Question
How can I get my CD4 count to increase?
26 May 2011. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.
Hi – what can I do to help increase my CD4? I have just found out I am at undetectable level after 8 weeks on treatment which is great. my CD4 has gone from 95 to 166 (after 4 weeks) and is now 173 after 8 weeks. I know it can take time for the CD4 to recover when the base level is low as mine but I am still disheartened as I was really hoping for it to have rebounded a bit better than this. What can I do to help it increase? Many thanks for your advice.
Answer
Thank you for your question.
Your CD4 count is doing really well and increasing nicely. Most people take 6-12 months for their CD4 counts to increase significantly. You are doing really well and have nothing to feel disheartened about.
There is very little anyone can do to increase their CD4 counts accept using HIV treatment which you are already doing. However, there are some things that you can do to maintain your CD4 count and ensure it stays up. This includes eating a healthy balanced diet, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, not getting stressed out, not smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation and generally looking after yourself.
Yes, but this depends on a number of factors. Using condoms or having an undetectable viral load can prevent HIV being transmitted. Please see our testing guide for more information.
can a person who is HIV positive have a sexual intercause with some one who is negative with out passing the the virus to the other person?
THANKS FOR REPLYING.
Hi Doods,
I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis.
If you had an allergic reaction to cotrimoxazole it’s important to tell your doctor. This medicine is used to help prevent you getting sick. While your CD4 count is under 200 this medicine will help prevent your pneumonia getting worse or coming back if it goes away. There are alternatives to cotrimoxazole such as dapsone or pentamidine.
I can’t tell you if you have TB, you will need to ask your hospital about this.
There are no herbal medicines that will increase your CD4 count. ARVs are the only medicines that can do this.
When you are feeling better you should be able to continue your job if you want to. HIV shouldn’t stop you doing anything you did before.
Please follow this link for more information about being diagnosed with a low CD4 count.
hi..i was first diagnosed with Pneumonia without knowing that i am infected. my doctor did not advise me to undergo hiv test but my friends did when i was discharged from the hospital. i found out that i am infected with a cd4 count of 15. i am now on my first month of treatment with arv’s but my main concern is that i am not yet fully recovered with pneumonia. the impression of my xray result is “ptb and/or non-koch’s pneumonia, but negative in sputum test. my doctor told to take Cotrimoxazole, for pneumonia but i had an allergic reaction with that medicine so i decided to stop taking it. but the good news is that i am getting better everyday. my questions are:
am i TB active?
what medicine can i take to be fully recovered from pneumonia?
what herbal medicines can i take to increase my cd4 count?
i am a call center agent but i am now on my 3rd month sick leave. can i still work in a night shift? or better stop working and find a dayshift job?
Hi. Even after being on treatment for many years, the HIV test will still be positive. This is because the test is seeing whether you immune system has ever come in to contact with HIV. Even if you found a way to clear HIV (ie a cure) the HIV antibody test would still be positive.
Please I just want to know if someone can go to test and the result become negative after taking ARVs for a long time. I know that when some one is infected he/she is infected for life.
Hi. The increase of your friend’s CD4 count from 98 to 160 is good news and is likely to show that this treatment is working well for him. This is one of the most widely used combinations globally. Over time, the options for treatment may change in your country, though you didn’t say where treatment is being accessed. So zidovudine is used much less in the UK and has been replaced by abacavir or tenofovir. All these drugs are good though and it is important that your friend continues to take all three in order for the combination to continue to work.
my friend was tested HIV positive in 2011 and has been taken his treatment and he went for cd4 count test and it was 160. but before now it was 98. i also want to know if a combination of LAMIVUDINE, NEVIRAPINE, ZIDOVUDINE tablets are good for the treatment of HIV. Thanks.
Hi, I am not sure what is going on with your friend. He clearly had a really good response when he first started treatment. Missing one pill would not make anyone sick, so perhaps your friend stopped taking his meds for several weeks or months. It would usually take several months for a CD4 count to drop from 800 down to about 160. But if he stopped taking treatment, this is exactly what would happen.
Have you been able to talk about why this happened? Sometimes people start to feel better and think that perhaps they don’t need treatment, but they quickly see the earlier progress reverse and they become sick again. Currently, at least until we have a cure, HIV treatment for most people is likely to be lifelong. I also wondered whether he had side effects with his drugs that were partly the reason that he stopped.
Whether you friend can go back to his old treatment, or whether he needs a new combination, will depend on how he stopped treatment. If he just stopped completeley one day, he may be able to use his old drugs. If he stopped slowly, and missed many doses while still taking some others, he is more likely to have developed resistance. If this was the case he will probably need different drugs.
hi, my best fried is HIV positive and he was detectected and started medicine when his count is 105. It gradually cont incresed to 800 to 900 (within 2-3 years) and and for some resons he stopped to take pill one for the day, now he is felling sick and got investesigetd all the tests. Now his count is 161 he had stopped taking pill for 6months. My doubt is that he had be taking the medicine for 3 years and once he stopped for last 6 months. how many years he shall take the medicine, or he must change the medicine?