Most people who are taking anti-HIV drugs will take a combination, or ‘regimen’, of three drugs. There are exceptions to this, for example pregnant women (see the chapter Symptoms and illnesses ), or those who have a very high viral load and need to take more than three drugs to obtain a powerful anti-HIV effect.

Before you start HIV treatment for the first time you should have a test to see if you were infected with a strain of HIV with resistance to anti-HIV drugs.

 

Anti-HIV treatment

Anti-HIV treatment

• Summary
• Treatment, not a cure
• When to start treatment
• Starting anti-HIV treatment
• Anti-HIV drug classes and names
• First combination
• Which nucleosides/nucleotide?
• Questions to ask your doctor before starting treatment
• Changing treatment due to failure
• Changing treatment due to side-effects
• Changing treatment due to lipodystrophy
• Salvage therapy
• Treatment breaks
• Further reading