along with sustiva and combivir, i am taking bactrim. my t-cells went from 80-180 over the past 6 months and my viral load has gone from 184,000 to <50. i would like to take a few days off of the bactrim and go to the beach. how much time do i need to give my system so that the photosensivity side effect will pass? i assume since i only take it m-w-f, that it must stay in the system for quite a while. as also, when i do get too much sun, i get hives/rash, mostly on my arms. how should i treat this rash. i was going to take some benedryl but hate to bog my system down with the task of processing too many drugs.

It could take many weeks before the sun sensitiving properties of bactrim would diminish to the point where you are no longer so UV light sensitivie. A strong UV light blocker would help some if you get sun exposure with bactrim still in your system. Hopefully your CD4 count will exceed 200 in the near future and then the bactrim could be stopped indefinitely. KH