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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...

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