Question
How long can I live without HIV drugs?
2 January 2017. Related: All topics, Life expectancy, Living with HIV long-term.
Can you please tell me how long can someone live without taking HIV medication?
Answer
The best way to answer this is to say that modern HIV treatment (ART) means that life expectancy is not affected by being HIV positive. HIV positive people with access to treatment can be expected to live as long as before they became positive.
Without using HIV treatment, life expectancy is related to how quickly your CD4 count drops and how low it gets.
Without treatment, some people see their CD4 count drop to under 200 within a few years of infection, while others people can go for 5-10 years or longer before they need treatment.
See also: Your CD4 count and the risk of becoming ill.
This is different to saying how long you could live. However, without treatment, once your CD4 count falls below 200 life expectancy drops very dramatically.
Note: This answer was updated in January 2017 from a question first posted in November 2011.
Hi Kevin, it sounds like you might be an HIV controller. What is your current CD4 count and viral load.
A few people can control HIV without meds although this is very rare. An elite controller needs to still have a CD5 count above 500 and an undetectable viral load without ART.
If this is the case for you, your doctor should have reported you as a case study because doing this for 40 years would make you unique. If you would like to talk more, please email me at questions@i-base.org.uk
The only similar case is Loreen Willenberg who had an undetectable viral load without treatment since 1992 and who is now referred to as being cured.
https://www.thebodypro.com/author/loreen-willenberg
I am 63 and I have been HIV positive for 40 years and I haven’t had to go on Treatment
Hi Kity, yes, please see your HIV clinic as soon as you can. You might just have been very lucky up til now but your CD4 count might also be very low now. The clinic will want to know you are okay and starting meds will be easy.
Hellow I have tested positive on 2007 but I didn’t use any treatment till now am healthy & strong. But now am ready to face it. Can I start using ARV’s now since it’s been long time