{"id":157,"date":"2007-08-07T20:33:23","date_gmt":"2007-08-07T19:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.i-base.info\/qa\/?p=157"},"modified":"2021-11-22T12:18:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:18:44","slug":"what-side-effects-are-associated-with-kivexa-plus-kaletra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/157","title":{"rendered":"What side effects are associated with Kivexa plus Kaletra?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi<\/p>\n<p>For the first few weeks, most people report general side effects until your body gets used to treatment. This can include nausea and tiredness and are associated with most combinations, but which also generally improve fairly quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Kivexa is a fixed dose combination of 3TC and abacavir.<\/p>\n<p>3TC is unlikely to give you any side effects (very rarely it can cause hair loss).<\/p>\n<p>Abacavir is associated with a <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/side\/abacavir-hypersensitivity-reaction\">hypersensitivity reaction<\/a>, BUT in the UK, most clinics can now use a genetic test called HLA-B*5701 before someone starts abacavir treatment to see if you are a risk of this side effect. The test is cheap and accurate, so it is worth checking that you were given this.<\/p>\n<p>Kaletra (lopinavir\/ritonavir) is a twice-daily protease inhibitor. Main early side effects include diarrhoea (which can usually be managed by imodium (loperamide), nausea and blood lipid changes (increases in cholesterol and triglycerides).<\/p>\n<p>Whatever combination you use, if it causes problems, then there are plenty of other options to switch to, and you shouldn&#8217;t put up with any combination that is too difficult. So, one thing I&#8217;d say is that you shouldn&#8217;t put up with any &#8216;prolonged&#8217; side effects because there are other options.<\/p>\n<p>One aspect of treatment that you may want to consider, is whether a once-daily combination would be easier for your university life, especially if you have long or unpredictable hours, and if don&#8217;t want to take meds at college.<\/p>\n<p>Although abacavir and 3TC are once-daily drugs, Kaletra needs to be taken every 12 hours. If this gets difficult, or if you have side effects on your first combination, talk to your doctor about atazanavir\/ritonavir. This is a once-daily protease inhibitor that uses a lower dose of ritonavir than Kaletra to boost the main protease inhibitor.<\/p>\n<p>There is more information on managing side effects in the i-Base <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/side\/\">Guide to Avoiding and Managing Side Effects<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am starting my combination therapy in a couple of weeks, as my CD 4 has dropped.<\/p>\n<p>I was wondering if you can give me any advice as to what side effects I can expect and how to manage them successfully.  I am starting on Kivexa and Kaletra.<\/p>\n<p>I am also starting University 3 weeks after the initial starting date of the medication, I do not wish to let them know that i am HIV-positive but how do I explain any prolonged side effects.  Any help that you can offer will be gratefully received.<\/p>\n<p>You have helped me before with questions and I respect your advice.<\/p>\n<p>Many thanks and kindest regards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,38,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-side-effects","category-starting-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}