Question
Should I just put up with feeling dizzy on efavirenz?
25 July 2021. Related: All topics, Changing treatment, Side effects.
Hi! I am diagnosed this year (2021). And It’s two weeks has been since I’m taking efavirenz + lamivudine + tenofovir disoproxil fumarate as a 3-in-1 single pill.
I take them every night at 9 pm before going to sleep and I feel dizzy when I woke up. During the day I still feel dizzy and I can’t do proper work. Though I can walk on my own, just feeling dizzy inside my head, it’s not that severe.
Should I live like this from now on? And in 3 weeks, there will be an enrolment. I’m student and turning 4th year college. I wonder should I enroll my last year in college?
Answer
Thanks for your question and for letting us post this online.
To answer your main question: No, you should not live like this. There are lots of options. This includes using an alternative medicine. This is important so you can continue your college and life without these side effects.
Most people get these side effects from efavirenz. If you are lucky then it might still get easier over the next week or two.
Side effects are worse if you take meds soon after eating. Are you already waiting a few hours after your evening meal before you take them?
Also, what is the current dose of efavirenz? Research has shown that it is just as safe and effective to use a 400 mg dose instead of 600 mg. But this depends on if a 400 mg dose is available in your country.
If neither of these things work, please talk to your doctor. Tell them that the side effects are making your life difficult and that they are so serious that you worry about your college.
Sometimes it is just better to use another HIV drug instead. This is easy and safe and you will feel better immediately (within a couple of days).
HIV treatment needs to be easy for you to take and without side effects. Using different drugs is also easy.
Efavirenz used to be one of the main drugs used to treat HIV. However, it is no longer the first drug recommended though because of the side effects that include affecting sleep and dizziness.
In the last few years, most countries change to use an integrase inhibitor, especially dolutegravir.
However. even when some countries still use efavirenz, there should always be other choices for when the side effects are difficult.
This link has more information about the dizziness and things that might help.
https://i-base.info/guides/side/cns-side-effects
This link is to info about changing treatment.
https://i-base.info/guides/changing/changing-treatment-to-avoid-side-effects
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