Question
What happens if I miss my HIV treatment for a week?
15 June 2022. Related: Access to treatment, Adherence, All topics, CD4 and viral load.
What happens if I miss my HIV treatment for a week?
Answer
Hi, how are you?
Why will you be missing a weeks dose of medication? It would be best if you could avoid this. Do you have any way of accessing/taking medication with you?
Missing a weeks dose of medication is not likely to be a significant problem. Though it is just long enough to potentially start having a viral load rebound.
Missing a few days medication is normally okay because HIV medications have a long half life. This means they work in the body longer for 24 hours. However a week is getting to the point where there is not enough medication working.
If you do need to miss, getting a viral load test soon after starting your medication again will let you know if they are working.
Josh.
Thank you