hi, it is so great to have you here. i am looking for information about therapy for my dauhgter. she has been on HAART therapy for five years now (retrovir syrup, viracept and epivir) and she never had to change the combination. since the therapy started her viral load has been undetectable and CD4 is almost on the normal level (1200). she is now 8,5 years old, her height is 134 cm and she weights 30 kilos. she is taking her meds twice daily, 18 ml of retrovir, 116 mg of epivir and 4 tbls of viracept. lately her doctor suggested to take 6 tbls of viracept twice daily (because of her body volume)and that makes me a problem. that means 12 of these big blue tblts per day, which is really huge thing to see on the table not to mention to eat it for an eight-year old girl. can you help me with suggestion on any other more 'consumer and child friendly' combination for my daughter? thanky you so much, mother

Thanks for your post.

I'm not very experienced with pediatric issues (at all), but I'll assume that the decision to increase the dose is reasonable based on the weight of your daughter.

I've got some simple good news-- nelfinavir (Viracept) is now available as a 625 mg tablet. This would reduce the pill burden from the 6 X 250 mg tablets twice daily to 2 twice daily. In general the side effects are about the same, though some have reported an increase in the gastrointestinal symptoms.

Good luck, BY