Hi, Can you tell me if HIV meds in general cause you to loose weight or is it the virus or both. I am very happy with my body and was diagnosed with HIV last year. I have yet to start on meds yet..I know I really need to. I never met an HIV positive person(that I know of) that is overweight. I know it sounds dumb..but I am new to all of this. Thanks for all you do.

Weight loss can cause by infection, lack of appetite, diarrhea and malabsorption, etc. Some nucleoside drugs like Zerit and AZT have been implicated in fat wasting (loss of fat under the skin). Although we do not have all the answers yet, some patients taking protease inhibitors may develop insulin resistance and fat gain in the mid section.

As long as you eat well, exercise,and treat any diarrhea or infections, you should be OK. I recommend you have your doctor refer you to a dietitian to get some nutritional counseling and a BIA test (biolectric impedance analysis) for body composition now as a baseline. For more information, visit www.medibolics.com