{"id":8397,"date":"2012-12-06T10:45:25","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T10:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=8397"},"modified":"2023-04-08T13:36:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T13:36:26","slug":"i-stopped-sustiva-efavirenz-early-in-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/8397","title":{"rendered":"I stopped Sustiva (efavirenz) early in treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello,<\/p>\n<p>Thank-you for your email.<\/p>\n<p>Changing Sustiva (efavirenz) early in treatment because of side effects is not unusual, nor is it something to be worried about. 2-3% of people taking efavirenz change in the first few weeks because of this. You can read more about this in our <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/side\/cns-side-effects\">side effects guide.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is good that your doctor in monitoring your rash closely. It is likely that this is to rule our a <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/side\/abacavir-hypersensitivity-reaction\">hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sustiva does also sometimes cause a rash in the early weeks of treatment.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aidsmap.com\/Efavirenz-may-linger-for-up-to-eight-weeks-after-treatment-stops\/page\/1421933\/\"> Some studies<\/a> have shown that Sustiva can still be detected in the body up to 8 weeks after stopping treatment. So it is possible that this rash may be related to efavirenz. Raltegravir is also linked to a rash though, so it&#8217;s important to bear this in mind.<\/p>\n<p>If you are taking any antihistamine it&#8217;s important that your doctor and pharmacist knows about this to avoid any drug interactions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi,<\/p>\n<p>My first combination was Sustiva (efavirenz)and Kivexa (abacavir + 3TC). But I found the CNS side effects of Sustiva difficult to deal with and after day 11 switched the Sustiva to raltegravir. <\/p>\n<p>Is this ok &#8211; are there any drawbacks of having done this? <\/p>\n<p>I have also developed a rash which was at day 11 which is being monitored closely &#8211; I take it because this could be linked to hypersensitivity issues with Kivexa. <\/p>\n<p>Where the rash subsists could this still be due to the Sustiva even though I am not taking it now? <\/p>\n<p>Am I correct that Sustiva can remain in your system for 2 to 3 weeks after stopping? I am also taking a daily antihistamine. Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,38,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-side-effects","category-stopping-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8397","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21480,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8397\/revisions\/21480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}