Question
Can I take Tribuss with food?
5 July 2012. Related: All topics, Side effects, South Africa, Starting treatment.
Hi! I am 35 years and started taking my tribuss pill in February 2012. My problem is that I cant take the pill on an empty stomach. Can this make the pill to disfunction?
Answer
Hi,
Thank-you for your question.
Tribuss is a generic combination treatment which contains three HIV drugs. These are efavirenz, FTC and tenofovir. In the UK, this combination in a single pill is called Atripla.
Tribuss is usually recommended to be taken on an empty stomach is to reduce side effects. This is up to 60% more efavirenz is absorbed if it is taken with a high fat meal.
This would mean there is more efavirenz than you need and you may be more likely to get side effects. Side effects from efavirenz include dizziness, mood changes and sleep disturbance. Please follow this link for more information about efavirenz side effects.
However, the increased levels of efavirenz are connected to a high fat meal.
If you prefer to take Tribuss with some food this is fine, just not with fatty foods.
Please let me know if you have any more questions!
It is great that you are on treatment. This will help make sure you baby does not have HIV. Having unprotected sex is not a risk for the baby. If your boyfriend is not have HIV there is a risk of him becoming positive. You can avoid this by using condoms.
I am on Tribuss and i’m 3 months pregnant. Me and my boyfriend don’t use condoms during sex, is there any risk?
Hi Johan,
I’m sorry to hear that your wife is experiencing those side effects. Starting treatment can be challenging.
Her doctor is right that side effects usually get better after a couple of weeks. This is because the body is getting used to the medication. However between 10% and 20% of people do change from Tribuss to other combinations.
If her symptoms do not improve she can talk to her doctor of clinic about what other treatment options are available.
You can find information about starting treatment here:
http://i-base.info/guides/starting
And information about Tribuss here:
http://i-base.info/guides/1561
I am afraid we don’t run a service that connects people to others who have HIV. You could google search for organisations in your city or area and contact them about local support groups.
My fiancée have been prescribed Tribuss. She had very intense side effects. Dr says it is normal for the first few weeks. She is afraid that the side effects will not stop, in fact she was able to manage her body fairly well over the past 8 years and now she feels out of control.
She has an desperate need to speak to someone who is also taking the drug for moral support.
Kind Regards,
J
Hi Ontshegeditse
This depends on your individual health. It is also something that there are different views on.
Some people think that once you have started HIV meds it is easier to carry on. Some guidelines recommend this even if someone has a very high CD4 count.
Other guidelines are more flexible. If the CD4 count over 500, some people think that as your wouldn’t need to be on treatment for your own health, this gives the option to stop and just monitor again.
Better still is for you to have this choice and to discuss both options with your doctor and other health workers.
Hi I here that after giving birth based on your cd4 count you can either decide to continue or stop taking ARV’s won’t this cause a relapse and result in being sick?
The HIV meds reduce the amount of HIV throughout your body. This makes you much less likely to pass HIV to your baby both during the pregnancy and when the baby is born.
Hi,
I just found out that I’m 8 months pregnant and HIV positive, and I have been put to Tribuss treatment and I am wondering that how will this help my child not to get infected.
Thanks
Hi Njabulo,
I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. ARVs don’t cause a negative test result, but they can reduce the viral load- the amount of HIV in your body- down to a level called ‘undetectable’. Is this the test result you are talking about? You would usually expect to have an undetectable viral load after 6 months on treatment- this shows that treatment is working well.
Although having a low CD4 count means that your immune system has been weakened treatment is still very effective. With treatment it is likely that your CD4 count will increase over time and you can have a very good life expectancy.
It sounds like you could do with talking to somebody about your worries- do you have any support? There are lots of organisations that support HIV positive people and your clinic should be able to suggest a group near you. Or if you prefer you can tell me where you live and I will try to suggest a local organisation.
Hi I’m confused I was tested positive in the last 6months and I started treatment my cd4-67….. and when they tested me again awas nagative. Do ARVs cause that? And I’m hearing people say if your cd4-is low you die early.. I am now scary can’t even sleep is that true