Hello,

I was being treated in Brazil, where there's no emtricitabine. That way, there I took a once a day combo of efavirenz, tenofovir and lamivudine as my first line treatment. It's been working for a little more than 2 years now with flawless adherence, no side effects except for the occasional dizziness, VL undetectable since the second month and CD4s close to 1000 in my last test took in March).

I am now in a work contract in France and when I went to see the doctor, she suggested me to changing to Atripla (which would change my 3TC to FTC).

I am willing to stay in France, because I plan to continuemy studies here, but we never know our tomorrow, so whatever happens I can anytime go back to Brazil.

As already said, there's no FTC there.

So I have two questions in one:

-It is safe to change frm 3TC fo FTC? Should I have any concerns? -If I have to change back to 3TC, will it keep working?

Thank you very much.

Hello and thanks for your post. Sorry for the delayed response.

Since FTC (emtricitabine) and 3TC (lamivudine) are molecular cousins with very similar efficacy, resistance and side effect profiles, it's usually very safe to switch from one to the other.

Be well, BY