Question
My CD4 is 500, VL is 1000, is that bad?
21 January 2013. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.
My CD4 is 500 and viral load 1000, should I be worried?
Answer
Hello,
Thank-you for your email. Can I ask if you have just been diagnosed with HIV? If you have, how are you coping?
Both of your test results are very good.
A ‘normal’ CD4 count for somebody who is HIV negative is between 400-600. In the UK HIV treatment isn’t recommended until your CD4 count is 350 or below. This is because while your CD4 count is above 350 your immune system is still strong, and you are very unlikely to become ill because of HIV.
Your viral load is quite low, which is good. The viral load isn’t such an important test result unless you are on treatment already.If you are not on treatment then the viral load result is not usually used to make any treatment decisions. The exception would be if your viral load was 100,000 or above, which can be a reason to start treatment.
If you are on treatment the aim is to reach a viral load of less than 50. This is usually achieved within 3-6 months of starting treatment.
For more information about CD4 count and viral load please see our Introduction to combination therapy.
Hi Zolla,
Please talk to your doctor about your symptoms.
Good evening. I continued with trivens after seeing my doctor and he said I must drink it together with azor. But since yesterday morning my hand is numb. Is thus normal?
Will also feel numbness in part of my feet. Should I be worried?
Thanks again for your response
Hi Zoolla,
Its very possible that you’re feeling like this due to the meds that you’re taking. If its possible have a word with your doctor and see if you can change. You’ll probably need something that doesn’t contain efavirenz. Please see Q3 here:
http://i-base.info/qa/what-are-the-most-asked-questions
Though no one can make you take meds its really not adviced to stop them.
Hi I just started treatment a month ago but I’m nauseous, heavy headache, sleepless night. Everyday around 2am I’ll be awake till around 4 hard to fall asleep. Seems like my mind is not working G proper as I can’t even concentrate at work or with my studies anymore. Always shouting at my kids for pity thinks. I’m on trivenz. Can I stop medication and may be start again once I’m done with my studies end of 2019?
Hi Jovis,
It looks like your HIV treatment is working well. 960 is a strong CD4 count. But you can ask the doctor for the result of your viral load test. Being undetectable with a viral load under 50 copies/mL will protect partners from HIV. You can read more info about U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) here.
My CD4 count was 442 when i started my treatment and now it is around 960 but i dont know my VL level, can i still infect my patner?
Hi Iam – good to hear back from you – I like this discussion :)
Actually, for most people on good treatment, the meds reverse nearly all the damage that the virus previously caused. And you point that there is so little virus when your viral load is undetectable is right. On treatment there is too little HIV to be doing serious damage for most of us.
The biggest challenge is that the small amounts of HIV that are still in your body on ART, are in cells that are sleeping. So far, there is no way to identify which of the sleeping cells have HIV and which don’t. So finding a way for meds to identify these cells is one of the main problems. We need cure therapies to only target the sleeping cells that are infected. And we can’t just wipe out all our immune cells because this would kill us.
This is why the treatment for Timothy Ray Brown was so dangerous and why it can’t be widely used. He needed to have all healthy immune cells killed and to have a bone marrow transplant to treat a severe type of leukaemia – a cancer of white blood cells.
To: Simon Collins
Thank you for clearity, I real needed and much appreciated. Safety comes first.
From your own point of veiw, What do you think it is the most challenge for the scientist to eradicate HIV? They came a long way now but it seems like they got so far to go instead of just simple wipe out HIV. Don’tchu think the Virus has done enough damage now?
Thank you once again.
Hi Zee,
How long have you been on ARVs? What are you taking?
hi am new on treatment , my cd4 count is 416 im feeling these unbearable side effects and the worst thing is that i feel
like im losing weight is there anything wrong with me or il be fine
? help please… m worried but before i start the treatment i was fine now am dizzy vomitting and bored mostly.