Question

How high will my CD4 go on treatment?

18 November 2013. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Starting treatment.

I have just discovered that I am HIV positive with 369 CD4 count. I have started treating recently.

I want to find out that with healthy eating and treatment can my CD4 count increase to reach +/- 800.

Thanks

Answer

Answer: Rebecca McDowall

Hi,

Thanks for your question. I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis, do you have any support to help you deal with this?

CD4 count increases vary between people so it’s not possible to predict how high your CD4 count will go on treatment. Even without HIV the ‘normal’ CD4 count varies between 400-1600 which shows how much difference there is between people. You can read here about average CD4 count increases after starting treatment.

Your CD4 count when starting treatment was very good though. So long as you are adherent and treatment works well for you, you should not experience any HIV related illnesses.