hi docs! thanks for all your work.

i just started meds last week. if i'm going to have any side effects, when can i expect them to start showing up? i'm particularly worried about the cns side effects of atripla (i'm in a clinical trial and i may have gotten it ... or i may not ... and i'm waiting and freaking myself out!). i have a history of depression but the docs didn't seem worried about this.

thrill me with your acumen! ;-)

Hello and thanks for your post. Most importantly, please let me thank you for participating in the clinical trial-- the community owes all clinical trials participants a huge (and often unstated) word of thanks.

Now as for side effects, if you're not experiencing any neurological or psychological symptoms at this time (or didn't when you started), it's probably unlikely that you received the efavirenz component of Atripla. (Which should go a long way in alleviating your concerns).

In any event, a history of depression doesn't preclude the use of Atripla or efavirenz, but I'll monitor patients like you a more closely and consider changing medications if the depression worsens in the first months of treatment.

I hope that you find this thrilling,

BY