Question
How long can I live without HIV drugs?
2 January 2017. Related: All topics, Life expectancy, Living with HIV long-term.
Can you please tell me how long can someone live without taking HIV medication?
Answer
The best way to answer this is to say that modern HIV treatment (ART) means that life expectancy is not affected by being HIV positive. HIV positive people with access to treatment can be expected to live as long as before they became positive.
Without using HIV treatment, life expectancy is related to how quickly your CD4 count drops and how low it gets.
Without treatment, some people see their CD4 count drop to under 200 within a few years of infection, while others people can go for 5-10 years or longer before they need treatment.
See also: Your CD4 count and the risk of becoming ill.
This is different to saying how long you could live. However, without treatment, once your CD4 count falls below 200 life expectancy drops very dramatically.
Note: This answer was updated in January 2017 from a question first posted in November 2011.
Hi im licia and im HIV positive and i haven’t started the meds. I haven’t told my family and im scared tht they might reject me. Please help.
Hi Question,
May I ask why you want to stop taking Atripla? Is it because of side effects? If so, you could ask your doctor for other ARVs that can be easier for you to take.
If you decide to stop treatment, your viral load is likely to rebound within a week or two. If you stay off treatment your CD4 count will start to drop over the next few months. When this happens the risk of developing other infections and getting sick increases.
The SMART study shows clear increased risk from interrupting treatment at any CD4 count
I’ve been on Atripla for 10 years now without incident. My CD4 count is around the high 500s. If i stopped taking medication altogether, how long would it take before my CD4 count drops significantly and I get sick?
Hi Vuokazi
It sounds like your boyfriend is having side effects to the ARVs. This is common and shouldn’t last more than a few weeks. Though you may be worried, it’s really important to know that not everyone gets side effects. Some people do, some people don’t. Therefore, what is happening to your boyfriend may not happen to you. There’s more about starting medication here: http://i-base.info/guides/starting
Its common to be worried about starting ARVs, however if you want to control your HIV you need to be on medication.
Hi this is Mavuyi my boyfriend was coughing for 3week then last week he went to the clinic and he tested positive so yersterday he start he’s treatment.he was feeling restless the whole night vomiting nd now I am also scared bcoz I also went to the clinic nd I’m also positive now I’m so scared what is going to me when I saw him like that
Help
Hi Monday,
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. But it’s great that you immediately started HIV treatment (ART).
However, we are not doctors at i-Base. So it’s important that you see the doctor about the swelling.
What HIV meds are you taking? And do you have access to your CD4 count and viral load results?
Please let us know.
Here’s the guide to starting ART.
I was tested positive, and immediately started treatment, and now I discovered swelling in some of my body,please what can I do,
Hi Dominic,
Sorry, i-Base doesn’t have resources to answer more questions about transmission and testing. But all previous answers can be found here.
Hi am Dominic just had a unprotected sex this morning and the lady said she’s HIV positive after sex. How long do I have to live?
Hi Cairo,
If could be that your CD4 has fallen. You’re going to need to talk to a doctor about this. They should test your CD4, this will tell how you’re doing HIV wise. Yes you can restart medication, however you’ll need to discuss this with a doctor.