Question
Are these side effects from Atroiza?
13 December 2013. Related: All topics, Life expectancy, Newly diagnosed, Pregnancy, Side effects.
Am a 19 yr old girl I just foundout that am HIV+ and am pregnant.
I started taking Atroiza but since I started I hardly sleep. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and have a bad headache when I ask nurse she say its part of treatment. Is it Atroiza doing this or what?
I know HIV can’t be cured and I doing this for my unborn baby because if I die who wil raised her/him?
Answer
Hello,
I’m very sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. Finding out you are HIV positive is never easy but finding out in pregnancy can be especially hard. Do you have any support to help you deal with this?
Atroiza is a generic version of Atripla.
Atroiza contains a drug called efavirenz which has side effects that include sleep disturbance, mood changes and headaches. Usually these will improve over the first few weeks of treatment. However, some people change to a different drug because of these side effects.
It’s important to understand that these are related to your treatment, and to discuss them with your clinic if you are finding them difficult or they don’t improve. This link has more about these side effects.
You are right that we don’t have a cure for HIV. ARVs are very effective at treating HIV though and can allow you to have a long and healthy life.
With ARVs, HIV positive people have almost the same life expectancy as HIV negative people. Living with HIV isn’t something that is easy and you do need to take it seriously, but it shouldn’t stop you from doing anything in life you would have done before your diagnosis.
You may find the following links useful for more information. Do get back in touch if you have any questions.
Hi Porta,
Is your husband taking medication for both the TB and the diabetes? If he is how long has he been taking this medication for?
Your husband is on ARVs, how long has he been on these for? What is he taking? What is his CD4 count?
If you could get back to me, I’ll be able to help you.
My husband is taking arvs also is recently tb diagnosed and again he is diabetic. He is very sick as we speak. I am scared he will leave me. Is he going to survive? God oh God
Hey, I’m HIV positive. I’ve stopped taking my pills coz they are making me dizzy and at night I don’t sleep is that a side affect?
Hi Sabbinah,
How long have you been taking meds for? What are you taking? What is your CD4 count? How long has it been since you stopped taking meds?
Hi Ntombi,
What you’re going through could be the side effects of the atrozia. These should go in a few weeks. If they don’t please talk to your doctor.
For more info about atrozia please see here:
http://i-base.info/guides/1561
Hi . I just started taking Atroiza its been less than a week now. I’m pregnant and in my first trimesters, was done with morning sicknesses before I took Atroiza. So now I’ve started from scratch can’t keep food down, I vomit a lot, sleepless nights with fever, and I suffer from a very bad headache. And this is affecting me so much as I’m always in bed. Please help what must I do to reduce this. Thanks
Hi Sihle,
Is it possible that you have a urine infection? Or are you perhaps pregnant? Atrozia isn’t known to make you pee more.
I started with Atrioiza two years back and it doing a good job for me. But I am not sure whether it the side effects, I recently start to pee at night. And it worries me now I even did pep smear and the result were clear. Please help me overcome this.
Hi Zanele,
As of yet there isn’t a cure for HIV. Therefore, until a cure is found your HIV will always be with you.
Will my HIV ever go?