First of all thanks for the great work you all are doing.

Next week I'll be starting treatment for the first time, wich will be Combivir ( AZT/ 3TC) and Strocin ( Efivarenz) - in Brazil due to law/ government/ distribution issues, it's not possible to start treatment with Tenofovir instead of AZT , soI 'll have to start with the AZT for at least some time. I'm very woried about lypoatrophy, wich I've read happens more often in this regimen. So, how often does it occur ?(any percentages?) If so, what can be done to minimize the problem ( exercises, food, medidines?)

Thank you so much!

Significant fat loss is seen in < 50% of patients taking an AZT containing regimen. Over the first year for many regimens there often is minimal/modest fat gain. There may be a genetic component (not yet able to identify ahead of time) to who is susceptible to the fat loss effect of thymidine analogues (AZT and D4T) and often the fat loss is slow over first 2-5 years (that should give time to make tenofovir available in Brazil). The majority of patients on Combivir/Stocrine do not develop significant fat loss over the first several years. There is no diet/supplement/exercise that can be recommended with any confidence to prevent fat loss at this point (uridine and some diabetic drugs under study for that).KH