Both my partner & I were diagnosed in Sept 2004, neither of us is yet on meds. He is an avid gym user/bodybuilder and has used steroids previously, his CD4 is 700 whilst mine is just above 300 and slowly decreasing. I have been suffering bouts of diarrhea & health is up & down. Partner is fine - is this due to the steroids? Should I be considering meds at this stage & can you recommened a combination that will keep me lipodystrophy free.

There are no data to suggest that the use of anabolic steroids either speeds up or slows down HIV disease progression.

As for combinations that avoid lipodystrophy, we now know that if you avoid stavudine and many of the protease inhibitors, the risk of treatment-associated lipodystrophy is quite low. Of the protease inhibitors, atazanavir and perhaps nelfinavir are quite safe with respect to lipodystrophy.