitive the RNA PCR was at that time. I did it after the last dose. I respect your answer
Hi Zen, it is good to hear that you want to restart. How long had been on treatment prior to this? and do you know your current CD4 count and viral load?
There is some risk of resistance after not being on treatment for the last 2 years. Do you want to go back on to the regimen you were using previously? It is recommended to have a viral load test a few weeks after restarting to ensure that your treatment is still working.
It is safe to restart and if you are returning to an old regimen, there will be no different side effects that you need to be aware of. The more stop/start you are with medication, you increase the risk of resistance.
Please see this previous question: https://i-base.info/qa/21943
I stopped taking ARVs 2 years ago and haven’t felt sick. Feel perfectly fine but something tells me that I should take them again. What are the side effects of stopping and taking them again
How will that affect me
Hi Nthabiseng, have you asked your partner why they are taking this?
Hetemcit is a drug more commonly used to prevent HIV instead of treat it. It is a combination that forms PrEP: https://i-base.info/guides/prep
If they are using this it means that they are looking after their health and you do not need to be worried.