Question
I missed my meds for 4 days, will I be OK?
7 May 2019. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.
I’m traveling for work and forgot my meds…Meaning I will miss 4 doses of Biktarvy
My viral load has been undetectable for nearly 10 years now and I am otherwise in very good health… so how dangerous is missing 4 doses?
Answer
Thanks for getting in touch.
Meds needs to be taken every day to make sure that there are always good drug levels in your body, Getting the timing right means you still have good levels when you come to taje the next dose. This is for week day and weekends, every day in the year.
Luckily though, as drugs have become better, they also provide cover if you are sometimes late.
Though missing four days is not good, you should be okay. This is because after ten years, levels of HIV will be very very low. If you do this often though, you might develop drug resistance.
Your partners will also be okay from this time. It usually takes a couple of weeks for a viral load to rebound. As soon as you get home, make sure that you take your meds. If possible you may want to have your viral load checked.
Hi Ali, after a week there is some risk that your viral load will rebound. This rebound will not be as high as someone having not been on treatment, but it is possible to be detectable again.
Have you restarted treatment? and when having sex with your partner did you use a condom?
After 10 days risk will remain low and your partner will not need to start PEP.
Hello, I’m on Dovato, and I’ve been undetectable for almost 2 years. My last test was on June 7, and my CD4 count was 1087 and my VL was less than 30.
If I missed 10 days of treatment after this test, what are my chances of becoming detectable and have a risk to my partners?
Hi Peter, missing 3 days treatment while undetectable is unlikely to risk any viral rebound or resistance.
Hi I missed 3 days of Genvoya by mistake, i’m undetectable for 13 years , i checked my vial load the week before i missed my 3 days doses was undetectable, will i become detectable or develop a resistance?
Hi Adam, do you know what your viral load was? If it was undetectable it usually takes about a week for viral load to rebound. In this case it would have been very unlikely to pass on HIV to a partner in this time.
As it was a few days you were without medication, it would be advised to have a viral load test in a few weeks to check that your viral load remains suppressed and that treatment is still working.
Hi there, I ran out of my medication (stribild) and didn’t take any for about 4-5 days. Would that affect any chance of infection to another person?
Hi Hannah, what is the name of the ARVs you are taking? and have you mentioned these body changes to your doctor?
I have been taking my ARVS for two years now,but i my stomach is becoming big ,am not pregnant and am healthy too,what could that be
Hi Kenny
Thanks, missing three days is not great, but it will also probably be fine.
Please just strt with your regular dosing. There is no benefit from taking more than one dose.
Please could you also check whether there is another durg included with the emtricitabine? Usually, either tenofovir disoproxil or tenofovir alafenamide is also included.
I’ve been taking Tivicay and emtricitabine for my HIV treatment and the pharmacy messed up my refill and I might not be able to take my medication for 3 days, will I be okay and do I just take it like normal when it comes?