Back to contents

Side effects

Roger Pebody
Published: 17 February 2012

The most common side effects are the result of your body getting used to a new drug. After a few weeks, these side effects usually go away. These side effects can include diarrhoea, feeling sick, feeling tired and disturbed sleep.

Side effects that have long-term consequences for your health are less common.

Click here to see our illustrated leaflet giving basic information on possible side-effects of HIV treatment. 

This leaflet is also available in Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish.

Our information levels explained

  • Short and simple introductions to key HIV topics, sometimes illustrated with pictures.
  • Expands on the previous level, but also written in easy-to-understand plain language.
  • More detailed information, likely to include medical and scientific language.
  • Detailed, comprehensive information, using medical and specialised language.
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 It may have been superseded by more recent developments.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.