Hi Doctor Vergel,

I read your article about Zerit. I've been taking Zerit for many years and YES, I have noticed wasting on my face and body. Luckly I've been using New-Fill for my face and exercising a lot which has helped me to build muscle. My question is: Can I ask of my doctor to replace Zerit? Are there other drugs within its suite that will have the same effecton keeping my viral load down as Zerit, but without the lipodystrophy and wasting complications?

Thanks

Zerit is a very effective nucleoside analog that has helped a lot of patients keep their viral load undetectable. But is has been shown to have a higher incidence of lipoatrophy (fat wasting) in over 25 studies. There are a few studies that have shown that switching from Zerit to Ziagen or AZT has resulted in increases in fat under the skin after 48 weeks. However, the increases have been modest and some patients may not see a difference in facial wasting in that time frame (it may take a long time to regain the lost fat and no one is sure whether it can be regained totally). Gilead has done a study comparing Viread+3TC+Sustiva versus Zerit+3TC+ Sustiva in naive patients that showed a higher incidence of fat loss in the Zerit arm. Zerit has also been linked to higher incidence of neuropathy and mitochondrial toxicity, so some patients may opt to switch to Ziagen, AZT or Viread because of those problems. Talk to your doctor about Zerit's potential long term effects. The more empowered you are the better.