How to boost your chances of taking your treatment correctly

You are more likely to take your HIV treatment correctly if you were involved in the decisions about both when to start treatment and about which drugs to start treatment with.

Being honest about your lifestyle to yourself and to your doctor can help ensure that you start on a combination that is right for you. So it's a good idea not to make unrealistic demands on yourself, and to think about how taking medication will fit in with your social, working, eating and sleeping patterns. The chances are that there will be a combination of HIV treatment available that will mean you don’t have to change your lifestyle at all, or make only modest alterations to your routine.

Side-effects are a very common reason why people skip doses. If you are experiencing side-effects of any kind, it makes good sense to make sure you tell your doctor. The chances are that there will be another treatment option available or that there will be another way to help you cope with your side-effects. It’s better to change treatments than miss doses and risk resistance.

Taking handfuls of pills is often cited by people as a reason why they miss doses. Doctors call the number of pills you have to take your ‘pill burden'. If you find taking lots of pills a problem, then talk to your doctor about taking a combination with as few pills as possible. It might be that you can switch to a combination that involves taking no more than one or two pills twice a day. If you have an undetectable viral load, there is even an HIV treatment that consists of just one pill, taken once a day. Making choices about the type of treatment that fits with the reality of your day-to-day life is important so talk to your doctor about your own individual needs.

Depression and other emotional and mental health problems have been linked with low levels of adherence. If you’re depressed and don’t think that you can cope with starting HIV treatments, then it might be best to wait until you feel more able to cope. Similarly, if you become depressed whilst taking treatments, it’s important to seek help. Depression is very common in people with HIV (see the section on Mental and emotional wellbeing ), and many HIV clinics have specialist mental health teams who can offer treatment and support. Treatments for depression work well in HIV-positive people.

Having problems with money and housing, and feeling isolated, have also been known to be associated with not taking treatment properly. Many HIV organisations can provide advice about money and accommodation, and your HIV clinic may even have a specialist HIV social worker you can see for advice. If you have family or friends who know that you are taking HIV-medication, try and talk to them about the problems you are experiencing - you might find that they are able to offer wonderful support. On the other hand, if you are worried about people close to you knowing that you have HIV, you might find that one solution is a support group involving other HIV-positive people. These are organised by many HIV clinics and HIV support agencies.