Question
I am loosing weight after being on ART for 9 years
13 August 2021. Related: All topics, Living with HIV long-term, Side effects, Support.
Hi, I am on medication for 9 yrs now but I notice am loosing weight, pls help me.
Answer
Thanks for your question and for letting us answer this online.
Something that sounds simple, like weight loss, can be a complicated question to answer. This is because it can involve many things, some of which are not related to HIV.
So my first question is, what does your doctor say about this?
If you haven’t talked about this yet, this is the first step. Your doctor can weigh you know and they should know your weight over time.
The second question is about how much weight you have lost – and also how different this is for your age and height.
Unexplained weight loss of more than 5% over 6 months can be serious – so your doctor needs to know. If you have a CD4 count that is less than 200 cells/mm3 it might related to a stomach bug or infection.
More significant weight loss in older people might be a reason to check for serious things like cancer.
The doctor then needs to look at whether the changes are due to fat loss or muscle loss.
And this will involve talking about your diet, how active you are, and maybe your family history. Body changes over time can change as we age and can also be genetic. If you know your birth parents, are you looking more like them as you age?
Modern HIV meds are not related to weight loss, but some are related to weight gain. So anyone with weight gain should also talk to their doctor about this.
It sounds like you are doing well to be on medication for so long. But please talk to your doctor now so that they can help with this aspect of your life.
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