Question

I’ve been on ARVs since 2005 but my legs are thin?

16 August 2021. Related: All topics, Changing treatment, Side effects.

Hi, I have been on ARVs since 2005 but my body has changed. My legs are now thin.

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Hi there

Thanks for your question but without more details it is difficult to comment in detail.

The following things might help though.

First, have you talked to your doctor about this? If yes, what do they say?

Secondly, although early HIV drugs caused body changes in some people, including fat loss, this is not a problem with modern treatment. You don’t say which current drugs you are using. Also, which drugs you used in the past.

Sometimes body changes were worse in people who started treatment with a very low CD4 count. This means that advanced HIV could also be responsible.

Are the changes recent? Or did this happen slowly over many years?

Most of us find that our bodies also change as we get older. So as well as being on treatment, you are now 16 years older than when you started.

Unfortunately, whatever the cause, there is not an easy solution to make your legs larger again. Diet and exercise can help – for example, exercising with weights to build up your leg muscles. This is difficult but it might slowly help.

Exercise can also help in other ways that makes you appreciate your body. Most of us never quite look the way we want to – especially as we get older – but this shouldn’t stop us still enjoying the body that we have.