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Side-effects

Michael Carter

This booklet provides information about the possible side-effects of HIV treatment. All drugs, including those used to treat HIV, can cause unintended/unwanted effects, and you may be reading this because you are worried about such side-effects or have experienced them.

There is information here to help you understand, avoid and deal with them.

Side-effects are not inevitable, and just because one is discussed in this booklet does not mean that you will develop it. Even if a side-effect develops, it is usually mild, temporary or treatable.

After reading this booklet, you might want to discuss the side-effects of HIV treatment with your HIV doctor or another member of your healthcare team.

Side-effects is also available online in Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

  • HIV treatment – a longer and healthier life

    There is currently no cure for HIV, but treatment with anti-HIV drugs can mean a much longer and healthier life. The amount of illness and...

  • Safeguards against side-effects

    To stop HIV reproducing, it is necessary to take a combination of anti-HIV drugs that each target the virus in a slightly different way. These...

  • Allergic reactions

    The two anti-HIV drugs with the biggest risk of allergy are abacavir (Ziagen, also in the combination pills Kivexa and Trizivir) and nevirapine (Viramune). ...

  • Timing of side-effects

    Some side-effects appear soon after treatment with a drug is started as the body adjusts to treatment with the new drug. Such side-effects often lessen,...

  • Who gets side-effects?

    Anti-HIV drugs can cause side-effects in anyone. The type and severity of side-effects can also vary between people. But that doesn’t mean that it is inevitable...

  • Taking control of side-effects

    Side-effects can be annoying, inconvenient, distressing and sometimes even frightening. But it can be helpful to know that it is not inevitable that you will...

  • HIV treatment combinations and their side-effects

    HIV doctors have guidelines on how to use anti-HIV drugs. The drugs recommended are the most effective and safest drugs available for the treatment of...

  • Common side-effects

    This section of the booklet provides some more information on the commonest side-effects that the anti-HIV drugs currently in use can cause. It is intended...

  • Longer-term side-effects

    Tenofovir (Viread, also in the combination pills Truvada and Atripla) is processed by the body through the kidneys, and there is some evidence that people...

  • Rare side-effects

    A very small number of people taking the anti-HIV drug tenofovir (Viread, also in the combination pills Truvada and Atripla) and possibly protease inhibitors have...

  • Summary

    HIV treatment is very effective and can mean a long and healthy life, but anti-HIV drugs can cause unwanted side-effects. HIV treatment is meant to make...

This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.