Changing HIV treatment

It is quite common to change treatment. 

There are a number of reasons why you would want to change your treatment. They include; 

• You might experience side effects which are unmanageable 
• The HIV medicine you are taking might not keep your viral load down
• Drug interaction between HIV drugs and drugs you take for other conditions which develops when your HIV treatment doesn’t work well. 

If side-effects persist, or your HIV becomes drug resistant, or there is drug interaction, changing treatment may be an option.

Talk to your healthcare provide if you are concerned and worried about any side-effects you are experiencing. 

Don’t stop taking your ART without first speaking to a doctor.

Also, the best thing you can do to help your HIV treatment to work is to take it as prescribed every day. 

If you don’t take your HIV treatment as prescribed by your healthcare provider, the amount of HIV in your body (viral load) might increase and you might become resistance to the HIV treatment that you are taking.

If you develop drug resistance, you might need to change treatment and your doctor will discuss the options that are available to you

If you are having problems taking your treatment, it's important to be honest with your doctor about this.