Want more iVillage? Sign up for our
Newsletters
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection - Medications
SYMPTOMS & TREATMENTS
- Topic Overview
-
Health Tools
- Cause
- Symptoms
- What Happens
- What Increases Your Risk
- When To Call a Doctor
- Exams and Tests
- Treatment Overview
- Prevention
- Home Treatment
- Medications
- Surgery
- Other Treatment
- Other Places To Get Help
- Related Information
- References
- Credits
Medicines are the primary treatment for HIV. Your doctor will usually prescribe several medicines—this is sometimes called an anti-HIV "cocktail"—that keeps HIV from multiplying and helps keep the immune system healthy. In the past a person had to take several doses of HIV medicine every day, which was hard for some people. But over the past few years, this routine has become much simpler. And people take their medicine for HIV only once or twice a day.
Medicines used to treat HIV are called antiretrovirals, and several of these are combined for treatment called highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART. Using HAART reduces your risk of developing resistance to HIV medicines. Resistance is more likely to develop in people who are treated with only one antiretroviral medicine.
When choosing antiretroviral medicines, your doctor will think about certain things, such as:
- The medicines' effectiveness in reducing viral load.
- The likelihood that the virus will become resistant to a certain class of medicine. If you have already been treated with a certain antiretroviral medicine, you or your doctor may already know whether you have a resistance to medicines in that class.
- Medicine side effects and your willingness to tolerate them.
- The cost of treatment with medicines.
Medicines also are used to prevent other illnesses that can occur with HIV as the result of a weakened immune system. Certain opportunistic infections, such as some types of pneumonia, can develop when HIV attacks and destroys too many CD4+ cells. If too many CD4+ cells are destroyed, the body can no longer fight off infection.
Medication Choices
Antiretroviral therapy
Medicines that prevent HIV from multiplying are called antiretrovirals and include:
- Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, such as tenofovir, emtricitabine, and abacavir. These medicines are usually combined for best results to treat HIV. The combination of tenofovir plus emtricitabine also is used to prevent HIV infection in men who have sex with men.11
- Nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), such as efavirenz, nevirapine, or etravirine.
- Protease inhibitors (PIs), such as atazanavir, ritonavir, or darunavir.
- Fusion and entry inhibitors, such as enfuvirtide and maraviroc.
- Integrase inhibitors. The only integrase inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for HIV treatment is raltegravir (Isentress).
HIV: When Should I Start Taking Antiretroviral Medicines for HIV Infection?
HIV: Taking Antiretroviral Drugs
The U.S. National Institutes of Health recommends one of the following programs for people who begin treatment for HIV:5
- Efavirenz + tenofovir + emtricitabine
- Ritonavir-boosted atazanavir + tenofovir + emtricitabine
- Ritonavir-boosted darunavir + tenofovir + emtricitabine
- Raltegravir + tenofovir + emtricitabine
Treatment failure
If your viral load does not drop as expected, or if your CD4+ cell count starts to fall, your doctor will try to determine why the treatment was not effective.
There are two main reasons that treatment fails:
- The virus that causes HIV has become resistant. The medicine no longer effectively controls virus multiplication nor protects your immune system. Tests can show whether resistance has occurred. You may need a different combination of medicines.
- You did not take your medicine as prescribed. If you have difficulty taking the medicines exactly as prescribed, talk with your doctor.
What to Think About
You will have frequent blood tests to monitor your CD4+ cell count and viral load while you are taking medicines to treat HIV.
Taking your medicines as prescribed can keep HIV from multiplying and will help prevent other infections. This also can help keep the virus from becoming resistant to the medicines and prevent problems that can limit future treatment options.
Your medicines may have unpleasant side effects, which sometimes make you feel worse than you did before you started taking them. Talk to your doctor about your side effects. He or she may be able to adjust your medicines or prescribe a different one.
You may be able to take several medicines combined into one pill. This reduces the number of pills you have to take each day.
| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: May 18, 2011 |
| Medical Review: | E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine Peter Shalit, MD, PhD - Internal Medicine | |
© 1995-2011 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
Welcome to Care Circle, an exclusive tool to help you take care of yourself and your loved ones. Here's how it works:
- Create profiles for yourself and your loved ones.
- Select the topics and conditions that interest each of you.
- Get customized news updates, original content, tools, and expert advice for each Care Circle member delivered directly to your personalized homepage.
The information you input is strictly private; you choose who has access to your Care Circle.
How do I add myself or someone else to my care circle?
Click on "Add someone." Fill out the short profile. Choose an avatar. Select the topics and conditions that interest this person from the pulldown menu. You can select as many as you want, but you must choose at least one. Click on "Add Someone" again. You should start getting updates immediately.
How do I save content to my Care Circle?
Click on "Manage My Care Circle." Select the tab of the person for whom you're saving content. Put your cursor over the piece of content that you want to save; a disk icon will appear in the righthand corner. Click on the disk and the piece of content will be moved to a save folder.
How do I add additional topics and conditions for someone in my Care Circle?
Click on "Manage My Care Circle." Select the tab for the person whose preferences you'd like to update. Under "Add More to Follow," select additional topics and conditions.
How do I delete topics and conditions for someone in my Care Circle?
Click on "Manage My Care Circle." Select the tab for the person whose preferences you'd like to update. Under "Follows," scroll over the topic or condition you want to delete. An "X" should appear on the righthand side. Click on the "X" and the topic or condition will be deleted from the list.
To manage your Care Circle, Please
Sign In.
from
- 9 nastiest things in your supermarket
- Facebook is now fueling organ donations
- Military women and suicide: Home safe but not sound
- Still in gear: Injuries don’t stop veterans on 100-day bike trek
- Ask Jenna: I've hit a weight loss plateau. What do I do?
- He poses in a tutu to laugh in face of wife's cancer
The iVillage Network