Q and A

Question

Is it ok if I take my meds 15 or 30 mins late?

Do you have to take your arvs at exactly the same time each day? Will for example 30 mins (or even an hour) each way have any impact whatsoever on the suppression of the virus or cause resistance? I am worried as even though I take them every day some days it is 15 or 30 mins later or earlier than the previous day.

Answer

Thank you for your question.

It is sometimes difficult to take your meds at the exact same time everyday.

Even when starting, there is a window of about an hour either side of your target time when it is still fine to take them.

For example, if you want to take your meds every night at 10 pm, then any time between 9pm and 11pm will be fine.

Everyone has a few times when we forget our meds though.

The less this happens the better. But if it does happen once in a while then there is nothing to worry about. If you forget in the future, take them as soon as you remember. However, if this is already close to the next dose DO NOT take a double dose.

Once you get an undetectable viral load, especially if it has been undetectable for several years, you have more flexibility. This partly depends on which drugs you are using.

Some once daily drugs (including tenofovir DF, emtricitabine and efavirinz) have long half-lives. This means drug levels stay in your body for long enough to cover being several hours late or even missing a dose completely.

Several studies are looking at whether reduced dosing might be safe – for example by only taking ART for four days a week. We need bigger studies before we know if this is safe though.

Note: this question was updated in October 2016 from and original answer in April 2011.

526 comments

  1. Simon Collins

    Hi Blessing, please do not worry. Everyone misses of is late with their meds at some time. It is good that you are usually so careful. Being late once will not have done any harm. You don’t need to do anything else. Just continue tomorrow at the normal time.

  2. Blessing

    I don’t know of I skip my dose last night ,I usually take it by 10pm even alarm on my phone,but I woke up by 4am this morning and was wondering if I take it or not last night but have not skip a dose not even for once ,I was just confused can’t really remember ,am just worried if I should take it again or just wait till my next time of taking ,hope it won’t affect me

  3. Lisa Thorley

    Hi Sharon,

    You said you had your viral load tested last year, what was it? Have you had a test since then?

  4. Sharon

    Hi I’m Sharon
    I am born with HIV I’m on my Arvs so all these years I was undetectable but last yr I took blood test and I found out I’m detectable so I’m surprised why because I haven’t stopped taking my pills everyday. Or maybe it’s just a blips

  5. Simon Collins

    Hi Thembi, if you are both using the same meds, then it is okay to lend someone maybe 1 or 2 doses, if they forgot thier meds. It is not good to do this more though because you need your medicines for yourself. Everyone who is HIV positive needs to take care of this part of their life for themselves.

    Why is your friend not collecting their own meds?

    It would be better to try to help them to do this.

  6. Thembi

    What happens if someone fail to collect his medications of hiv, and asked some one to share his medication with here, is that okay?

  7. Lisa Thorley

    Hi Walter,

    What ARVs are you taking?

  8. Walter

    Wat the best tym to drink the arvs pills

  9. Lisa Thorley

    Hi Rafael,

    If PEP is taken within 48hrs after a possible risk, there is a high chance that is it will work. Please see here: https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/how-effective-post-exposure-prophylaxis-pep

  10. Rafael

    How effective is post exposure prophylaxis after 13hrs of exposure,, do they really work?

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