HIV Support Group
HIV (also known as human immunodeficiency virus, and formerly known as HTLV-III and lymphadenopathy-associated virus) is a retrovirus that primarily infects vital components of the human immune system which can lead the syndrome known as AIDS. Many of the problems faced by people infected with HIV result from failure of the immune system to protect from opportunistic...
I have had HIV for over 20 years and have managed to stay off the meds but the time has come now with T-cells in the 200 range. I really hope Atripla is a drug I can take. Being only once a day I feel I can adhere, but not if I AM going to keep having crazy spells and wake up feeling like I do now. So foggy and drained and nauseous. I avoided reading the pages of literature for this drug and it's possible side effects because I did not want to convince myself of anything untrue but...seriously, this stuff is really sending me for a loop.
I started taking Atripla less than 2 weeks ago. The first 2 nights on it were pretty intense with hallucinations both visual and auditory. These were not dreams because I had to keep opening my eyes to make sure I wasn't really seeing these things. It was not scary just hard to grasp and definitely impossible to sleep. They seemed to diminish after a few nights though so I thought YEEHAW, the worst is over.
Last night was the worst episode yet. About 1/2 hour after taking the Atripla I started getting the familiar spinning, lightheaded feeling so I headed to bed promptly. I did not make it and instead fell on the bedroom floor where I lost my mind completely. I don't know how long I lay on the bedroom floor before I came to and when I did come to, I was soaking wet with sweat. Head to toe soaking wet and I could not stand by myself. My body felt like it had electricity pulsing through it and my hands were shaking numb. I asked my husband to feel my hands but he could not feel the pulsing. I just don't know how that is possible, it was so intense. Today my lips feel numb and my hands are so heavy feeling and of course I have the lingering headache I have had for weeks now. The nausea is present too and makes it really hard to want to eat. I've lost a few pounds since starting this med and I really do not need to lose any more weight and my doctors agree.
I plan to discuss these things with my doctor this week but do not feel that the pharmacy will be much use to me. They had to special order my drug and when I picked it up, the pharmacist said she had never heard of it. Oh great! So I asked the pharmacist a couple of questions and she consulted the 3 pages of literature that came with my med to give me the answers. I don't have a lot of confidence in their expert opinion because of that.
Has anyone else had these symptoms from this med and if so, did they go away with time? Are these symptoms things I need to really be concerned with? I just do not know and do not want to do my body irreversible damage. It was so scary last night all I could do was to think of GOD when my mind left. When I came to GOD was telling me it was just a spell or was it me saying that? It was very scary confusing and I don't want to have to go through that too many times.
Any insight or experiences with this drug would be appreciated.
BE WELL.
I started taking Atripla less than 2 weeks ago. The first 2 nights on it were pretty intense with hallucinations both visual and auditory. These were not dreams because I had to keep opening my eyes to make sure I wasn't really seeing these things. It was not scary just hard to grasp and definitely impossible to sleep. They seemed to diminish after a few nights though so I thought YEEHAW, the worst is over.
Last night was the worst episode yet. About 1/2 hour after taking the Atripla I started getting the familiar spinning, lightheaded feeling so I headed to bed promptly. I did not make it and instead fell on the bedroom floor where I lost my mind completely. I don't know how long I lay on the bedroom floor before I came to and when I did come to, I was soaking wet with sweat. Head to toe soaking wet and I could not stand by myself. My body felt like it had electricity pulsing through it and my hands were shaking numb. I asked my husband to feel my hands but he could not feel the pulsing. I just don't know how that is possible, it was so intense. Today my lips feel numb and my hands are so heavy feeling and of course I have the lingering headache I have had for weeks now. The nausea is present too and makes it really hard to want to eat. I've lost a few pounds since starting this med and I really do not need to lose any more weight and my doctors agree.
I plan to discuss these things with my doctor this week but do not feel that the pharmacy will be much use to me. They had to special order my drug and when I picked it up, the pharmacist said she had never heard of it. Oh great! So I asked the pharmacist a couple of questions and she consulted the 3 pages of literature that came with my med to give me the answers. I don't have a lot of confidence in their expert opinion because of that.
Has anyone else had these symptoms from this med and if so, did they go away with time? Are these symptoms things I need to really be concerned with? I just do not know and do not want to do my body irreversible damage. It was so scary last night all I could do was to think of GOD when my mind left. When I came to GOD was telling me it was just a spell or was it me saying that? It was very scary confusing and I don't want to have to go through that too many times.
Any insight or experiences with this drug would be appreciated.
BE WELL.
Anyway, I was prepared for at least two weeks of sickness, but it has thankfully been mostly pleasant and quite an easy transition.
My first night was intense and I was imagining alot of funny things haha and then the next I only had quite intense dreams. Each night the dreams have eased and it would be worth noting I do have an overactive imagination so they weren't off putting.
My only dislike which began as a little entertaining was my disorientation and weird drunk like feeling early in the day until about 12/1pm. But each day this has again worn down and I am left feeling just as good if not better than I did before, perhaps knowing that I am been kept healthy.
I am doing a cognitive study (I am from Dublin, Ireland) which I am glad to do as I was paranoid at memory loss etc but so far it seems that I have been very very lucky.
It must be worth noting that I am quite a good build and height and I suppose my diet and my fitness as a younger teenager might all contribute to an easy transition. I suppose a good life style is important, but saying that I do drink alot (IRISH!, but am off for a while to get used to the regiment).
I hope this is of help to you all. I am only going into my second week so I guess things could change! Hopefully not. XXX
Im really hoping this pill works and my blood tests come back good.....
My body is really vulnerable to subtle changes. For example, I feel the effects of caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, carbs, you name it, more intensely than most. I guess you could say I am rather in tune with my sublte body. Because of this, I tend to research any medication I am going to ingest. Additionally, I tend to be the one who has the side effects, be it cough syrup or pain killers. If there are common side effects for a medicine, I am a clinical example.
However, I remind myself that my experiences are mine alone and reassure myself not to have psychosematic symptoms based on others' experiences with a particular substance. I have read every post on this thread and have done my best to assure this knowledge would not influence my experience. Mind over matter.
Took my first dose last evening at 10:30PM, on an empty stomach. Proceded to bed an hour later.
Felt more tired than usual, but that could have been from a long day. Nothing unusual there.
Had trouble getting comfortable and falling asleep, but that could have been anticipation associated with my expectations of having vivid dreams.
Dreams were indeed vivid, but nothing crazy. They seemed more lucid and actually more interesting and fun. Very similar to my experiences with melatonin. Nothing I couldn't get used to.
VERY restless sleep. Woke up 5 or 6 times throughout the night almost wide awake. Trouble falling back asleep each time.
Got up twice to go to bathroom. That's not unusual. However, I was EXTREMELY dizzy and wobbly. Like being drunk. Also, I felt wide awake on these restroom trips, not like the usual half asleep trips.
By 6:00AM, I was wide awake and could not keep my eyes closed. Felt restless so got out of bed. Still dizzy and lethargic, but not as bad as during bathroom trips.
Dizziness and lathargy has mostly worn off by 9:00AM, but still have that mind energy, body fatigue similar to cold medicine.
Lots of gas and loose stools.
It's 11:00AM and I feel alert, awake and motivated, but physically fatigued. Hopefully this is because I didn't sleep well and not because of the medicine.
We will see...
My body is really vulnerable to subtle changes. For example, I feel the effects of caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, carbs, you name it, more intensely than most. I guess you could say I am rather in tune with my sublte body. Because of this, I tend to research any medication I am going to ingest. Additionally, I tend to be the one who has the side effects, be it cough syrup or pain killers. If there are common side effects for a medicine, I am a clinical example.
However, I remind myself that my experiences are mine alone and reassure myself not to have psychosematic symptoms based on others' experiences with a particular substance. I have read every post on this thread and have done my best to assure this knowledge would not influence my experience. Mind over matter.
Took my first dose last evening at 10:30PM, on an empty stomach. Proceded to bed an hour later.
Felt more tired than usual, but that could have been from a long day. Nothing unusual there.
Had trouble getting comfortable and falling asleep, but that could have been anticipation associated with my expectations of having vivid dreams.
Dreams were indeed vivid, but nothing crazy. They seemed more lucid and actually more interesting and fun. Very similar to my experiences with melatonin. Nothing I couldn't get used to.
VERY restless sleep. Woke up 5 or 6 times throughout the night almost wide awake. Trouble falling back asleep each time.
Got up twice to go to bathroom. That's not unusual. However, I was EXTREMELY dizzy and wobbly. Like being drunk. Also, I felt wide awake on these restroom trips, not like the usual half asleep trips.
By 6:00AM, I was wide awake and could not keep my eyes closed. Felt restless so got out of bed. Still dizzy and lethargic, but not as bad as during bathroom trips.
Dizziness and lathargy has mostly worn off by 9:00AM, but still have that mind energy, body fatigue similar to cold medicine.
Lots of gas and loose stools.
It's 11:00AM and I feel alert, awake and motivated, but physically fatigued. Hopefully this is because I didn't sleep well and not because of the medicine.
We will see...