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 Chris, it is great that you have been undetectable. This means it will take longer for your viral load to rebound.
After 8 days it means your viral load might just start to rebound. It would be important to start treatment again as soon as you can. Because it is 8 days, it would be recommended to have a viral load test a few months after restarting treatment. This would be to check that it is still working.
As viral rebound is a slow process and hopefully when you go back on treatment it will be suppressed again, there are no signs in the 8 days that you can look out for. 8 days is too soon for any new symptoms to appear.
Josh.
Thankyou team, am in a remote area and I cannot access my ATVs which have got finished. I will miss my daily dose for eight days before I get to where I can access my meds. Will these be bad? I have tested undetectable in march these year and have been very healthy with considerable weight gain.
Also what could be the signs of viral rebound?
And if you experience viral rebound and start taking meds can you still test undetectable?
Do we have sites where I can get HIV positive partner who would understand well my situation?
Hi Christa, yes you will be okay. Missing one day of treatment is not going to lead to your treatment no longer working.
I missed my ARVs in one day will I be okay If I continue the next day
Hi Monica, your daughter’s partner is not at risk. As your daughter has had an undetectable viral load for so long, missing 2 days of treatment is not going to risk her viral load rebounding. When undetectable it usually takes a week or more for viral load to become detectable without treatment.
Has your daughter restarted her treatment?
My daughter missed or skipped drinking ARVs for 2days and had sex with her partner without a condom, she has an undetectable status for the past 12years, this has never happened before, is the partner at high risk of contracting HIV, she is scared
Hi Ali, these are excellent CD4 results. It shows that your treatment is working and you have a healthy immune system.
I just received the results from the test I took yesterday. I still don’t have the VL results.
CD4 1585 ul
HLS CD3-CD8 25.7%
HLS CD3-CD4 50.8%
T LYMPH CD3 78.6%
Hi Ali, there is no risk of transmission. As these days were not consecutive there was not enough time for viral load to rebound. Further from this, as you used a condom there is no risk of HIV transmission.
As the days were not sequential, it is very unlikely that this will have had any effect on your CD4 count/viral load.
Hey again, thank you for your fast response. The days that I missed my treatment were not serial. I missed 5 days in June, and after a month of treatment, I missed another 3–4 days. I tested today for CD4 and VL; I will have the CD4 result tomorrow, and the VL result will take a week, I think.
We did use a condom, but I’m still feeling nervous about this.