Hi<\/p>\n
You are right that the best thing to do is to substitute the efavirenz for a
\nboosted protease inhibitor.<\/p>\n
The choice of which PI will be up to you and your doctor, but currently lopinavir\/ritonavir which comes in one pill called Kaletra is one that is widely used during pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Side effects that you may experience include nausea and other stomach-related effects (bloating, gas, diarrhoea) but these are usually mild and manageable.<\/p>\n
You will be able to switch back to efavirenz after you have your baby. It sounds like you have an excellent treatment history.<\/p>\n
Good luck with your treatment and your pregnancy and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My husband and I would like to start a family. About a month ago I switch from efavirenz (Stocrin) to nevirapine and after three weeks my liver enzymes increased dramatically and after another week had further doubled so my doctor recommended that I switched back to efavirenz until things stabilised.<\/p>\n
As soon as possible (at the latest Monday) I would next week like to switch to a new combination so that I can start the process of being in a position to fall pregnant. I have been looking at the April 2009 Recommendations for Use of ARV in pregnant women and am trying to make sense of it all.<\/p>\n
My current medical history ? I have been HIV positive for 15 years, on ARVS for around 7 years ? first Combivir and efavirenz ? then switched to Truvada and efavirenz to make life easier and now need to make a further switch ? CD4 count is always over 500 and viral load has been undetectable for the duration of my treatment.<\/p>\n
Can I ask advice on:
\n– What would be the best combination to switch to now?
\n– How do I make that switch?
\n– What side effects should I expect?<\/p>\n
If I switch to a protease Inhibitor ? can I switch back to efavirenz later on. ? I am completely nervous of the long term effects of PIs. I have heard that I will not be able to switch back form one doctor and that I will be able to switch back from another.<\/p>\n
Thanks – I appreciate your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-changing-treatment","category-pregnancy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","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=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}