{"id":4364,"date":"2016-01-05T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=4364"},"modified":"2016-01-06T22:05:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T22:05:38","slug":"do-i-have-to-put-up-with-efavirenz-related-side-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/4364","title":{"rendered":"Do I have to put up with efavirenz side effects?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks for posting a question \u00a0and allowing us to post the answer online.<\/p>\n

I am sorry that you are having such difficulty accessing better care and treatment, You either have an unhelpful group of advisors, or they are just\u00a0uninformed about HIV treatment and care.<\/p>\n

The problems with efavirenz are well documented. About 20% of people have sufficient difficulty with side effects mean they switch to an alternative. Some people are just unlucky and get the side effects worse than others, and in these cases it is safe, straight-forward and easy to switch.<\/p>\n

You don’t need to prove anything to yourself or your doctor by having a miserable life on a badly tolerated drug.<\/p>\n

Effective HIV treatment is also about your quality of life, and if the side effects are this difficult then the combination in not a good one for you.<\/p>\n

This link has more information about efavirenz side effects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Your choices includes switching to an integrase inhibitor (dolutegravir or raltegravir), another NNRTI (rilpivirine) or to a boosted protease inhibitor (atazanavir\/r or darunavir\/r). This are all\u00a0once-daily options except raltegravir. I don’t know the relative cost of meds in Singapore, but some of these should be comparable to efavirenz.<\/p>\n

Although you can use neviraine (Viramune) the durgs I listed about would be more commonly used in the UK.<\/p>\n

Please go back to your doctor – or find a new doctor. Please don’t put up with this any longer. Most people find that within a few days they are back to normal, and are amazed at the impact on their quality of life and at how long they put up with unnecessary problems.<\/p>\n

\n

Good luck – and please let us know if we can help further, or again in the future.<\/p>\n

This answer was\u00a0updated\u00a0in January 2016 from a question first posted on 7 July 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight months ago I started a combination of efavirenz plus Truvada. <\/p>\n

My CD4 count has gone up and my viral load is undetectable. But I’m having difficult side effects<\/p>\n

Every night I have vivid dreams, and I am unable to wake up in time as I am not able to come out of the dream.<\/p>\n

My doctor has said I should just put up with these side effects, and I’m luck to have any treatment. He said other treatments will cost me lots of money.<\/p>\n

One of my chat friends said he has been on Truvada and Viramune since 2004 with no discernible side effects. His viral load is still undetectable and he works out regularly.<\/p>\n

Is it possible can you suggest me a good combination of medicines.<\/p>\n

I am perfectly healthy otherwise and try to live healthily…. Can you help me please?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,10,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-access-to-treatment","category-all-topics","category-changing-treatment","category-side-effects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364","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=4364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}