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 Samuel, do you have HIV? If you are wanting to protect yourself from HIV and you are negative, PrEP would be what you should take.
Atroiza is not recommended to be taken as PEP or PrEP because of the side effects in can cause.
PrEP: https://i-base.info/guides/prep
Can I protect myself from HIV by taking atroiza?
Hi Tima, Atroiza is a different treatment. It has different drugs which can cause different side effects. Do you know why your medication has been switched? The medication will still work and continue to suppress HIV. Side effects with Atroiza can also be worse if you take it with high fat meals. Atripla does not commonly cause leg cramps. If this is new and you think it is related to your treatment you need to speak to your doctor about this.
Hlw I was talking tlb last year so last week they gave me atroiza what will happen to me coz I feel tramp on my leg a heavy tramp