{"id":276,"date":"2008-01-29T18:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-29T17:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.i-base.info\/qa\/?p=276"},"modified":"2021-11-22T12:18:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:18:37","slug":"what-are-the-advantages-to-starting-treatment-if-my-cd4-is-324-and-i-have-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/276","title":{"rendered":"What are the advantages to starting treatment if my CD4 is 324 and I have symptoms?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi<\/p>\n

You are right that when to start treatment is a personal choice.<\/p>\n

The symptoms that you list are commonly the first type of HIV-related illnesses that people get. If you start treatment these are all likely to improve as a result of your stronger CD4 count.<\/p>\n

Treatment guidelines are also changing in the UK to recommend starting treatment when your CD4 count is around 350 cells\/mm3 and have already changed to this in the US.<\/p>\n

The advantages to starting treatment is that your CD4 count is likely to increase higher if you start now compared to waiting for your count to fall further.<\/p>\n

Ask which combinations your doctor recommends, and ask about the differences and possible side effects so that you are in a good position to choose which you want tot try first.<\/p>\n

In practice, after the first few weeks, most people find treatment is much easier than they thought, especially when they experience other health improvements.<\/p>\n

Read the i-Base Introduction to Combination Therapy<\/a> for more information on drug choices, adherence and resistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi there again. Once again thanks for answering my previous question.<\/p>\n

I feel a bit confused and wondered if you can help me out. I’ve been HIV+ for nearly 4 years now. My last bloods were, CD4 324 and viral load was 77,000. My CD4% was 16%. My last 3 sets of bloods have seen a decline in each visit, so I can see a pattern emerging.<\/p>\n

My problem is that I’m feeling tired a lot and am noticing small problems re-occurring more and more regularly. They’re not major illnesses, just things like tiredness, skin problems, nail fungal infection, thrush, night sweats, stomach problems, mood swings.<\/p>\n

All of these problems have started happening over the past 12 months. I’ve never had these many problems before so you can see why Im concerned.<\/p>\n

My clinic doctor has touched on medication but hasn’t really said i need to go on it so I’m a bit confused when to start. My life is becoming a bit of a drag at the moment so am considering starting treatment now. I’ve been told that once I’m on treatment it will transform my life and I’ll feel like a new person, is this true? I know it’s sometimes a personal choice but would be grateful for any advice.<\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-cd4-and-viral-load","category-starting-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","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=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}