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 Lisa i started taking my arvs last year April.i am a foreigner here in s.a .i visited back home and i was given another treat ment there and i start to react thats when i quit my treatment its about 3 months now i am back i want to start my meds what should i do
Hi Phumzile,
As it says above, if you decide to stop treatment, your viral load is likely to rebound within a week or two. So to find out what happens you can ask the doctor for tests for CD4 and viral load. Finding out these results can help you decide if you want to start treatment again.
hi,whats happen if u stop arvs for 2years
Hi Jake,
ARVs need to be taken daily, so missing meds for 5 days isn’t advised for anyone.
When the HIV drug efavirenz (Sustiva) was first introduced there were several reports that it resulted in false-positive results with some marijuana tests. If you are using efavirenz (or Atripla which contains efavirenz) there may be a chance this could happen, though I haven’t heard of this being a problem for a long time.
Hi. What will happen if I stop taking my arv (lamivudine tenofovir efavirenz) for 5 days? I have an upcoming drug test and i heard and have read that efavirenz can cause a positive result in thc, a compound found in marijuana. I really want this job and I don’t want to fail the drug test. Your suggestion is highly appreciated. Thank you?!
Hi Fancy Face,
Do you mean the clinic don’t talk to you on the phone? Is it possible for you to get there. And when you are there can you get the meds? Yes, it’s a good idea to want to start taking meds again. What country do you live in, there might be a support organisation that can help. For example, in South Africa there is the Treatment Action Campaign.
I have started taking my meds last year July but since April I have stopped because of the clinic am going they always cut the line and tell us to come,alway when I go they always do the same thing,so what will happen to me but I want to start taking my meds agai
Hi Pie.
There’s no reason at all why you need to let him go. He has HIV, and its a manageable health condition. Is he on medication? If he is then he isn’t any risk to you as Q’s 9 and 14 here explain:
https://i-base.info/qa/what-are-the-most-asked-questions
I’m in love with a man who has the aids virus. We never slept together. He only suck my boobs and just kiss some. I’m so in love with him. I’m afraid and confuse, what to do? I don’t want to let him go.
Hi Lawrence,
I’m sorry that your new pills sound like they are not working. But your side effects seem serious if you mean they are affecting your vision. It’s important that you contact the clinic and talk to them about this. It’s also important that you ask for a specialist eye doctor to examine you to make sure you don’t have an eye infection.
If you need support for this, please contact Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). TAC is a South African HIV/AIDS activist organisation which was co-founded by the HIV-positive activist Zackie Achmat in 1998.