What are the long term side effects of the so called triple cocktails.I have been taking Kaletra,Zerit and Epivir for about 2 years and am concerned about the long term side effects. I am worried that the drugs will kill be before Aids does.

The mortality from AIDS is high when the CD4 count is < 200. In the days before potent therapy, I had a patient dying weekly (average age = 30s) and they suffered through an average of 4 and a half AIDS defining events before it all became too much for them. The suffering was terrible. Potent therapy promises to protect a person from AIDS for a long time. The side effects associated with treatment are annoying and sometimes a health threat but are not in the same ball park as untreated AIDS. Your particular regimen contains Kaletra(GI complaints and long term worries about lipid/fat abnormalities), Epivir (usually well tolerated long tern-? effects on fat), and Zerit (usually well tolerated but concern about fat loss, neuropathy, pancreatitis, and lactic acidosis long-term). Most patients do well for several years with your regimen--we are still learning about what happens over longer periods (still new) such as 3,4,5+ years. KH