I recently (five wks ago) had my meds switched from Kaletra/Epzicom combo to norvir/reyataz/epzicom to try and curb some of the Cholesteral issues. So far no noticable side affects from the switch but how long should I go before I do a blood test again to see if the new regime is working well? I saw my Dr. yesterday to do an INR but he was too busy to see me so I could ask him. The Med. Asst. insisted that it was too soon to check.

Hello and thanks for posting.

I'm not sure I agree with your MA. I like to check clinical and laboratory status about 1 month after any treatment modification.

Current US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Treatment Guidelines (and my opinion too) state that "Patients should be evaluated 2-6 weeks after treatment simplification to assess tolerance and to undergo laboratory monitoring, including HIV RNA, CD4 cell count, and markers of renal and liver function. Assessment of fasting cholesterol subsets and triglycerides should be performed within 3 months after the change in therapy. In the absence of any specific complaints, laboratory abnormalities, or viral rebound at that visit, patients may resume regularly scheduled clinical and laboratory monitoring."

I hope that's helpful, BY