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 want to know that since May this year I didn’t take my medicine and I am feeling well. Can I go for check up?
Hello Krystian and thank you for the question.
When you take medication HIV is what we call suppressed.
It is there but is not hurting you, it’s not causing problems to your body.
If you stop treatment then HIV will start multiplying again and you will slowly start feeling unwell and getting sicker.
How long that takes to happen is different for every person.
Is there some reason you would want to stop your medication?
Some times it helps to discuss with a healthcare professional because they can help with side effects, etc.
Does hiv actually return if you come off meds
Hello Sodiq and thank you for the question.
Starting medication will help her immune system become strong again.
After a few months there is a good chance she will be back to normal.
It is best for your wife to see a doctor and decide on the next steps.
They can help her by giving her the right tests and medication.
She should also discuss the reasons that drove her to stop: was it because of side effects? was there some other reasons?
The clinic has resources that might be helpful to your wife and get her feel better soon.
My wife stopped using her meds for over a year. Now she has started having symptoms and has resumed taking it. Is she likely to get better?
Hello Dorathy and thank you for the question.
It’s best to register with a clinic now that you still have medication left.
They will need to get your records (medical transfer letter) from your old clinic before they are able to give you more medication.
It’s easier if you register while you have 1 or 2 months left because it will be less stressful for the clinic and you.
I have been taking the drugs I was given since May 2024 and haven’t gone for any check up because I relocated and I still have some of it. Should I stop taking it and register for new ones or finish it first? And With the type of work I do it stresses me a lot that I lost a lot of weight. What can I take to gain weight?
Hi Felicia, the only way to know is to have your CD4 count monitored.
If you stop ART, your CD4 count will return to where it was when you first started treatment.
Sometimes this can happen quickly and sometimes a bit more slowly.
Without realising it, your CD4 can drop to levels that put you at really serious risks.
Please talk to your doctor if you have stopped meds or are thinking of doing this.
They will still want you to use ART, but they can also monitor you if you decide to stop.
When you stay off HIV drugs for some months, is there any way you’ll notice that your CD4 count has dropped without going for test
Hi Candy, it is difficult to comment without more details. HIV meds also prevent transmission when viral load is undetectable, but stopping meds will cause viral load to increase again. How quickly this happens will vary but this can be within a few weeks. If you didn’t use condoms when off meds, please test now to check.