for about 5 years I've been on just two meds of epivir and zerit, with great numbers and completely healthy. my body has not been affected and I've retained a good muscular build...my face however has thinned noticeably. since im very closeted in regards to my hiv I am greatly concerned. however, I am reluctant to change meds. I've been doing the Q10, Lcarnitine and riboflavin for about one month with possible minor improvement.

my question is I seem to remember reading about(possibly here)experimental treatment with oral diabetes drugs and am wondering if you've any more info. fat harvesting and injectables are too short term and expensive to maintain.

thank you, your input will be greatly appreciated

1. Oral diabetes drugs probably won't help. This is not the mechanism of fat wasting.

2. we think that mitochondrial toxicity in fat cells may be the mechanism of facial (and other) fat wasting. Several studies are implicating d4t (zerit) as causing mitochondrial toxicity. You could talk to your doc about changing the regimen...maybe 3 drugs: abacavir, AZT and 3TC or maybe a non nuke like viramune or sustiva with AZT or 3TC.

3. People are experimenting with various techniques (see my earlier answer today), but nothing so far is proven to work for this problem. Fat transplant, collagen injections may give some short-term relief, but long-term we don't know.

Alvan Fisher, M.D.