hi i have been taking sustiva and truvada since july of 2005, nine months into the drug therapy i became very depressed, not wanting to do anything, not to the poing of suicidal. but bad enough, my guess is that its from the sustiva, the medication is working my cd4 is 700 and viral load undetected, so not wanting to change my medication my MD put me on brupropion which is helping alot. my question is will i have to stay on the antidepresants as long as im on sustiva or can i wean myself off the brupropion which i take 150mg 2x a day. will the depression come back if im off the antidepressant. is this common side effect. i now take the combo atriptla which are the same meds all in one pill. i find that i have less side effects from this one pill than i did when taking the sustiva by itslef.

thanks pete

Bupropion is a good treatment for depression, and it certainly appears to have worked well for you. There is no way to know if you need to take it long term except by trying to come off it for a period of time. Depression does sometimes occur as a response to taking Sustiva, but it may not recur at a later date even though you are still on the drug. Of course, if it does recur, then you should resume the bupropion.