Question
What are the effects of not taking ARVs if you are HIV-positive?
7 June 2011. Related: All topics, Opportunistic infections, Starting treatment.
Answer
In general, most people who do not use ARVs will slowly develop a weaker immune system.
This is shown by a CD4 count that drops. At counts below 200 the risk of serious illnesses increases.
Treatment is recommended ion most guidelines before the CD4 count drops below 350.
At higher CD4 counts, ARVs are not usually used.
Hello Nkosinathi and thanks for getting in touch.
I am very sorry to hear you have a rash and you are worried so much about your health.
On the positive side it’s great you are trying to be more careful with your ARVs and I am sure this will have great benefits for your overall health.
Your rash should be reviewed by a doctor and there are treatments they can offer you that will help.
You should discuss the sweating with your doctor as there are conditions they need to exclude.
Overall, taking ARVs daily can definitely help you and ensure you remain healthy and active, so please don’t worry.
Discuss everything else with your doctor as they can offer significant help and support.
Hi ive been Diagnosed with Hiv for the last to years and recently I’ve been going through a lot and I’m forgetting my meds. I have now restarted taking them regularly. I have now developed sweating which has generally been my problem for a year so i can’t really tell if it because I was not taking my ARVs daily or some other reason. My biggest worry is I have now a small rash on my private part which comes n goes. I’ ve set an alarm for my meds but I just want to find out if I’ m going to be ok. Fitness wise i feel ok but as i say i need to be sure and also make sure I don’t miss a day again.
Hiu Nthabiseng, I am sorry about the way that you became positive and that this is still difficult to accept.
Sometimes counselling can help and sometimes talking about this to other people living with HIV can help. I can’t comment on the circumstances of how this happened but many people find they accept that they were just unlucky after having sex without a condom and that looking forward is better than looking back.
I am sorry I don’t have an easy answer to this, but you have your whole life ahead of you and it is a shame you a still missing out on this.
The person who infected me didn’t tell me that he is positive, and it’s not easy for me accept so what can I do or how accept and move on
Hi Matilda, do you know what your current CD4 count and viral load is? How is your health in general now?
What treatment were you on before and what were the side effects?
What about restarting are you scared of?
Hi I was diagnosed positive 7years ago I took ARVs for only 4 months then I stopped because I traveled and been busy , the ARVs had a bad side effect on so am scared to restart