Question
My meds will run a few days before my next script?
4 September 2016. Related: Adherence, All topics, Resistance.
I am taking Truvada and raltegravir. I just started taking them about a month ago. My last cd4 count a month ago was 210 and my viral load was 110,000 . I am traveling and only have enough medication for a couple more days. I have more meds arriving in about a week but there will likely be a couple days in between. What should I do?
Answer
Hi
First option is to see whether there any way to get a few days meds – even just for the Truvada? This might depend on the country where you are travelling.
If you are in a city in a high income country with public healthcare, some HIV clinics or community organisations might be able to find you a couple of days of meds. If you are travelling in a low income country, generic meds might be very inexpensive.
As this is just for a few days, it would be okay to focus of getting the Truvada which might be easier to get now that PrEP is more widely available.
If getting more meds is not possible, then missing the 2-3 days is likely to be okay, but has a small chance of drug resistance. This is perhaps only a 5% (1 in 20) chance.
Some doctors might recommend taking meds on alternate days to stretch the meds you have to cover this. For example if you only have 3 days meds to cover 6 days then alternative each day – one day on meds, one day off – might keep drug levels of the meds in Truvada high enough to reduce the risk of resistance.
You might want to contact your doctor by email or phone to check this. i-Base are not doctors – this information is just based on theoretical ways to minimise risk.
Having to miss a few days does happen to lots of people and most are okay, but telling your doctor about this when you get back is also a good idea in case additional monitoring is needed.
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