Thank you for your question.<\/p>\n
You have asked a couple of questions and raised a few issues so I will try and respond to them one by one.<\/p>\n
You mention that you recently had swollen glands. Swollen glands are usually an indication of a weakened immune system. This could also be as a result of your medication not working properly. However, you indicated that you are taking Aspen Lamzid.\u00a0 This is a combination of two drugs – AZT and 3TC. As guidelines currently do not recommend the use of only two drugs, is there another drug you are taking that you forgot to mention? Do you also know what your viral load is?<\/p>\n
You asked whether you could change your medication to Atripla. Switching your medication should be relatively easy. However, here in the UK, guidelines recommend that you need to have an undetectable viral load before you can switch to Atripla. As your viral load test was 3 years ago, it is important that you wait and see what your current test results will be as these will determine whether you can switch.<\/p>\n
One of the issues you brought up is that you sometimes have difficulty with taking your medication on time. Taking your medication on time and as prescribed is known as adherence. Adherence includes taking your medication not only at the right time, but also following any diet restrictions. Adherence is the most important thing you have to think about when taking medication or indeed starting a new combination. Taking your medication as prescribed ensures that all the drugs in your combination are at high enough levels to keep HIV under control 24 hours a day. For more information on why adherence is important, please follow this link<\/a><\/p>\n You mention too that you are gaining weight around your stomach. Is this the reason why you are not adhering to your medication? If so, have you discussed this, in detail, with your doctor? It is important that your doctor understands how any side effects affect the quality of your life. Once they understand, they can either provide you with support around adherence or switch your medication if that is the best option. Since you are awaiting results for your viral load and CD4 tests, it will be good to discuss this with your doctor when you next go in for your test results. For more information on describing side effects to your doctor, please follow this <\/a>link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been on medication for almost 4 years now, and sometimes I do not take it on time or I miss a day or two.
\nI recently had swollen glands over my ears. I’m currently taking Aspen Lamzid. I want to change to Atripla. I’m waiting for my test result on viral load and CD4.
\nDo you think I should change my medication? I am very determined and willing to change and adhere to my medication. Do you think this new one is going to change. The last CD4 test was over 600 and VL was undetectable, and that was 3 years ago.
\nI am also gaining weight, especially my stomach, pls help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adherence","category-all-topics","category-changing-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4888","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}