Taking antiretroviral therapy is a long-term commitment. At present, once you start the drugs, you are likely to be on them for the rest of your life.  

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

Being honest about your lifestyle with yourself and with your doctor can help ensure that you start on a drug combination that is right for you. It's a good idea not to make unrealistic demands on yourself, and to think about how taking medication will fit in with your eating and sleeping patterns, and with your work, family and social life.

Discuss your daily routine with your doctor, adherence nurse or pharmacist to help establish the best times to take your anti-HIV drugs and to identify any concerns before you begin. The chances are that there will be a combination of anti-HIV drugs available that will mean you don’t have to change your lifestyle at all, or make only modest alterations to your routine.

Your doctor will also test to see if your HIV has any resistance to any of the antiretroviral drugs. This is because it is possible to be infected with a strain of HIV that has developed resistance to some drugs.

Clinics also do a genetic test (called HLA-B*5701) to see if you may be more likely to develop an allergic (hypersensitivity) reaction to the anti-HIV drug abacavir (Ziagen, also in the combination pills Kivexa and Trizivir). For more information, see the NAM booklet Side-effects.