{"id":967,"date":"2016-01-05T12:00:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.i-base.info\/qa\/?p=967"},"modified":"2018-10-09T14:27:02","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T14:27:02","slug":"what-are-the-alternatives-to-sustiva-efavirenz-if-i-have-side-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/967","title":{"rendered":"What are the alternatives to efavirenz?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more-->Hi<\/p>\n<p>You are describing common side effects associated with <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/734\">efavirenz<\/a> (trade name Sustiva). It is important that your doctor know how this is significantly affecting you daily quality of life.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you have underlying anxiety, it is important to change the efavirenz to see whether using an alternative drug helps reduce this problem.<\/p>\n<p>Switching treatment should be easy and most people who are having problems report significant changes after they switch.<\/p>\n<p>Information on<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/side\/cns-side-effects\"> efavirenz side effects<\/a>, including<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/side\/cns-side-effects\"> how to switch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Easy alternatives to efavirenz (Sustiva) include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An interase inhibitor (either <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/8851\">doluteravir<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/3567\">raltegravir<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>A boosted PI (usually <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/3545\">atazanavir<\/a>\/r or <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/3555\">darunavir<\/a>\/r).<\/li>\n<li>Another NNRTI (<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/3569\">etravirine<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/5904\">rilpivirine<\/a>). Outside the UK this could include\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/3543\">nevirapine<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your doctor might suggest other option depending on your previous treatment history.<\/p>\n<p>These drugs only involve a couple of additional pills each day, and most are still once-daily combinations.<\/p>\n<p>Your overall quality of life is probably more important than the number of pills you need to take.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Please print out this question and answer and take it to your doctor so that you have support in changing to an alternative combination.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>This answer was\u00a0updated\u00a0in January 2016 from a question first posted on 26 September\u00a02012.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I need to change Sustiva because of anxiety, but to what best combo if this is urgent?<\/p>\n<p>I have been on efavirenz\/tenofovir\/lamuvidine for almost two years.<\/p>\n<p>I began to have more anxiety even to the extent that I could not drive again the same I used to drive before. I still take my anxiety meds (lexapro, tranxene, haldol).<\/p>\n<p>Now I&#8217;m feeling depressed everyday even too much to exercise. I don&#8217;t know whether to blame the Sustiva or HIV itself, so I want to throw this problem to this forum to help me decide what to do if to change my Sustiva or what else to do.<\/p>\n<p>Mainly I need combo that can be taken once at bed time that can go with Truvada with not more three pills a night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-changing-treatment","category-side-effects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","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=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}