
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...

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Thats it..No more (Sustiva) for me. That stuff is poison. This stuff although it did what it's supposed to do in the beginning. Finally by friday the side effects are (driving me nuts) for lack of a more accurate term. The effects got so bad by friday i hsd to stop them. It's sat. morn. and already i am starting to feel more normal. I take truvada with it and that seems to be fine.
I am going to tell the doctor to change the meds but before i do i need peoples advice. I need something that i can function on , on a daily basis.
Any suggestions would be helpful. I've been taking meds siince june and my cd4 etc. is all nice and high as it should be , so I don't believe a stronger med. is necessary.
Thnx. in advance people.
I am going to tell the doctor to change the meds but before i do i need peoples advice. I need something that i can function on , on a daily basis.
Any suggestions would be helpful. I've been taking meds siince june and my cd4 etc. is all nice and high as it should be , so I don't believe a stronger med. is necessary.
Thnx. in advance people.
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if your body is pressed to the max to 'recover' from the sustiva, and your counts are good, why not insist on blood work until your numbers BEGIN, even just a little, to climb some.
i did that once, and my numbers didnt jump for THREE YEARS!!!!!
WHICH TO ME, means i added three TOXIC FREE years to my life, and provided some 'evidence' to the fact that our own immune systems, wether meds help or not, are capable in some instances of regaining their original capacity to keep us healthy.
so wether ya believe the meds are good or not, there is still the question:
once the meds make ya stable, how long can we sustain without them, before we need to reintroduce them?
and,
with resistance being the med industry big concern:
how much longer can you stretch out the efficacy of a drug, by taking a break once or twice, especially if a break does nothing to compromise your numbers/health, AND... lasts a few years?
i would ask for new bloodwork, consider a one month break before new bloodwork, (expect a change in numbers without panic) and then at the two and three month marks, get more bloodwork, see how the changes are progressing, and ya mite be surprised that your vl increases some, but then stabilises at a steady rate, like mine has at about 1,000 (one thousand).... FOR THREE YEARS NOW.
if ya add it up, ive spent HALF of my last tne years without meds/TOXINS.
disclaimer: im a retired waiter/bartender,and have no business giving medical advice, so instead, i merely ask questions to stimulate the examination of alternative points of view.
cheers.
if ya add it up ive spent most of the last TEN years without meds/toxins...
I'll admit i was hoping you'd answer , after following some of your writings I realize the experience you have is more than valuable. I know your not a doctor nor am i but i've met some people such as yourself that put alot of so called (Doctors) i've had the less than pleasureable experience to deal with.
As far as not taking the meds for some time , this is something i was already considering , thanks for sharing your experience. I'll weigh all the pros and cons and make a decision.
Please keep posting what you are doing and how you are feeling and the lab results as well. I find this information extremely useful in my own battle with HIV.
BE WELL.
So after that I kind of had to change my whole way of thinking. I'd spent 12 years trying to keep off the meds, yet suddenly I was now faced with reprogramming my mind into trusting them.
So here I am 6 weeks into taking Sustiva and Truvada and it's been a hellish experience. The first days were horrific, now less shocking/suprising, the side effects are a nightly affair. I wake speeding and buzzing in the middle of the night unable to sleep, and then I'm left exhausted the rest of the day. It's impossible to work and live a normal life if these side effects continue.
Do I change meds?? Do I hang in there with Sustiva? (I'm told it's one of the best drugs around and side effects can pass). If I change meds am I just changing side effects? Have I just jumped on the prescription drug merry-go-round?? I hope not.
I'm not very happy, but I'm not in the same space as Taoe to have a drug break. I've just spent 12 years taking vitamins and herbs - but they only worked to a point, albeit a good 12 years. No doubt vitamins would help now, (I seem to have lost the vitamin mojo temporarily) - the side effects have been so overwhelming with this combo.
I think I'm quite overwhelmed by it all actually. Made more difficult by living in a remote town hours away from any city. Makes a web site like this so helpful.