Question
How often can I miss a dose?
9 June 2008. Related: Adherence, All topics, Resistance.
Hi, I have been on Sustiva/Truvada for 7 months and only missed 1 dose.
In your opinion how often could you safeley miss a dose? Not intending to purposely miss doses just a question really. Thanks!
Answer
I have a very traditional opinion and will have to say that you cannot miss doses safely.
The thing is that HIV does not mutate selectively, it does it randomly. Hense missing a dose is like a Russian roulette. During the period when the virus can replicate (as there is not enough medication to supress it in your body), it can mutate in such a way, that it becomes resistant to the medication, but it also can mutate in a way that it does not become resistant.
Hence every missed dose is a potential resistance provoker and it is more true with the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (Sustiva and Viramune) than with the protease inhibitors.
At the same time, as I mentioned before, not every missed dose will by default lead to resistance, but, again, less is better.
Hi Sadiq,
That’s right, if you can’t take it at the regular time, take it as soon as you remember. Almost everyone will be late or miss a dose occasionally. It only becomes a problem if it happens regularly.
Hi I’m HIV positive which is on medication, I missed my normal timing of taking the tablet. I took it 3 hrs later. Can that be a problem for me?
Hi Pink,
Your body will have absorbed the meds by then. Have you thought about taking them at another time of day?
Am pregnant and my viral load is undetectable but lately when I take my meds I vomit after 20-30mins, does it mean the medicine won’t work?
Hi AR,
What ARVs are you taking? And did you miss 2 days in a row? Please see this similar Q&A for Atripla.
Hi,
Im a HIV positive and taking Arv med for almost 3 months i missed to take my med twice within a week im worried that i’ve become resistant already . Please advice. thanks
Hi Vox,
As long as your viral load is undetectable there isn’t any risk. Your viral load won’t have rebounded just because you missed one dose of meds.
Hi, am positive and 3 months back, my viral load was zero so I missed drug (that is 3 months after the viral load test) on one night then the following night I took the drug and in the morning I had unprotected sex with my partner after she insisted. So my question is, have I infected her with the virus?
Hi Precious, your friend will be okay. She has done amazingly well to be so good with meds for so long. Nearly everyone misses a dose occasionally. The meds are good enough to cover odd missed doses. So long as this is not regular, she will be fine.
My friend is HIV+ and Arvs medication for more than 10 years. She missed 2 days will that be of danger? She so scared