Hi doc,

I am currently on Kivexa and Stocrin and have been for 2 years after changing from Truvada and Stocrin which I used for 4 months. I changed due to my osteopenia diagnosis and slight rising blood creatine on Truvada.

I have 3 boxes of Truvada left that I am not using and dont want to waste the meds (costly) upon their soon to be expiry date. Is it ok to just change Kivexa for Tuvada for 3 months and than after finishing the Truvada simply change back to Kivexa?

thank you

Hello and thanks for posting.

In general, if your viral load is suppressed and there's no issues with drug resistance, then switching from Kivexa (Epzicom) to Truvada and back because of medication availability shouldn't be a problem. (This assumes that you are tolerating Kivexa, without any evidence of allergy.)

The more important question is how bad the rising blood creatinine (a sign of kidney injury) was- if the reason you were switched off of Truvada was because of significant concern about kidney injury, never mind bone toxicity, it might be prudent to simply continue on the Kivexa. While bone toxicity over the short run probably won't be a concern, the kidney issues could be.

I'd suggest speaking with your provider to get a better sense of the pros and cons.

Hope that helps, BY